Infrastructure

Vertiv offers scalable busbar power distribution system

Vertiv has continued the expansion of its power distribution portfolio with the availability of the Vertiv Powerbar iMPB, a modular busbar system designed to enable seamless, on-demand power upgrades in dynamic data centre environments. Available in both copper and aluminium conductor offerings, the Vertiv Powerbar iMPB family features capacities from 160A to 1,000A and delivers reliable overhead power distribution, with the inherent benefit of also maximising cooling airflow. The system is ideal for use in almost any size or style of data centre, as well as laboratories, distribution warehouses, adaptable manufacturing plants and other dynamic environments. The Vertiv Powerbar iMPB is available in North America, Latin America, Asia - including Australia and New Zealand, India, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The busway system allows businesses to cost-effectively optimise and adapt power distribution infrastructure over time, maximising availability through continuous power delivery to critical loads. User-friendly tap-off boxes with breaker protection can be placed anywhere along the busway and isolate active IT loads and nearby branch breakers to ensure continuous power delivery. The adaptive busbar comes with a simple sandwich-style joint pack construction that makes installation secure and easy, with no special tooling required. The Vertiv Powerbar iMPB includes a variety of capacity and connection configurations to allow for adjustments and upgrades with minimal outside support and no loss of power to critical loads. “As more and more devices are added and higher rack densities become commonplace, space is at a premium in today’s data centres,” says Phil O’Doherty, Managing Director, E&I at Vertiv. “The power infrastructure must keep pace, which means being scalable and quick to deploy. The Vertiv Powerbar iMPB delivers on all fronts with a modular, easy-to-install system that is compact and flexible enough to meet constantly changing demands.” The Vertiv Powerbar iMPB is UL 857 and IEC 61439-2 compliant, and the lightweight aluminium busway track chassis has an IP2X/3X safety rating with integrated finger-safe capabilities and ground-first/break-last design to ensure maximum safety while servicing. With both copper and recyclable aluminium conductor options, the busbar can be configured to meet the conductivity and safety requirements of any installation. The Vertiv Powerbar iMPB, a mature offering from Vertiv’s E&I brand, will supersede the previous Vertiv Liebert MBX busway product that was available in North America and EMEA, and is compatible with the previous offering. The Vertiv Powerbar iMPB solution complements the Vertiv E&I switchgear range to provide a complete power distribution solution. www.vertiv.com

Vertiv introduces new lithium-ion UPS and cooling solutions

Vertiv has introduced new power and cooling solutions for the edge of the network, including the addition of lithium-ion models to one of the industry’s leading on-line UPS families. The Vertiv Liebert GXT5 Lithium-Ion UPS range and the Vertiv Liebert SRC-G room cooling solution are now available throughout Asia, including Australia and New Zealand. “We understand the growing complexities of managing computing at the edge of the network,” says Andy Liu, Director for Integrated Rack Solutions at Vertiv in Asia. “Availability, efficiency and agility are vital to our customers, and our new offerings meet these requirements, with lithium-ion technology in compact UPS, and a high-efficiency room cooling system for small IT spaces. In addition, these high-efficiency systems can support our customers’ sustainability strategies in the data centre space.” Vertiv leveraged the higher power density of lithium-ion to pack more battery runtime in the same amount of space as a typical valve-regulated lead acid (VRLA) battery. The Liebert GXT5 Lithium-Ion, ranging in sizes from 1kVA to 3kVA, also supports scalable runtime, with a 1U lithium-ion external battery cabinet (EBC). In addition, lithium-ion batteries typically last eight to 10 years - roughly the lifespan of the UPS itself - compared to about two to three years for VRLA, potentially eliminating costly and inconvenient battery replacements. Lithium-ion batteries are also significantly lighter than VRLA batteries and perform better at higher temperatures, reducing the need for lower temperatures in the rack and by extension, lowering the costs of energy used for cooling. The Liebert GXT5 Lithium-Ion comes with five years standard warranty for both UPS unit and battery. To meet UL standards, the lithium-ion batteries include an integrated battery management system that monitors the battery at the cell level to enable safe, efficient operation. The Vertiv Liebert GXT5 Lithium-Ion is compatible with the Vertiv Liebert MicroPOD, an optional maintenance bypass switch that can be installed in the rack behind the UPS, enabling maintenance to the UPS without taking the protected rack equipment offline. Meanwhile, the Liebert SRC-G delivers the optimal availability and efficiency in cooling small IT spaces. Available from 3kW to 11kW, the Liebert SRC-G is wall-mounted, occupying no ‘white space’ while providing year-round cooling to IT equipment. The CE-certified Liebert SRC-G series is capable of supporting sensible load operation year-round. It is equipped with energy efficient electronically commutated (EC) fan technology and refrigerant R410A, together with efficient compressor technology. The Liebert SRC-G also features an advanced controller, including remote monitoring capabilities for added intelligence when managing edge IT locations. www.vertiv.com

