MicroLink.Brief · 250 MW Campus
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01 · Introduction

MicroLink Campus Standardization on Vertiv OneCore Reference Design 5

MicroLink deploys high density liquid cooled compute at energized industrial host sites and returns the waste heat to the host. Campus one is two 50 MW OneCore blocks, 100 MW, scaling to the full 250 MW campus. Four campuses is the 1 GW program, standardized on Vertiv OneCore Reference Design 5. Vertiv's brochure uses block for a 10 to 64 MW unit and we use it the same way throughout. Campus is ours.

MicroLink campus standardised on the Vertiv OneCore 250 MW block, plan view
250
MW nominal IT
2,208
racks, 1,024 compute
26.9
ha site (66.5 acres)
5
minutes ride through, as printed
02 · Clarification

This is how we read Reference Design 5. Please correct us.

Every line is taken from the Vertiv OneCore brochure (R12/26), the product catalog, or Vertiv public reporting. Mark each one yes or no and leave a comment where we have it wrong.

Vertiv OneCore 250, reference design 5
Vertiv OneCore 250, reference design 5

The design, as printed

Check
250 MW, 2,208 racks

1,024 VR200 compute racks. Vera Rubin, not GB300. We read RD3 as the GB300 design, at 50 MW. Campus one is two of those 50 MW blocks, so we need to know what changes when they carry VR200 instead of GB300.

Confirm
A block is 10 to 64 MW

So RD5 at 250 MW is a campus of blocks, not one. 96 to 2,200+ racks per block. At 64 MW and 2,200 racks that is 29 kW per rack, against the 113 kW we need. Where do the seams fall, and what is the rack count at our density?

Check
RD5 = two copies of RD4

Eight compute halls against four, 2,208 racks against 1,104. We also read one extra core hall of 3,588 m² (38,621 sq ft), which would give eleven halls. We count ten. Which is right?

Check
Ten data halls

Eight compute at 1,910 m² (20,559 sq ft), 99.9%. Two core at 99.999%. Footprint 22,793 m² (245,340 sq ft). Eight compute and two core sum to 22,456 m² (241,713 sq ft) against the 22,793 m² footprint. We cannot place the 337 m² difference.

Check
26.9 ha, halls are 8.5%

269,071 m² (2,896,254 sq ft). What is the other 91.5%, and how much is heat rejection yard?

Confirm
95% liquid, 5% air

RD5 runs 95 liquid, 5 air. Chilled water, separate primary circuit for direct liquid cooling. RD3 runs 87 / 13, RD1 and RD2 run 80 / 20.

Gap
Rejection ends at atmosphere

FIZ chiller for air, CoolLoop trim cooler for liquid. No host delivery loop in any of the five designs. Question one.

Gap
Five minutes ride through

Electrical and thermal. Power smoothing at 0%. Standby generation sits outside OneCore scope entirely.

Confirm
34.5 kV medium voltage

Racks at 400, 415 or 480 V three phase. 800 V DC fed racks supported, which is why we propose an 8 MW pilot.

Confirm
4N/3 compute, 2N network

Concurrently maintainable distributed redundancy. SFN N+1, PFN concurrently maintainable.

Check
Phasing listed as No

For RD3, RD4 and RD5. Only RD2 is marked Yes. How would a phased release structure work on your side?

Confirm
CDU2300, PG25, stainless

237.5 MW of liquid against a 2,300 kW unit implies about 103 CDUs at N, before N+1. Please confirm the count.

Confirm
Option 2 is our model

Customer or GC provides the shell, Vertiv delivers the blocks. We deploy on operating industrial sites.

Gap
No published price

Engineered to order, which we understand. Our working assumption for Option 2 block scope is USD 1.3M to 1.8M per MW.

Rack power, derived not published

250 MW across 2,208 racks is 113 kW average per rack. Divided across the 1,024 compute racks alone it is 244 kW, but that assumes the 1,184 networking, storage and infrastructure racks draw nothing. Allowing them a realistic share puts VR200 compute racks in the region of 200 to 220 kW each. We could not find a published per rack figure and would like the real one.

03 · Questions

Eleven questions. Six of them shape the architecture.

Eleven questions MicroLink cannot answer alone. Mark each one yes or no and leave a comment.

The eleven questions

01
Heat recovery interface

Will you co-engineer the third loop at the PFN boundary? OneCore ends at atmosphere. This is the one we need most.

Architecture
02
Factory slot and deposit

What locks a slot, and what deposit schedule? We will pay early. Tell us the schedule and we work to it.

Architecture
03
Framework and release orders

Four releases against a committed 1 GW. Our sites will not become ready on a fixed cadence. How does that sit with your loading?

Architecture
04
800 V DC at campus one

Or only at campus two? Two power architectures across a 1 GW estate is the worst outcome. We propose an 8 MW pilot.

Architecture
05
Unit price, campus one to four

Campus one carries the NRE, priced honestly. How much comes back over campuses two, three and four, and what unlocks it?

Architecture
06
Assembly on a live site

Your method assumes a purpose built hall. We build on the apron of an operating industrial site, alongside live plant and traffic. What changes, and what does it cost?

Architecture
07
CDU count and PFN temperatures

How many CDU2300 in RD5, and the supply and return temperatures? Return temperature decides what the heat is worth.

Sizing
08
Structural floor loading

Rack, CDU and skid loadings. Give us the design point so we can set the slab, because the campus is new build and the loading is ours to specify.

Sizing
09
Per rack power, VR200

Our working figure is 200 to 220 kW. Give us the real one. 244 kW only holds if the other 1,184 racks draw nothing.

Sizing
10
Design PUE, and ERE

We report ERE alongside PUE on a dry cooler first basis. We want your reporting and ours to reconcile.

Sizing
11
Indicative price per MW

Option 2 block scope, at or under USD 1.8M per MW, inside a USD 7.5M per MW facility envelope excluding compute.

Commercial