Infrastructure

Vertiv introduces UPS for distributed IT networks and edge applications

Vertiv has introduced the Vertiv Liebert GXE, an online double-conversion single-phase UPS, available in 6kVA and 10kVA power ratings in either a tower or rackmount configuration. The system is designed to provide reliable power to distributed IT networks and edge computing applications in various industry segments such as enterprise, government, manufacturing, finance, education and retail. The product is globally available for countries and organisations using 230V solutions, and is now shipping from stock in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). The Liebert GXE performs with high efficiency up to 94% in online mode, and up to 98% in ECO mode, driving energy and operational costs savings compared to other models available on the market. The high output power factor of 1.0 enables continuous and reliable power to more connected devices, protecting them against many disturbances in the AC mains with the online double conversion technology and the input surge protection. The flexible rackmount or tower form factor, with rackmount kits included as a standard, facilitates stock management for distribution in the IT channel, and simplifies installation to accommodate various micro data centre and edge computing needs. The unit’s runtime can be extended with up to four external battery cabinets (EBC) for longer back-up protection, and the hot-swappable VRLA batteries can be easily replaced by users without the assistance of skilled personnel and without shutdown of the loads for smoother operations and minimised maintenance costs. Additionally, the Liebert GXE has an integrated 4A charger providing quick battery recharge up to 90% in just three hours - which can be critical in case of frequent mains failures - and an integrated battery management system to optimise battery life and recycling. The Vertiv Liebert GXE includes a user-friendly LCD colour display that makes it easy and intuitive to use. The unit offers remote monitoring capabilities for quick and easy access to IT infrastructure, through the optional Vertiv Liebert Intellislot Unity Communications card and a free download of Vertiv Power Insight software. Moreover, customers can also rely on Vertiv LIFE Services to support remote maintenance and servicing of the UPS for maximum availability. “IT channel distributors and resellers are constantly looking for efficient and cost effective solutions to protect small and micro IT sites against power outages,” says Andrea Ferro, Vice President channel, IT and edge applications for Vertiv in EMEA. “This latest addition to our IT channel portfolio provides all the key features and performance capabilities needed in an online double conversion UPS for an affordable price, which allows small and medium businesses of all industries to leverage the latest technologies and accelerate their digital transformation journey.” As part of Vertiv’s IT channel portfolio, the Liebert GXE enables EMEA resellers in participating countries to earn points through the Vertiv Incentive Programme (VIP), which allows partners to easily win rewards without the need for any reporting. Bonus points are uploaded into the Vertiv Partner Portal monthly, and the partner only needs to log in to redeem them.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

