Better Data Center Ops & Construction with VR
With Resolve and the Oculus Quest, Interxion has unlocked access of 3D assets for operations, maintenance, and security staff before construction.
Interxion, a Digital Realty company, is one of the leading providers of colocation data center services in Europe. Reliability, security, and safety are top priorities when they design and build new data center facilities. In 2020, the Interxion Switzerland team received Oculus Quest 2 headsets as an annual company holiday gift to better stay in touch during the lockdown. Only a couple of months later, the operations and security team was investigating ways to use their VR headsets for more than virtual meetings, sports and video games and turned to Resolve to test VR reviews of their future projects. The first Interxion project to leverage Resolve is the ZUR3 facility in Switzerland, an 11,400 m², 24 MW colocation facility in Zurich.
The ZUR3 project team was already leveraging Autodesk Construction Cloud's BIM 360 to host BIM assets so integrating Resolve was hassle-free during the initial pilot with 20 participants. Prior to piloting Resolve, the operations and maintenance teams mainly looked at 2D sheets or reviewed 3D models via screen shares. With Resolve and the Oculus Quest, Interxion has unlocked access of 3D assets for operations, maintenance, and security staff before construction.
In the first 3 months using Resolve, the ZUR3 team discovered over 150 issues ranging from missing safety rails to equipment placement that limited security measures. This led to more than €200,000 in savings from late stage changes and a reduction in the total cost of ownership. The ZUR3 facility runs on 100% renewable energy so reducing the travel carbon footprint by reviewing in VR also contributes to the project’s sustainability goals.
The use of VR to engage operations teams earlier in the design process has led to excitement about new ways of working and engaging with 3D building models. From virtual onboarding of new employees to training of critical emergency procedures, Interxion’s operations teams are finding new ways to extract value from BIM assets beyond design and construction throughout the lifespan of the data center.