DataQube announces Claude Sassoulas as new CEO

DataQube has appointed Claude Sassoulas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to head up the company’s next stage of corporate growth and explore its expansion plans.  Claude has over 25 years’ experience in building and running major B2B organisations within the ICT, telecom infrastructure, managed services, and cloud sectors. Prior to joining DataQube, he spent four years as COO at InterCloud. He was also the Managing Director (Europe) at Tata Communications for 13 years, where he grew the business from the ground up to a $500m company. Under his leadership, DataQube is looking forward to building on the progress it has made so far in the edge computing space and continuing to establish its novel offering as the go-to solution for localised data processing. Over the forthcoming weeks, he will be bolstering DataQube’s commercial and technical expertise through targeted recruitment and overseeing the establishment of a global reseller and partner network.  “I’m delighted to be joining this disruptive company during such an exciting growth phase,” says Claude. “Demand for real-time data handling is growing now that 5G rollouts and the technologies they support are gaining momentum, and existing edge facilities are struggling to deliver. Our solution’s flexible architecture, HPC capabilities, green credentials, and compelling price point are set to be a real game changer in the data centre industry.” “Claude’s proven ability to scale businesses in telecoms and cloud infrastructure will be invaluable to the commercialisation and development of DataQube,” says Anne-Laure de la Roche, Head of Asset Management at RGREEN INVEST. “Global digitalisation is driving the need for sustainable data handling at the edge, and DataQube is the optimal solution.”  Unlike conventional data centre installations, DataQube pods can be fully up and running within a six-month timeframe, for 50% less Capex and with one of the lowest PUE in the industry. These performance and sustainability advantages, together with the solution’s person-free design and lightweight structure make installations possible in a diverse range of locations where traditional installations are neither practical nor feasible. Moreover, DataQube’s efficient use of space and optimised IT capacity, along with its ability to dramatically lower overall energy usage and CO2 emissions, is setting a new standard in the industry. www.dataqube.com www.rgreeninvest.com