By Aaron Oddy, Sales Engineer at Centiel UK In a Tier III data centre, the UPS systems must be concurrently maintainable without any disruption to the critical load. To achieve this, a separate UPS-backed A and B stream is necessary. If, for whatever reason, either A or B stream becomes unavailable, the unaffected power path will have the capacity and infrastructure to support the total load. It’s a UPS configuration designed to maximise availability and uptime to the critical load. As a Swiss manufacturer, Centiel is regularly involved in supplying UPS systems to suit this configuration within data centres. However, for the client, it may not always be as simple as supplying a ‘like for like’ replacement or replicating a design from a previous facility. There are lots of variables that can dictate the choice of product or manufacturer, so discussing what options are available will help in making the right informed choice. Take, for example, that you have a Tier III data centre with an A and B stream. You may be running some legacy end-of-life UPS equipment on stream A and relatively new equipment on stream B. So, do you replace the equipment on both A and B streams to keep the equipment and manufacturer consistent, or do you just replace the legacy equipment? Which route offers more cost savings and alternative options? There are pros and cons to both. You may choose to stick with a manufacturer based on previous experience, to replace all your equipment. While this may provide some considerable comfort, you may question whether this is the best value in both CapEx and OpEx for the business. You may also be considering the accessibility of this equipment or support should it no longer be available in the future. Where does that leave you as an operating facility? Using a second manufacturer on the same site could solve the issue of putting all your eggs in one basket.  Using two different UPS manufacturers in this way could be seen as an additional layer of resilience to the facility by mitigating risk in the supply chain and services. Replacing just the legacy equipment will help to lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by reducing the cost of new hardware and reducing the running cost with higher efficiencies. In this scenario, you could say that you are making good use of your existing equipment working alongside the new equipment with a robust supply and support structure. There are no issues with running completely different UPS systems on true alternative A and B streams. They don’t need to be compatible as they operate on independent power paths. Centiel is starting to see some of the most forward-thinking data centres that require the highest levels of availability adopting this strategy because it increases the resilience, not only to the equipment that supports them but the companies they work with too. A further advantage of adopting this method is the ability to compare two alternative UPS systems in a live scenario. This could be a beneficial exercise to evaluate the performance of two different UPS systems from two different manufacturers. Particularly when it comes to their energy efficiency, performance, ease of installation, technical support and maintenance, even down to small details like the amount of noise they make or even how they physically look. It can provide valuable insight and help with informed decision-making for future UPS system lifecycle replacements. Working with alternative manufacturers may only be the right choice for some data centres and primarily when reviewing the replacement of legacy equipment. For new data centre builds, for example, the decision to stay with a single manufacturer maybe more advantageous, for example, the commonality of equipment for users, the flexibility of equipment to be redeployed, the warranty period, and possibly a more cost-effective maintenance plan with the same provider. However, for certain scenarios with their existing infrastructure, it may be a possible solution! Centiel’s role as trusted advisors is always to give the best recommendations to its clients. At Centiel, the company’s experienced team is always available to discuss and help evaluate the best approach to UPS design, installation and management to suit any facility’s critical power protection needs. Centiel’s leading-edge technology, backed-up with its comprehensive maintenance contracts carried out by experienced engineering teams ensure its clients’ power has the very best protection at all times over the long-term. 

Proptivity selects atNorth as data centre provider to deliver indoor 5G networks

atNorth has announced that Proptivity has selected its sustainable and future proofed data centre facility in Kista as its Swedish data centre provider. Proptivity is a supplier of multi-operator networks dedicated to delivering the best possible indoor performance. All operators in the Swedish market are connected to the same network to ensure that mobile users, regardless of their operator, have access to the best high performance indoor 5G services - what Proptivity calls 'Gigabit 5G'. Proptivity offers multi-operator Gigabit 5G networks to real estate owners in Nordics and Baltics. These networks deliver gigabit performance in terms of speed, with short latency and very high capacity. The indoor networks also reliable, with predictable coverage everywhere in the whole building, including places like garages and elevators where connectivity can often drop. Real estate owners have long faced the problem that whilst 80% of mobile traffic is consumed indoors, the majority of mobile base stations delivering capacity are located outside the building, resulting in poorer indoor mobile performance. Demand for true 5G with gigabit speeds will be near impossible to deliver indoors without building dedicated indoor networks. “Owners of commercial real estate want to be able to deliver the best possible digital infrastructure and 5G is considered a critical part of this” says Mikael Lundman, Proptivity CEO. “Gigabit 5G capabilities in the building will enable a digital innovation platform that will offer opportunities like energy optimisation, security, and workplace efficiency for the building facilities and tenants. atNorth’s commitment to sustainability, including its focus on implementing initiatives like heat recovery to contribute to the circular economy, was essential for our selection of atNorth. Its ability to reuse generated heat for Stockholm residents as well as its innovative use of northern hemisphere air to cool down their facility has proven to create great energy savings as compared to traditional centres is also an extremely important factor for us. Working with atNorth aligns to our goal to build a more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable future together with the real estate owners.” Proptivity’s shared infrastructure solution will enable a more sustainable world by reducing energy and resource consumption by more than 50% compared to traditional in-building solutions. atNorth builds data centres in the Nordics, strategically located where the rate of renewable energy is at its highest and regions can cater for the best energy efficiency. Its sites are built from the ground up to ensure energy use is minimised across every campus, with natural air cooling systems that harnesses the cool climate to ensure optimal temperature and humidity levels at all facilities. “Property owners and tenants need secure and fast connectivity indoors, especially with data consumption growing at an explosive rate,” says Duke Aschan, Sales Director of atNorth. “Proptivity not only enable a best-in-class telco-grade service that delivers gigabit performance, low latency, high reliability, and security but the company is forging a path to a more sustainable future for mobile indoor networks. Sustainable IT is at the heart of our business, and we are very excited to support Proptivity to provide high-performance coverage with a secure, always-on connection. Environmental sustainability begins at the base, and Proptivity capitalises on our high performance, energy efficiency, and sustainable colocation infrastructure.”

