MORE THAN JUST A BUILDING AND POWER IN ASSOCIATION WITH
CORE DATA CENTRES
DIGITAL REPORT 2021
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MORE THAN JUST A BUILDING AND POWER c o re da t a c e nt r es . com
CORE DATA CENTRES
Meet industry veteran Bill Henneberry’s new firm, co-founded with Jim Nikopoulos, CEO, a nimble newcomer to Canada’s data centre landscape providing scale and custom solutions in the age of digital transformation
B
ill Henneberry designs data centres in his sleep. The Chief Technology Officer of CORE Data Centres is only half-joking,
admitting that his work, a preoccupation that extends far beyond a means to make a living, is 04
never far from his thoughts. “I’ll be going to sleep at night and I’m already designing the next day’s work,” he says. “To a certain degree I’m always thinking of a design: how it can change and how it has to evolve.” Data centres and colocation have been a fixation of Henneberry’s “before data centres were really even around”. He’s worked at “all the big companies” and consulted at many more, before founding CORE Data Centres with Jim Nikopoulos, CEO. Core Data is a relative new entrant to the market that nonetheless boasts an agile team of specialists with near unrivalled experience. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada’s snowier counterpart to Silicon Valley, the business was founded 16 months
2019
Year founded
15
Number of employees 05
c o re da t a c e nt r es . com
CORE DATA CENTRES
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“ DEMAND ISN’T SLOWING DOWN IN THE DATA CENTRE WORLD”
— Bill Henneberry, Chief Technology Officer, CORE Data Centres
ago with the underlying philosophy that
To illustrate the point, Henneberry
data centres should be ‘more than just
considers the growing pan-industry
a building and power’ - and a promise to
adoption of artificial intelligence. The
extend these values in its approach to
nascent explosion of interest in this
working with partners.
technology brings unique complexities,
“It’s not just about having a cookie cutter approach. We are not that rigid player that says, ‘because our business
many of which businesses are often illequipped to tackle on their own. “I have clients who didn’t know how to
case says X, this is all we can do to
approach AI,” he says. “So we worked
make our money’,” Henneberry explains.
with them. We put the data centre
“And it’s not just space and power; we
together for them, and then as they
need to provide the right space and the
changed their philosophies on what
right power and the right cooling - and it
they required from a digital perspective,
all extends on from there.”
we can tailor for more power or more
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E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :
Bill Henneberry Title: Chief Technology Officer Company: CORE Data Centres Bill is an Chief Technology Officer with Core Data Centres with experience covering various areas in the Data Centre industry. Over 30+ years of delivering complex projects and achieving successful outcomes for clients ranging from small business to large enterprises. His CORE expertise is in Data Centre construction, design and build, facilities operations, assessments, and Data Centre migration projects. Bill has manage over 500 + Data Centre build-outs, concept solutions and operations type projects or facilities. He holds a BSc and is an expert in Project Management with years of training in the Data Centre field and Telecommunications world. c o re da t a c e nt r es . com
CORE DATA CENTRES
“ IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT HAVING A COOKIE CUTTER APPROACH” — Bill Henneberry, Chief Technology Officer, CORE Data Centres
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cooling from our point of view. But just
“Clients now can get some indication
understanding the client’s demands
of where things should be by search-
and what they’re trying to do on that
ing online. But I always ask, ‘What’s
digital side impacts how we manage
the end goal? What quality is needed
the relationship with requirements.”
for the solution you’re trying to pro-
Cost is another “interesting” topic of
vide?’ One bullet is never going to fix
conversation customers often thrust
the problem, but we always have a
into the equation at the early stages.
backup plan. I treat everybody equally
Understandably, clients need to
and we’re very good at helping clients
understand how much the operations
understand the technical reasons
will impact their balance sheets, and
of why that element costs that price,
while Google can be a valuable tool in
even in the change order process.
estimation, Henneberry prefers a more
Explaining it at the executive level is
incisive course of action.
very important to understand why cost
“Montreal is saturated from a data centre perspective right now,” says Henneberry. “There’s so much supply that’s already there. So we focused on what was missing, and that’s why our Kingston project is a very strategic one. There’s a new fibre build from Montreal to Toronto that the hyperscale firms have demanded, but it has to go through somewhere, and it’s hitting Kingston. Our data centre is going to be a hub for that, and we’re an anchor tenant.” An additional site is in Vancouver “where it’s hard to find land and good quality data centres”. Henneberry is a key factor, but not always the most
says the region has been undersup-
important factor.”
plied for some time, “So we thought
To better serve Canada’s thriving
we would beef up the supply, and as
business and finance hubs, CORE
the big hyperscale guys come along,
Data Centres has embarked upon an
or government agency demand ramps
ambitious greenfields development
up, we’re available.” That project is
project. A new site will open in Toronto
about three years out, he says, but
to serve the city and its surrounding
will become a key resource for CORE
areas as demand continues to rise.
