Schneider Electric and Elite Partner APT Deliver Data Centre Digital Transformation for Newcastle City Council

Author: Beatrice

Schneider Electric, has delivered a new data centre digital transformation project for Newcastle City Council in collaboration with Elite Partner, Advanced Power Technology (APT). The initiative included consolidation of existing data centre capacity, upgrades to infrastructure and deployment of next generation management software to ensure efficient digital service delivery for the council’s e-government strategy.

The project aims to improve Newcastle City Councils ability to deliver e-government services to 300,000 citizens and businesses. Applications within the facility include council tax collection, social and library services, education and road traffic management, whilst supporting other essential public service bodies such as the NHS and the Police.

The data centre replaces three server rooms, each containing a number of disparate UPS and cooling systems which in need of maintenance. The Council chose EcoStruxure for Data Centers and Schneider Electric’s system architecture for its new data centre. The system, designed and built by APT, consolidates the council’s IT infrastructure in a single data hall.

To guarantee uptime in the event of a power outage, the Council installed Schneider Electric modular and scalable range of Galaxy range UPS’s, offering N+1 redundant configuration and extended runtimes. APT has also deployed EcoStruxure IT Expert, Schenider Electric’s next-generation DCIM software to drive efficiency and provide monitoring, improved maintenance schedules and proactive alerts to system issues. The new data centre improves Newcastle City Council’s ability to ensure service continuity and increases efficiency for a lower cost of ownership.

A benefit of EcoStruxure IT Expert software is the ability for operators to monitor power consumption. With the new data centre designed to house IT and network devices in contained aisles, visibility of energy consumption and environmental data, enables the power and cooling systems to be operated with optimum energy efficiency.

EcoStruxure IT Expert enables the facility to deliver cost-effective hosting services to other local bodies. Around 10% of the data centre’s real estate is leased out to other public sector organisations. By carefully monitoring the power supply to each rack, the Council can accurately charge for hosting services, producing a revenue stream that helps to offset its operating costs.

“Previously, we were able to withstand a loss of power for 20 minutes,” says James Dickman, Senior ICT Solutions Analyst, Newcastle City Council. “we can operate for three hours on UPS batteries if required and can use our backup generator to provide alternative power in the event of a loss of our mains supply.”

“The management capabilities of EcoStruxure IT has resulted in improved visibility of the data centre operations and offers a ability to mitigate issues,” states John Thompson, MD of Advanced Power Technology. “With more detailed insight, Newcastle City Council can increase the resiliency of the IT Service to improve the customer experience.”

“With IT, connectivity and digital demands growing, the data centre plays a crucial role,” comments Marc Garner, VP, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric UK&I. “APT’s expertise in data centre design, build and installation have been pivotal in the success of this digital transformation project.”

“As a public body we are looking for ways to improve cost and energy efficiencies,” continues Dickman. “Schneider Electric and APT were able to design and deliver a data centre that meets our needs and expectations. The facility enables us to meet our service commitments to stakeholders while minimising the carbon impact.”