Panduit launches SmartZone intelligent UPS family

Panduit has introduced the SmartZone Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) family to EMEA region, delivering simple to install and use, highly efficient and reliable power with the capability to integrate into Panduit’s SmartZone DCIM software and provide intelligent systems and environmental alerts, consistent power protection and backup for critical computer ITE. The SmartZone UPS family offers excellent electrical performance, intelligent battery management and a long lifespan (with lithium-ion units offering 97% efficiency). Compliant with ENERGY STAR 2.0, EMC, and safety standards, it is guaranteed that the SmartZone UPS meets the continually growing power demands of data centre, enterprise, and edge IT equipment. The rack-mounted SmartZone UPS family focuses on high reliability, power density, efficiency, and secure manageability. This UPS range offers models with various power ratings, configurations, and battery types to meet application-specific needs, and includes 1-3kVA, 5-10kVA and 10/15/20kVA online double conversion units, equipped with powerful and maintenance-free batteries. All SmartZone UPS units offer a 79mm (3.5in) touch screen colour display. The screen auto-detects the UPS mounting orientation and auto-rotates to support horizontal in-rack installation or vertical tower installation. Three-phase UPS Developed for critical computer environments, such as data centres and edge, Panduit’s SmartZone UPS’ offer an integrated solution with UPS connectivity with multiple external battery packs (EBP) and an external Maintenance Bypass Switch (MBS). For larger systems the UPS can be configured as three-phase in/three-phase out high-density UPS, or as three-phase in/single-phase out high-density UPS. Digital signal processor controlled, the units offer superior reliability, high power efficiency and constant self-protection and self-diagnostics to provide maximum system availability. The battery charging current is user selectable, allowing the battery charging parameters to be optimised for utilisation and battery life. Furthermore, the system offers innovative three-stage charging to extend service life and guarantee fast charging. Efficient ECO mode The UPS can be manually configured to operate in either normal or ECO mode. Normal mode (online double conversion) is the default mode for the UPS unit and operates as a stable pure sine wave AC output and charges the battery. When in normal mode and the load is not critical, the UPS can be set to ECO mode to increase the efficiency of the power supplied. SmartZone As an intelligent UPS solution, the SmartZone UPS can be integrated into common control and monitoring systems, such as the cloud based DCIM application SmartZone Cloud. This web-based application can manage, monitor, and control energy consumption, environmental data, security components, connectivity, and IT resources. For secure infrastructure monitoring, the SmartZone cloud application collects and processes real-time data from the integrated systems and sends timely alerts to prevent potential failures. This allows risks to be efficiently minimised and costly system failures to be prevented.   

Reading can expect £1bn economic boost from CityFibre rollout

A new report commissioned by CityFibre has identified that Reading stands to be a huge beneficiary from the rollout of future-proof full fibre infrastructure, which is now well underway across the town. The study by the consultancy Hatch, (Economic Impact of Full Fibre Infrastructure from CityFibre’s Network), estimates that, over a 15-year period, the positive impacts of CityFibre’s £58m investment in Reading will include £625m in productivity and innovation gains, £138m from a widened workforce, £18m in local authority efficiency savings and £384m in increased housing value. Technological benefits are also a major focus of the report, which demonstrates that CityFibre’s network in Reading will help realise £1bn gross added value (GVA) from 5G services, £249m from the Internet of Things and £263m from Smart City initiatives, like intelligent traffic management systems and street lighting. The continuing transition to home and flexible working, supported by full fibre access at home and in the office, is also unlocking access to a larger pool of labour for employers. In Reading, working productivity uplifts are estimated to exceed £35m. The direct impact of network construction is also identified as a major contributor to Reading’s economic growth, creating network construction jobs within CityFibre’s build partners and supply chain. Wherever possible, the new jobs will be recruited locally to support the rollout. As a whole, the UK stands to benefit from over £38bn in potential economic benefits. Productivity improvements and innovation are responsible for the largest impact, driving more than £22bn in GVA gains nationwide. This is due to the positive effect that far faster and more reliable digital connectivity has been shown to have on business productivity and innovation, increasing turnover and contributing to the formation of new businesses and business models. Stacey King, Area Manager for Reading at CityFibre, says: “This report demonstrates just how powerful and essential full fibre is as a catalyst for growth and as a platform for innovation and investment. “Reading is quickly becoming one of the best digitally connected towns in the UK, and the opportunity for residents and local businesses is huge. We thank residents for their patience as we progress with the full fibre infrastructure build here in a bid to offer more people access to some of the best broadband packages available.”

