Enterprise Data Centre Borden

Backgrounder

 Data Centres

Shared Services Canada (SSC) defines data centres as one or more servers in a room of at least 9 m2 (100 square feet) with its own power or air conditioning. Data centres operate and manage:

  • telecommunications networks
  • data processing systems
  • centralized data storage
  • equipment such as servers, network switches and mainframes


SSC has two types of data centres:

  • Legacy Data Centres are older facilities that serve individual departments or a group of departments.
  • Enterprise Data Centres are newer, larger state-of-the-art facilities that serve the entire federal government and eliminate the need for maintenance shutdowns.
  • SSC is moving content from many older legacy data centres into fewer enterprise data centres and cloud platforms. This improves how the Government of Canada delivers secure benefits payments and provides important border security and weather forecasting services for Canadians.

A successful partnership

The new Enterprise Data Centre (EDC) Borden is the result of SSC, Defence Construction Canada and the Department of National Defence working together.

It is also a key element in SSC’s transformation of the Government of Canada’s information technology (IT) infrastructure. In May 2016, the Government of Canada awarded a 25-year, $322M public-private partnership contract to UIP GP to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the EDC Borden. This helps SSC to fulfil its mandate to modernize the Government’s IT infrastructure, improve service delivery and increase protection against physical and cyber security threats.


Benefits to Canadians

  1. No maintenance service disruptions. The new EDC Borden is certified for
    Tier III Topology from the Uptime Institute, an internationally recognized leader for data centre standards and certification. This eliminates the need to shutdown the facility for maintenance activities and leads to better service delivery to Canadians. 

  2. Better security. This new facility provides greater physical and cyber security for Canadians’ personal information.

  3. Green infrastructure for a cleaner environment. EDC Borden is designed to achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, Silver certification level rating for new construction from the Canada Green Building Council, a worldwide green building certification program. This green building is 25% more energy efficient and does not require water to cool the facility

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