Green Cubes announces IEC Certification of battery backup units

Green Cubes has announced International Safety Certification IEC 62368 certification of the Lithium Guardian Battery Backup Units. The Lithium Guardian family of backup batteries are designed for rack mount installations in the telecom and data centre industries. The telecom and data centre facilities operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, supporting mission critical functions. Traditionally, large lead-acid batteries are used to provide backup power. Li-ion batteries allow operators to store more energy in smaller spaces to power equipment longer when the grid power goes is unavailable. Lithium Guardian batteries serve this market by providing safe, clean, and reliable backup power in a small, lightweight, and cost-effective package. The Guardian product family provides complete power system solutions to telecom and other 48V system operators with products providing rectification, power management, and energy storage. The Lithium Guardian Battery Unit (GBU) is a 48V, 105 Ah, 5kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery offering reliable energy storage in a small lightweight form factor. With a design life of over 10 years and well over 3500 cycles, the LFP GBU provides operators with a long lasting energy storage solution. “Safety and reliability are paramount to our requirements when designing Li-ion batteries. We verify our designs are safe and reliable for their application by real world testing and certification to globally recognised IEC standard,” says Mike Davis, Chief Revenue Officer at Green Cubes. “Lithium Guardian Batteries were designed to operate with a wide range of equipment; from radios, routers, to HVAC, our batteries must work. Achieving IEC 62368 assures customers that these batteries will provide power to their equipment safely and reliably.” IEC 62368 is an internationally recognised standard to verify safety and reliability of electronic devices in telecom applications. The Green Cubes GBU has been evaluated by engineers and tested in the lab to ensure that when integrated in operator systems the battery will remain safe and not adversely affect other equipment. Previously, the Lithium Guardian 3U battery has been tested and certified to UN 38.3 for international shipping. The Guardian Lithium Batteries are currently under evaluation with multiple industrial and telecommunication operators. Commercial shipments are scheduled for December 2022.

DataVita has taken extra measures to safeguard the continuous operation of its DV1 facility in Chapelhall, Lanarkshire, in response to the prospect of blackouts this winter. The Tier III Uptime Institute-certified data centre has increased the amount of fuel it stores on site from three days’ to two weeks’ worth, following reports the UK government is testing plans for energy blackouts that last up to seven days. The data centre has two utility power sources, protected by Uninterruptible Power Supplies. Its ‘continuous operation’ rated power generators can run indefinitely for most purposes, without the need for downtime. If blackouts do occur, DV1’s generators are programmed to provide back-up power within one minute. Multiple supply partners have also been contracted to supply fuel to the site on eight-hour service level agreements. DV1 hosts and processes the data of thousands of businesses and around three million people in Scotland, providing critical IT infrastructure to local authorities, hospitals, and a range of other public sector institutions. Danny Quinn, MD of DataVita, says, “Reports of potential blackouts this winter have been widespread and we are acutely aware of the duty of care we have to our customers – particularly given many of them provide vital services to the public. We have always taken power resilience very seriously, but in light of the current energy crisis we decided to take extra steps to enhance the measures we have in place. “IT is an integral part of the way most organisations function. We would encourage any business or public sector service to speak to their supply chain about what they are doing to mitigate the potential disruption blackouts could bring about. Infrastructure design has to be complemented by strong maintenance standards, which we are doing through a range of means, including running our generators weekly and carrying out regular on-load testing.”