Kohler HVO fuel capabilities provide data centre customers with a pathway to zero carbon

Kohler Power Systems has announced that its entire offering of mission-critical diesel generators is compatible with Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), marking a significant breakthrough in the usage of alternative fuels in backup power. No adaptations to the installed generators are required, allowing for the immediate rollout of renewable fuel to customers seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. “At Kohler, we have already made great strides in making our generators inherently more efficient, reducing emissions regardless of the fuel used,” says James Zhang, President, Kohler Power Systems. “Now with HVO, we have taken a massive leap forward in our sustainability journey by greatly reducing the carbon footprint of our diesel products.” This next-generation renewable fuel has all the advantages of a sustainable fuel source, with none of the disadvantages of first-generation biodiesels. While first-generation solutions had a limited storage life of just six months, HVO is highly stable, with no sensitivity to oxidation, so it can be stored long-term. It is also 90% carbon neutral and sourced entirely from waste products – making it part of a circular economy. The similarity in HVO and fossil diesel characteristics further smooths the shift to biofuel because the two fuels can be mixed directly in the tank without issue. Therefore, it can be used immediately as the sole fuel supply for all Kohler diesel generators, such as the KD-Series, whether they are brand new or previously installed and in operation. In Europe, data centre operators are working hard to reduce emissions on their road to a zero carbon future. The Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, an industry body, has submitted a 'Self-Regulatory Initiative Proposal' to the European Union, while initiatives such as Carbon Aware Computing are encouraging the shift to cleaner data centres. “Customers can continue to rely on Kohler for their backup power needs, and now with a greater commitment to sustainability and reducing their carbon footprint, while not compromising on performance. The HVO fuel option supports Kohler’s commitment to our Better Planet strategy within the Believing in Better operating philosophy that focuses on overarching environmental goals,” James adds.

Uptime Institute finds downtime consequences worsening as efforts to curb outage frequency fall short

The digital infrastructure sector is struggling to achieve a measurable reduction in outage rates and severity, and the financial consequences and overall disruption from outages are steadily increasing, according to Uptime Institute, which today released the findings of its 2022 annual Outage Analysis report. “Digital infrastructure operators are still struggling to meet the high standards that customers expect and service level agreements demand – despite improving technologies and the industry’s strong investment in resiliency and downtime prevention,” says Andy Lawrence, Founding Member and Executive Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence. “The lack of improvement in overall outage rates is partly the result of the immensity of recent investment in digital infrastructure, and all the associated complexity that operators face as they transition to hybrid, distributed architectures,” comments Lawrence. “In time, both the technology and operational practices will improve, but at present, outages remain a top concern for customers, investors, and regulators. Operators will be best able to meet the challenge with rigorous staff training and operational procedures to mitigate the human error behind many of these failures.” Uptime’s annual outage analysis is unique in the industry, and draws on multiple surveys, information supplied by Uptime Institute members and partners, and its database of publicly reported outages. Key Findings Include: • High outage rates haven’t changed significantly. One in five organisations report experiencing a ‘serious’ or ‘severe’ outage (involving significant financial losses, reputational damage, compliance breaches and in some severe cases, loss of life) in the past three years, marking a slight upward trend in the prevalence of major outages. According to Uptime’s 2022 Data Centre Resiliency Survey, 80% of data centre managers and operators have experienced some type of outage in the past three years – a marginal increase over the norm, which has fluctuated between 70% and 80%. • The proportion of outages costing over $100,000 has soared in recent years. Over 60% of failures result in at least $100,000 in total losses, up substantially from 39% in 2019. The share of outages that cost upwards of $1 million increased from 11% to 15% over that same period. • Power-related problems continue to dog data centre operators. Power-related outages account for 43% of outages that are classified as significant (causing downtime and financial loss). The single biggest cause of power incidents is uninterruptible power supply (UPS) failures. • Networking issues are causing a large portion of IT outages. According to Uptime’s 2022 Data Centre Resiliency Survey, networking-related problems have been the single biggest cause of all IT service downtime incidents – regardless of severity – over the past three years. Outages attributed to software, network and systems issues are on the rise due to complexities from the increasing use of cloud technologies, software-defined architectures and hybrid, distributed architectures. • The overwhelming majority of human error-related outages involve ignored or inadequate procedures. Nearly 40% of organisations have suffered a major outage caused by human error over the past three years. 85% of these incidents stem from staff failing to follow procedures or from flaws in the processes and procedures themselves. • External IT providers cause most major public outages. The more workloads that are outsourced to external providers, the more these operators account for high-profile, public outages. Third-party, commercial IT operators (including cloud, hosting, colocation, telecommunication providers, etc.) account for 63% of all publicly reported outages that Uptime has tracked since 2016. In 2021, commercial operators caused 70% of all outages. • Prolonged downtime is becoming more common in publicly reported outages. The gap between the beginning of a major public outage and full recovery has stretched significantly over the last five years. Nearly 30% of these outages in 2021 lasted more than 24 hours, a disturbing increase from just 8% in 2017. • Public outage trends suggest there will be at least 20 serious, high-profile IT outages worldwide each year. Of the 108 publicly reported outages in 2021, 27 were serious or severe. This ratio has been consistent since the Uptime Intelligence team began cataloguing major outages in 2016, indicating that roughly one-fourth of publicly recorded outages each year are likely to be serious or severe.

