Many computers and electronics are manufactured in accordance with the standards set forth by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

IEC compliant server and network equipment power supplies use the "IEC Connector" power cords. These connector power cords are interchanegeable so that the device will work internationally worldwide, regardless of country-specific electricai standards. It is important to note that much of Europe and Asia use 200-230 Volts as their mains distribution voltage. Many computers, servers and electronics will work in Europe by simply swapping out the American 120V IEC Connector power cord with a European 230V power cord, then verifying the input voltage setting on the power supply.

Furthermore, almost all computer and network equipment power supplies manufactured in recent years have "auto-sense" capability, where they will automatically range and accept any electrical input voltage from 100 Volts and up to 240 Volts. This means for most equipments, you won't even have to flip the input voltage setting switch.

TowardEX will provide you with a compatible IEC Connector power cord to plug in your server equipment to our 208V and 240V power sources, so you do not need to worry about finding a compatible power cord.

If you are installing non-IEC Standard equipment or a device that uses hardwired 120V transformer adaptor, you will need to contact your equipment manufacturer to purchase an international, IEC-compatible adaptor. Transformer adaptors made by Cisco, Dell and many reputable vendors for small firewalls and laptops all use IEC Connector outlets for input power and are compatible with any voltages from 100 to 240 Volts.

In order to improve electrical reliability and efficiency, TowardEX delivers industrial-grade electrical power to each colocation rack by using three phase alternating current electrical circuits.

Shared colocation racks inside the QuantumColo™ infrastructure are classified into one of the two density categories: High Density and Medium Density. We install two 3 phase AC power circuits for each colocation cabinet, one circuit is from "A" side and the other circuit is from the "B" side. The "A" and the "B" sides are uplinked to separate utility grids using different entry risers into the building. Moreover, these "A/B" sides go through a completely separated set of flywheel UPS backup and generators to deliver truly diverse power connectivity for redundancy.

Medium density colocation cabinets receive their electrical power using three phase 208 Volts AC. High density cabinets receive their power using three phase 415 Volts AC. Customer servers inside medium density cabinets will see nominal input voltages between 203 to 208V, while customers situated inside high density cabinets will see between 230 to 240V. Line voltage is produced by wiring phase-to-phase on medium density cabinets, while in high density cabinets, we drop the 415V into single-phase 240V for customer use by connecting phase-to-neutral.

Unlike most shared colocation service providers, TowardEX QuantumColo™ makes heavy use of industrial grade 3-phase and higher voltage distribution for electrical power delivery. Utilization of three phase power allows us to deliver a substantial amount of power whip per circuit than using traditional single-phase, residential-grade 120V power. This means that we can significantly cut down our installation cost, improve cooling of customer servers and help in creating a cleaner environment by using less cables and construction materials to deliver the needed power.

The reduction in amount of service cables needed for power delivery also clears a lot of obstructions that would otherwise be created inside the cabinet when using single-phase 120V. The reduction in obstructions caused by incoming power helps in improving the air flow for better cooling and also reduces electromagnetic interference to customer ethernet connections.

Utilization of higher distribution voltage such as 240V means that we have to deliver our power at a much higher voltage (415V) to the colocation cabinet. This high voltage uplink allows us to eliminate a transformer in the distribution path, connecting closer to the 480V commercial building distribution voltage. The reduction in number of transformations needed between the UPS and the customer server improves energy efficiency in the power delivery mechanism.

In addition, using higher voltage produces a slight efficiency gain (about 1-3%) in each customer server equipment. Higher voltage means less current is needed to run an equipment, and reduction in current means less heat is generated by the equipment. The slight efficiency gain of 2% for every customer equipment helps significantly in improving our overall energy usage and also has a potential for slightly improving customer equipment's lifetime.

In conclusion, delivering power at a higher voltage as opposed to 120V and using 3-phase distribution improves both efficiency and reliability of power in our data center facilities. It is also our responsibility to seek ways to become more efficient and reduce our carbon footprint as our energy usage rises over time. It is important to expect this and understand that the use of the higher voltage is driven by fundamental electrical engineering principles in a high power density environment.