Vertiv introduces efficient liquid cooling solution for data centres

Vertiv has introduced the Liebert XDU, a new generation of thermal management systems that supports liquid-cooled servers and enables the control of liquid quality, flow and pressure. As high-density computing applications such as data analytics and machine learning increase, rack densities and temperatures are exceeding the cooling capabilities of traditional air-cooled units and require more efficient and sustainable solutions. The Liebert XDU coolant distribution system enables the deployment of liquid cooled server applications into any data centre environment, from core to edge computing sites. The system is now available across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). “High-performance computing applications such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality are growing in popularity at the same time that data centres are working to reduce their energy consumption and pushing the industry to find new, more sustainable solutions,” says Roberto Felisi, Senior Global Director and EMEA Business Leader for Thermal Management, Vertiv. “Many colocation providers who have traditionally relied on air cooling are now hosting applications with higher power processors that require more efficient heat management solutions like liquid cooling. With the Vertiv Liebert XDU, our customers can meet the high-density computing demand whilst improving their operational efficiency.” The Liebert XDU is an innovative liquid-to-liquid cooling distribution unit available in two capacities, 450kW and a model capable of up to 1368kW, circulating water through liquid-cooled server racks and rejecting the heat from the returning warm water. The system uses a closed water loop to avoid any waste, and is capable of capturing heat to utilise it to warm nearby offices, homes or farms, supporting the circular economy. The Liebert XDU utilises integrated state-of-the-art controls to vary pump speed to optimise supply water temperature and to provide intelligent flow monitoring and alarms. The compact solution can be placed in the row near the rack it is cooling, or along the room’s perimeter. Vertiv developed the Liebert XDU in close consultation with data centre operators and server manufacturers, who are deploying ultra-high-density, high-performance computing solutions more frequently across many different types of data centres. The company has defined a strategic roadmap to enhance thermal management technologies that enable liquid cooling adoption as part of its increased investments in research and development. “Liquid cooling is not a new technology but we’re now seeing a real opportunity in the market to drive more innovative thermal management solutions. The Liebert XDU solution offers the possibility for Vertiv's customers to introduce rack-level liquid cooling and reap the environmental benefits,” says Jon Summers, Scientific Lead in data centres at RISE - Research Institutes of Sweden. “We look forward to support Vertiv’s R&D roadmap and to combine their engineering excellence with the rigorous analysis and testing capabilities of RISE as part of our ongoing research partnership. This will bring a deeper technical understanding of sustainable and effective approaches for the data centre industry.”

Legrand strengthens UPS portfolio with Power Control acquisition

Legrand has strengthened its foothold in the UK critical power market with the acquisition of Sheffield-based UPS specialist, Power Control. Power Control protects clients critical power loads, helping them to avoid unplanned downtime and already has Legrand’s own UPS solutions in its product portfolio. The acquisition is the latest development of Legrand’s successful growth strategy, which is focused on increasing market share, both in new technology sectors and geographical regions. Pascal Stutz, CEO of Legrand UK and Ireland, says, “We want to develop our presence in the UK within the critical power and UPS vertical markets. Power Control has a long and successful history in the UK, making it a fantastic opportunity to help us realise our growth ambitions.” Tom Nicholson, Managing Director of Power Control, says, “As part of the Legrand Group, we see a major opportunity to leverage the company’s considerable, globally-gained expertise to broaden our opportunities. It will allow us to work on new projects across an array of sectors, including data centre, healthcare and building management, where continuity of mission critical power supply is crucial. “Being part of a large-scale, international group will undoubtedly help us continue to meet the demands of our customers and whilst giving them added peace of mind - covering everything from sales, installation and commissioning through to after-sales support and service.” The acquisition will allow Power Control and Legrand to help customers ensure that they have the right UPS and other mission critical power solutions in place to meet potential supply volatility over the coming months. Tom Nicholson adds, “Customers want to ensure that their UPS is in good condition and those that don’t have a backup solution may be thinking that it is the right time to invest. There is also an ever-increasing focus on energy efficient UPS solutions, with customers already asking us if UPS technology can help them manage their energy usage and power grid interaction. “When you add in the interest of different technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries, and local, renewable energy supplies, Power Control is helping customers thanks to our innovative solutions. For example, we’ve recently integrated a UPS with hydrogen fuel cells, and we see the demand for this type of solution only increasing.” Pascal Stutz adds: “Power Control’s track record speaks for itself. In terms of the UPS/hydrogen fuel cell solution, we think there’s great potential to explore ways in which we can expand this technology, both in the UK and across other geographies. It also ties into Legrand’s approach to sustainability, supporting customers as they look to meet net zero targets.”

