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.”
