By Linda Steele l [email protected]

Novva Data Center in West Jordan is a 330,000-square-foot data center on a 100-acre campus. The headquarters is a two-story, 80,000-square-foot building.
Novva is a private company that provides wholesale and multi-tenant colocation. The infrastructure services local, national and international clients. Novva offers turnkey and client-designed solutions of all sizes. Utah is the largest colocation data center in the country. There is a Novva Data Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Novva officials plan to expand to more locations in the country as well as throughout the world.

“Novva means ‘new’; we added an extra ‘v’ to make it ours.” said Wes Swenson, founder, investor and CEO of Novva Data Center. "Novva strives for new approaches, new ideas and new innovations in the data center space."

Novva is serving the West to help meet the demand for rapidly growing data resources. The locations include over 35 acres of data center environment. The locations are located in fast-growing metropolitan areas that help the need for organizations as the population migrates west.

Novva’s top priority is to help mitigate the cost, risk and stress of managing your infrastructure with the size you need to grow your business. By partnering with Novva, you can eliminate costly data management overhead and be sure your infrastructure is secure.

Swenson said high technology is his interest. He has been into data centers for 15 years. He was the former CEO and founder of Utah-based C7 Data Centers (acquired by DataBank in 2017). In 2017, he sold a company, located in Bluffdale. In 2019, he started Novva. He first acquired the land in 2018. In the summer of 2020, he started building Novva.

“The world processes 2.5 quintillion bytes of data per day,” Swenson said. “In 10 years, [it will be] 25 quintillion bytes of data per day. It is hard to get the perception. In the past two years, 98% of data has been created in the world. If you think about it, the internet is 31 years old—a young technology. With the growth in the world, the internet requires more data centers. Metaverse, autonomous driving, gaming and education are all changing. Ninety-eight percent is data created in probably the last two years. We are a byproduct of that growth. There is more usage of the internet, more usage with your phone. Technology keeps growing and growing. If you think about everything that is done today that wasn’t done yesterday in applications. It’s always changing. We approach local clients as well as national and global clients. We appeal to virtually everyone.”

Swenson gave more examples of why his company’s solutions are important.

“This is a very technical subject, but if you think about it, when touching your phone, applications, or GPS, it goes through the internet,” he said. “To give you an example, 300 milliseconds to blink, we are moving data 10-20 milliseconds. We are moving data at a tenth of that speed because we are moving data at the speed of light through fiber optics. When you click something on your phone or use an application, it’s going through the internet and going through the data center, or multiple data centers in the world to receive that data and get back to you.”

One of the most intriguing features of the facility is the robot dog. He is equipped with a 360-degree camera, it can detect hot and cold, go on missions and object avoidance. The robot dog has facial recognition technology, can scan hardware and alert staff of any abnormalities such as machines overheating. The autonomous drone sits outside and will work with the WIRE and patrol the exterior of the building using infrared technology

Swenson has brought a unique design to Novva.

“We believe in bringing a high-end product to the market, and that is what you see in the design,” he said. “I wanted Asian, Scandinavian minimalist design. I believe if I am going to build something, I’m going to build it beautifully.”

The floors in the facility are black marble from Italy. “I wanted it to feel super premium; these have to last 30 years,” he said.

Swenson was in software and security. He has been intrigued with the IT industry for years. He loves data centers, “because they are physical and tangible. I’m not a carpenter, but I’m a technical carpenter. I'm not just building cabinets, but it’s a symphony, so I am conducting a symphony where I have internet connectivity through fiber carriers to create your bandwidth, internet. I work with the power company because we absorb a lot of power. Then on top of that I have to cool equipment in the data center so it doesn’t overheat, so it runs at an optimal level. Then I have people, technology changing and different clients. I just love the business, it’s a constant challenge. I really feel like we can make a difference.”

Novva is conscious of being eco sensitive. It makes great efforts to keep the emissions down as low as possible.

 

“One of the things you’ll see a lot here is we use zero water,” Swenson said. “Most data centers use 90% water for their cooling system. We are sensitive to the environment. We try to source as many local materials as possible when building the structure. We use local contractors, local concrete businesses to keep carbon consumption down on travel. We use a lot of insulation in the data center. The exterior walls are 14 inches thick; the interior has almost 3 feet of insulation between exterior and interior. We try to be as eco sensitive as we can from bottom to top. The generators help keep the emissions down as low as possible. We have a design we think will be very popular in the next decade. Our electrical design is on a generator and batteries. In a decade, the generators and batteries will be gone. The network will heal itself if the data center loses power; it will go to another data center. We have developed a system that will adapt to not having generators or batteries.”

Swenson explained why customers should choose Novva.

“Our solutions, Novva’s hyperscale data centers, are designed for organizations of every size, he said. “We match our capabilities with your specific data needs to create flexible solutions, because as you grow, so should your data infrastructure. We make that growth easy with scalable, customizable leases so you can rent capacity when you need it. From cabinets and cages to private suites or buildings, our solutions are ready for you.”

Novva has turnkey data solutions, blended bandwidth solutions, autonomous client suites, private wholesale buildings and secure multi-tenant colocation. What solution you choose you will benefit from Novva’s hyperscale facility that includes equipment inspection and inventory review, cooling systems, adaptive power monitoring and density controls, onsite surveillance and security, exhaustive Rrsk management protocols, dedication to sustainable energy, climate control, and regulatory compliance.