Different requirements, different business objectives, different spaces; data centres come in all shapes and sizes, further complicated by varying desires of what it actually needs to do. An agile approach to data centre design is therefore vital in achieving an efficient, future proofed data centre. With the reliance on electricity supply never being greater, the requirement for dependable, resilient power protection, energy management and cooling is critical. Adopting turnkey methods will resolve these many diverse challenges and ensure continuous uptime, while accelerating return on investment and offering the lowest total cost of ownership. With an eye on the long-term future flexibility, Critical Power deliver fully configured power systems for primed and ready to use data centres.
Delivering reliable power, cooling and energy management
Every aspect from switchgear, transformers and cooling technologies, are all integrated to provide a data centre with an uninterruptible power supply. Whether for existing or new installations, this end-to-end approach is enhanced through a range of monitoring and maintenance programmes to provide extensive visibility and control.
Being agile in design
Countless elements have to be considered when determining the very best system. Fortunately being independent, with Critical Power you are assured of absolutely the right solution for your situation, rather than the one that is the closest match (and will just about do!) from what can be offered from a particular brand a company is tied into. This manufacture independence creates a mix and match ability which adds to the flexibility, while being able to adapt and respond to the changes in project scope which inevitably arise. The competence to work with the most relevant specialists ensures only the most suitably experienced and trained technicians are involved for the particular project and sector.
Addressing the requirements
The complexities of power protection and getting the right solution for an operation cannot be underestimated. The true importance of what is being supported and protected means that some elements, such as the value of the data held are near on impossible to put a price on. The decisions to be made are therefore, crucial. But what do these decisions include?
- Modular approach – flexible and scalable infrastructures, designed to support future network changes, computing power and technology upgrades and facilitate long-term growth plans without major disruptions
- Space – requirements minimised where possible, by patching outside the rack and cabinet, such as overhead to allow more floor space for equipment
- UPS (either three phase or single phase) – whether online, line-interactive or offline, these are critical as the power bridge to maintaining operations until the generator synchronises with the UPS and picks up the load
- Protection discrimination – ensures devices within a supply circuit are coordinated, so any fault loads (overload, short-circuit or earth), are quickly removed without disruption to other loads
- Technical equipment – including MDU/RDU to maintain power distribution, ATS to ensure sustainable uptime, PSG to manage the generator start-up and synchronisation, SPD to protect the computers and servers from power surges and server boxes featuring AC/DC front ends
- Racks and cabinets – flexible, scalable racks and cabinets designed to accommodate future demands, including capacity for higher weight thresholds, adjustable rails and wider vertical managers
- Cable management – optimised cable and connectivity including network cabling, with potentially an integrated cable and airflow approach, where the most ideal cable route is adopted to ensure maximum performance and ability to support copper and fibre
- Cooling – including all aspects from in-row, fresh air or portable cooling to specific computer room air cooling (CRAC) to ensure cold air flows directly through the racks, picking up the heat as it goes, before exiting
- Security – agreed and implemented access control measures, with some data centres lending themselves to having different zones of security and CCTV
- Fire suppression– heat generated, plus potentially faulty equipment and damaged wiring, all increase the fire risk, so a Pneumatically Actuated Fire Suppression Systems (PAFSS) will detect the fire source and extinguish it early, to minimise damage and enable a quicker recovery of operations
- Monitoring and maintenance – on-going maintenance and monitoring of all systems to ensure uptime and long-term health, including the ability to monitor bandwidth use, as well as energy, storage, physical rack space gives which sends alerts when outages or low thresholds are breached
Primed to minimise downtime, improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact, agile data centre design ensures sustainable uptime, optimised energy consumption and power continuity in today’s business environments. Using an independent specialist provider of power protection, accredited to all the relevant standards (OHSAS 18001, SAFEcontractor, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001) – means Critical Power take the time to understand your power continuity planning and design needs to choose the right solution for your data centre whatever your industry.