Green data centres for Thailand’s sustainable economic growth

Under the theme ‘Open. Connect. Balance’, Thailand recently hosted ASEAN leaders at the 2022 APEC Summit, and among many current unprecedented challenges discussed, helping the region regain its balance seemed to be a common thread, with the Bangkok Goals on Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy set as one of the roadmaps. As one of the fastest growing regions in the world - and one of the most vulnerable to climate change - Southeast Asia is trying to strike a balance between performance and sustainability: prioritising recovery and growth, while keeping the eyes on a consistent sustainable development that will allow the country to thrive for many years to come. Digital transformation, integrated across all aspects of society, has already been identified as one of the key components to driving the country’s overall economic competitiveness, and many already understand that there is only one way to embrace Thailand 4.0 sustainably. Many industries are gradually ‘going green’, including green finance, green transportation powered by EVs and green hotel standards. Now comes the turn for one of the most valuable assets that this revolution will bring - data. Thailand is leading the way, not only by having the region’s most advanced data centre for colocation and cloud services, but also by having one that generates its own renewable energy. SUPERNAP (Thailand), a joint venture between leading Thai companies, is the only Tier IV colocation and cloud data centre in the country to have implemented a solar panel farm. This move contributes to the development of the green digital infrastructure of the region, while also supporting Thailand’s long term sustainable economic development. Every year, the volume and value of data generated and collected by organisations in Thailand grows exponentially, as many recognise its strategic value for business decisions. The more data collected and stored, the more knowledge, opportunities and competitive advantage businesses gain. More data, on the other hand, requires larger spaces and more energy to keep the ecosystem running, which, in most cases, comes from electricity from fossil fuels. If no action is taken, this could not only lead to a problematic increase of greenhouse gas emissions, but to dangerous price fluctuations, as there have been recent electricity price increases influenced by geopolitical challenges and increasing demand. Thai businesses are looking for secure, scalable, resilient, and now sustainable, data centres to fully realise the potential of data while reducing costs. “As a regional digital infrastructure leader, SUPERNAP (Thailand)’s transition to renewable energy was already an urgent priority, and we are now extremely proud to have reinforced our position as Thailand’s most sustainable commercial data centre. Powering operations by solar panel farm will not only help us reduce carbon footprint on behalf of our colocation and cloud clients but will also minimise the impact of energy price fluctuations. While we are not immune to rising electricity costs, solar green energy from the solar panel farm is significantly cheaper than retail rates, which will allow us keep prices as low as possible, an ultimately enable customer's success stories with highly secure, scalable, resilient and now sustainable digital IT infrastructure,” shares Yap Jin Yi, CEO of SUPERNAP (Thailand). SUPERNAP (Thailand) has partnered with WHA Utilities and Power to build its solar panel farm, recognising WHA’s leadership in maximising innovation and technology to create long term sustainable value in the country. Thailand’s economy will leverage emerging digital technologies to solve the most pressing problems and drive growth, whether in finance, retail, healthcare, manufacturing or tourism. Data-driven technology has the potential to shape the future in new and unimaginable ways, but first, businesses and individuals must ensure that there is a future to look forward to. Embracing sustainability is a pressing matter, and change must begin immediately.

