Cisco Systems has opened its new data center in Allen, Texas, which the company says is equipped with unified cloud computing technology and several energy efficiency features.

The new data center is near another Cisco facility in Richardson, Texas. The two data centers are meant to serve as "active-active" mirrors of one another, providing instant backup and synchronised updates of changes at each.

The company said the new data center features a comprehensive data center fabric including Nexus 7000 and 5000 Series switches, Nexus 1000V Virtual Switches, MDS storage networking switches, Data Center Network Manager and NX-OS, a data center operating system that spans the Cisco data center portfolio.

Cisco said the unified fabric saved it over $1m on cabling. The facility uses additional hardware and software from partners EMC, NetApp and VMware.

The new data center has a PUE score of 1.35, which means that for every unit of power spent, 35 units are spent on power, cooling and other infrastructure. The facility takes down 5MW but can scale up to 10. The office spaces are powered by solar panels.

Among other features of the new facility are: ability to withstand tornado winds up to 175 mph; use of rotary flywheels in the UPS room; and air-side economiser design cooling.

The facility also uses a solid floor and overhead cooling, instead of a raised floor design.

Cisco Data Center, Switching, and Services Group senior vice-president John McCool said the new data center showcases Cisco’s innovation leadership and the data center architectural flexibility to deliver any application, in any location, and any scale in a secure and open manner.

Cisco Server Access and Virtualization Group vice-president Soni Jiandani said,"As critical business assets, data centers today are undergoing rapid technology and architectural changes to meet and respond more rapidly to evolving business goals."

"Innovative Cisco technologies like the Cisco Unified Computing System and Nexus product families are helping data centers transform into an agile and efficient networked environment that helps deliver information from any device to any content, anywhere, at any time."

Cisco has applied for Gold certification by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for the new facility.