JD's Suqian Self‑Built Data Center Wins 2017 Infrastructure Design Innovation Award

On September 27, at the ICT China High‑Level Forum held in Beijing, JD's self‑built Suqian data center project received the 2017 Data Center Annual Infrastructure Design Innovation Award.

The forum gathered senior officials from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, telecom operators, Huawei, Intel, Nokia Bell, and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology to discuss how 5G, cloud computing, IoT, and big data support economic and social development.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Communications Development Division Director Huang Yejing emphasized that high‑performance data centers are critical reliable platforms and called for higher standards in core technology and operational capabilities.

Director Huang Yejing of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on data‑center development requirements

China Data Center Alliance Chairperson Dai Xiaohui noted that designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining highly reliable, highly available, high‑service‑quality, and energy‑efficient data centers is gaining increasing industry attention.

Dai Xiaohui presenting the award to the winning enterprise

The 2017 High‑Performance Data Center Development Forum evaluated enterprises and projects with core technologies and innovative designs across design, IT equipment, energy efficiency, and operation, ultimately awarding JD's self‑built data center the Infrastructure Design Innovation Award.

More than 30 companies participated, competing fiercely across multiple award categories; JD's project emerged as the winner.

JD IT Resource Services leader Lv Ke shared at the forum that the data‑center industry is a highly technical service sector, and JD continuously launches AI, drone, and cloud‑computing applications that improve the shopping experience for hundreds of millions of users, all built on innovative data‑center services.

He added that the award highlighted many outstanding innovative technologies in the data‑center field, and JD's first self‑built data center received industry recognition for its design innovation, encouraging further exploration.

JD's first self‑built data center, located in Suqian, covers nearly 60,000 m², represents a 3 billion CNY investment, and can host 200,000 servers, provide at least 32 EB of storage and 128 PFLOPS of compute power, with an annual PUE ≤ 1.3, leading the East China region.

The judges praised several of JD's technical implementations:

1. High‑voltage power system: a dedicated 110 kV switch station with two redundant 220 kV lines and a complete diesel generator set, providing triple power redundancy.

2. Low‑voltage power system: use of amorphous‑core transformers reduces no‑load loss by 65‑70 %; separate transformers for IT and auxiliary equipment avoid inductive load impacts.

3. Cooling source system: an enhanced Free‑Cooling control system smoothly transitions between free‑cooling and mechanical cooling, achieving over six months of free‑cooling operation and saving millions of yuan in electricity; an online cold‑storage tank provides 15 minutes of backup cooling during power loss.

4. Indirect evaporative cooling system: installed on the roof of the Phase‑II project, it replaces traditional water‑cooled air‑conditioning, using misted water on heat exchangers to absorb heat, resulting in a design PUE of 1.14 and up to ten months of natural cooling per year.

5. 6‑Sigma airflow simulation: advanced CFD software was used to model airflow and temperature distribution, allowing early issue detection and design optimization.

For more detailed technical information, refer to the following articles:

JD Self‑Built Data Center Core Technology – Infrastructure

JD Self‑Built Data Center Core Technology – Operations Management