Case study: automated, real-time data centre asset tracking

A worldwide ICT-company needed to automate how their servers were tracked and managed. With thousands of high value ICT assets in play, the ability to report without error on real-time asset whereabouts proved essential for both commercial success and compliance. In addition, the company was looking for ways to enhance cable maintenance intervention speed and accuracy. Read how Brady Corporation helped customer to answer this challenge! Solution: custom on-metal UHF RFID and NFC labels Custom, passive RFID labels on every asset, combined with fixed scanners at all data centre exits provide accurate, real-time tracking. Print-and-program printers in a central location enable the company to label any new assets immediately with reliable, custom RFID labels to maintain a complete overview at the click of a button. Brady can customise its RFID labels entirely so they can fit the needs of any customer. The L-2588-25C on-metal UHF RFID label with a three metre read range can be supplied to label all servers and flat surface assets. The label is equipped with an insulation layer to avoid interference between metal surfaces and its RFID antenna. The label is constructed using a reliable polyester that will stay attached and remain legible in data centre environments. Scanner gates were set up at all exits and entrances to help track server movement from a central location. Captured data are automatically added or removed from datacenter inventory lists. The UHF RFID labels are printed and encoded on site using specialised UHF RFID print-and-program printers. These enable the ICT-company to equip each RFID label with a unique number for automated, accurate tracking of any labelled asset. A custom HF RFID, or NFC, flag label can be added to identify cables with a smartphone or NFC pin point reader in close proximity. It enables data centre technicians to quickly verify which cables to replace, to switch equipment smoothly, and to access complete source and destination information as well as cable history. In addition, Brady offers NFC enabled printers to encode and print HF RFID, or NFC, labels. Results: automated inventory management with custom RFID labels Relevant asset locations, time-stamps, and other data are available in real-time at the click of a button. Staff no longer have to manually count assets and can assess a site’s entire ICT inventory in a couple of hours, instead of weeks. The data also enable the company to prevent errors in asset movement through automatic alerts generated via the supporting software. This increases overall efficiency and decreases labour cost. Additionally, compliance with various regulations worldwide is easier when whereabouts on the entire ICT inventory are available almost immediately in a central location. Discover Brady's dedicated data centre identification solutions and get the free data centre identification guide!