Data Centre’s future development.
This will be joined by two further pro-
These projects, which will coincide
jects, both aimed at expanding supply
with the excavation and improvement
in strategic locations. One is situated
of major subterranean fibre cable cor-
in Kingston, between the Canadian
ridors, will take some time to come to
capital and Montreal.
fruition. In the meantime, CORE is also c o re da t a c e nt r es . com
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CORE DATA CENTRES
“ I WOULD NEVER TURN DOWN BUSINESS. EVEN IF I HAVE NO SPACE AVAILABLE, I WILL GIVE IT TO MY COMPETITORS. I DON’T WANT TO SEE ANYBODY WITHOUT A SOLUTION” — Bill Henneberry, Chief Technology Officer, CORE Data Centres 10
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tier one solution with a generator and a UPS, a bit of backup battery and some cooling,” Henneberry says. “We can deploy these pretty rapidly - although we sometimes run into slowdown from municipalities and government when running fibre - but I think from an edge perspective these are going to make a big, big difference going forward. “Obviously from there it needs the home run to a real data centre - or a bigger data centre - and that’s where we play that strategic role as well,” he continues. “From the east coast to the deploying a variety of flexible, modular
west coast of Canada there are lots of
container data centres to support
small data centres dotted all over the
smart city initiatives across the coun-
place, and I’ve been a consultant over
try. Launched under the CoreBox
the years on many of those locations.
brand, these 20-40-foot scalable cen-
I have those relationships with those
tres will provide greater supply to rural
clients, so if somebody needs some
areas of Canada, and other enterprise
extra help here or there, I can work
districts beyond the bustling cluster of
with those guys.”
major cities situated just north of the Canada-US border.
The outbreak of COVID-19 and a shift to working from home, remote
“CoreBox is going to serve those
learning, and digital catch-ups with
more remote areas, and these will be
friends brought the critical role of data
set up in strategic areas to serve as the
centres into sharp focus. Increased
edge data centres. They’re relatively
demand for bandwidth and storage,
straightforward solutions, whether you
however, introduced a new set of high
want a tier three design, or a standalone
and low-tech issues. c o re da t a c e nt r es . com
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CORE DATA CENTRES
“ TO A CERTAIN DEGREE I’M ALWAYS THINKING OF A DESIGN: HOW IT CAN CHANGE AND HOW IT HAS TO EVOLVE” — Bill Henneberry, Chief Technology Officer, CORE Data Centres
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“Demand isn’t slowing down in the
downtown Toronto, for example. The
data centre world, but we had to
owners of these companies are trying
really change our protocols,” says
to figure out, ‘Okay, what do I do next?’
Henneberry. “We couldn’t just let any-
They’re increasing their bandwidth
body come into our centres without
because, as soon as you leave one loca-
being tested correctly or following the
tion, if you understand networking, and
protocols. That did slow us down with
you have it all over the place, it’s like a
regards to construction or retrofits or
different mesh network. You need to
just having anybody in the data centre
provide a different topology across the
doing what we would normally do.
board on how to connect everything. I’m
“What is changing mostly, though,
working on another project right now
is the way we think. There are a lot of
for a client where, we built an SD LAN
office buildings that are sitting there
solution for them, with firewalls and eve-
empty right now across the way in
rything, to all their remote locations.”
and doing sessions on the whiteboard, you’re missing out on those elements. And I guess, as with everyone out there, keeping our own minds and sanity going is the biggest obstacle,” he admits. “But from a data centre perspective in Ontario, and in Canada in general, our power costs are pretty high. Everyone around the world has their challengers on specific things, but for us that’s power costs. We’re coming up with some solutions, going off grid a little bit and using generators as demand power. But there are inherent risks with shifting your loads round on a regular basis.” So has demand outstripped CORE’s
Heneberry predicts a busy year
ability to supply? Is Henneberry turn-
ahead for the CORE team. The firm is
ing business down?
eyeing some potential M&A activity to
“I would never turn down business.
further solidify its growth, but its first
Even if I have no space available, I will
priority is serving clients: “As clients
give it to my competitors. Trust me. I don’t
come back to us with more demands
want to see anybody without a solution.”
and different situations, which they will,
Even in the fast and tech-driven data
we’re prepared and ready to deal with
centre field, the biggest obstacles
them accordingly.”
facing Henneberry and his team in the short term are the fundamental human principles of business. “I think not having that face-to-face time with people is tough. Gathering c o re da t a c e nt r es . com
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CORE DATA CENTRES 22 ADELAIDE STREET WEST SUITE 3600 TORONTO ONTARIO CANADA M5H 4E3 E INFO@COREDATACENTRES.COM T 416-613-2142
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