VictoriaMetrics and CMS team up to monitor the universe

VictoriaMetrics has announced its role assisting the monitoring tasks of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the European laboratory for particle physics, CERN.  Tailor-made monitoring solutions  The CMS experiment is one of four particle physics detectors built at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Located deep underground at the border of Switzerland and France, the project is currently focused on experiments investigating standard model physics, extra dimensions and dark matter.  The computing infrastructure to deal with the multi-petabyte data sets produced by CMS requires best-in-class systems to monitor workload and data management, data transfers, and submission of production requests.  The CMS experiment has long relied on scalable, open source solutions to satisfy real-time and historical monitoring needs. However, after encountering storage and scalability issues with long term monitoring solutions such as Prometheus and InfluxDB, the CMS monitoring team began the search for alternatives. Edging out existing technology The CMS monitoring team has engaged VictoriaMetrics following a post by CTO and Co-Founder Aliaksandr Valialkin on Medium, which benchmarked VictoriaMetrics against other popular monitoring systems, and were won over by the detail on display.  "We were searching for alternative solutions following performance issues with Prometheus and InfluxDB. VictoriaMetrics' walkthrough of use cases, and concise detail gave us excellent insight into how they could help us. The solution's backwards compatibility with Prometheus made implementation into the CMS monitoring cluster as smooth and seamless as possible." says V. Kuznetsov from Cornell University (member of CMS collaboration). Initially implementing VictoriaMetrics as backend storage for Prometheus, the CMS monitoring team progressed to using the solution as front end storage to replace InfluxDB and Prometheus. This had the added impact of removing cardinality issues with Influx.  Since installing VictoriaMetrics, the CMS monitoring team had zero issues with cardinality, or using the software on the operational side. The CMS monitoring team gained added confidence in the open source flexibility of VictoriaMetrics after seamlessly implementing new features for vmalert, the solution's alerting system. "Working with CMS to monitor the experiment computing infrastructure is a great honour for the team here. The number of use cases for monitoring and observability is growing exponentially, and seeing our tech applied to cutting-edge science is testament to how critical monitoring has become. Our open source, community driven model is and will be at the core of our offering, granting us the flexibility to serve projects as complex as CMS infrastructure in the future", says Roman Khavronenko, Co-Founder of VictoriaMetrics.

Case study: Easily differentiate three fibre infrastructures with highly visible, colour coded labelling

Well-identified network infrastructure is of great importance in Dark Fibre Africa’s network. Thanks to smart, standardised colour coding on reliable labels from Brady, service provisioning and network maintenance becomes faster, and customer downtime risks are reduced with easy identification. Read the case study to get inspiration! Dark Fibre Africa had the need to differentiate between the fibre infrastructure of three of their major service offerings by using colour codes available on the portable BMP51 Label Maker systems from Brady. Black on white: GPON services Black on yellow: Dark fibre and all managed services White on red: DFA core network infrastructure Black print on white or yellow are available as standard labels for the BMP51 Label Maker and were supplied by Brady. The white on red label was not a standard Brady product available on the BMP51. Some challenges faced with competitor labelling products included: Print faded over time Adhesion proved not sufficient Additional maintenance was required to re-apply labels Because of this, Dark Fibre Africa contacted Brady to present a solution in keeping with the established network infrastructure colour coding. Solution: Legible white on red labels that can be printed on-site Brady fast tracked the request and within a few months developed a reliable cable label in red that could receive a white print with optimal legibility on a curved surface. Before presenting a sample to the customer, R&D specialists tested the label extensively in Brady’s in-house facilities. The new label construction and selected adhesive stayed attached to cables, equipment cabinets and distribution boards. Labels remained legible in heavily air-cooled environments indoors as well as in UV exposure outdoors. On top of this, the label material was successfully adapted to fit a BMP51 Label Maker cartridge. Because of this, Dark Fibre Africa would be able to print the new label anywhere in its network infrastructure with the portable printers already in use. After successful sample testing in Dark Fibre’s network infrastructure, Brady agreed to also offer stock availability for the new white on red label. A large stock of the complete colour code is always immediately available, as well as logistical and technical support. Result: Reduce downtime risks Reliable labels that stay attached to cables, equipment cabinets, distribution boards and remain legible, are important for network maintenance, improvements and troubleshooting. Clear identification enables technicians to quickly identify the infrastructure for fault finding and troubleshooting during network failures. This increases service provisioning and maintenance speed and further reduces downtime risks and enhances speed of deployment. Find out more about reliable data centre identification solutions from Brady.