Kao Data to host Speechmatics' HPC and AI supercomputer

Kao Data has announced it has secured a new customer contract with Speechmatics, providing highly accurate speech-to-text capabilities to global enterprise businesses. Speechmatics' new high-performance computing (HPC) deployment includes NVIDIA A100 GPUs, housed within an advanced Supermicro computing infrastructure, which will be hosted at Kao Data's Harlow campus. The supercomputer will allow Speechmatics to expand its GPU-accelerated neural network research and development, supporting increasing customer demand for its leading speech recognition technology. Kao Data was chosen as the UK's premier location for HPC and AI, in addition to its commitments to sustainability and energy efficiency. Speechmatics' high-density supercomputer will benefit from bespoke colocation, an SLA-backed PUE of 1.2, and will be powered by 100% renewable energy. Recognised in both 2020 and 2021 by the FT1000 as one Europe's fastest-growing companies, and named within NVIDIA's prestigious Inception Program, Speechmatics exploits deep learning technology to deliver highly accurate and ultra-fast speech-to-text technology. The company utilises NVIDIA's acclaimed GPU hardware to complete its aim of understanding every voice, regardless of demographic, accent, or dialect. Speechmatics' supercomputer will work in tandem with its hyperscale cloud deployments, providing a pioneering example of fluent, hybrid HPC in-action. Central to this capability is Megaport's hyperscale connectivity solutions at Kao Data's Harlow campus, which provides seamless connectivity and on-ramps between the on-premises supercomputer, and Speechmatics' instances within Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. "Powering modern machine learning research and development requires an advanced computing infrastructure which only becomes more demanding as you scale" says Will Williams, VP Machine Learning, Speechmatics. "As we continue to develop our technological edge through the use of self-supervised learning in our models, it's crucial to ensure our data centre provider can scale with our demands, but in a sustainable way. Kao Data was the obvious choice for us as the best HPC data centre operator in the UK with the benefit of being powered by 100% renewable energy." "The opportunity to support Speechmatics in this crucial phase of the company's expansion is an exciting prospect for our organisation, and further underpins Kao Data's position as the UK's preeminent provider of sustainable data centres for HPC and AI," says Lee Myall, CEO, Kao Data. "We look forward to working closely with Speechmatics to help power and support their unique approach of applying neural networks to speech recognition."

Rosendin selected to build Meta’s Temple data centre in Texas

Rosendin has been selected to build Meta Platform’s new Temple Data Centre in Texas. The employee-owned company will work with general contractor JE Dunn to build the $800 million data centre building and site infrastructure in an industrial park located 50 miles north of the Austin Metro area. “We are proud to provide our expertise in designing and building this critical mission project in Texas that supports the public’s love for social media as a way to connect with friends and family, utilise the marketplace, and be entertained,” says Rosendin Project Executive, Paul Gottfried. “Rosendin’s vast experience building secure and energy efficient data centres with reliable power and communications systems makes us uniquely qualified for this important project.” Starting July 2022, Rosendin will hire 440 craft workers and staff in Temple. This includes skilled electrical workers with the IBEW Local 72, as well as prefabrication warehouse staff, BIM (computer modelers), estimators, project managers, and office staff. Career opportunities are available for experienced craft workers, as well as apprentices and those interested in exploring jobs in the construction industry. “Meta Platform’s new data centre is a true investment to the Temple community that is building a stronger digital infrastructure, creating high-paying jobs, and using clean energy solutions that will supported by 100% renewable energy,” comments Rosendin Division Manager, Shaun Mahan. The 900,000 square foot data centre aims to serve as a model of energy efficiency and will be supported by renewable energy from new solar energy plants. The project will also aim for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification and receive credits for water restoration efforts. To date, Meta has invested more than 700 megawatts of new wind and solar energy in Texas. “Rosendin has been in business for over 100 years, and we value our long relationship with JE Dunn. We aim to be a strong partner to all the stakeholders by providing a stable, robust workforce of skilled craft workers with IBEW Local 72 who appreciate the value that innovative data centres have on communities,” adds Rosendin General Superintendent, Justin Prince. Construction on Meta Platform’s Temple Data Centre will begin in spring 2022 and create a total of 1,200 jobs during construction at the 400-acre site, located in an industrial park at NW H.K. Dodgen Loop and Industrial Park Boulevard. A statement from the Temple Economic Development Corporation says the area is a regional employment hub with 450,000 residents and a thriving business environment to diversified industries.