Mission Critical Power by The Energyst

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ISSUE 18: October 2018

The Uptime Institute says that outages are increasing in severity and frequency. So what is going wrong and how can the sector up its game?

DSR: could you, should you? Ian Bitterlin considers the potential risks involved for data centre operators

Stop the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;driftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;: even the best designed facility can stray from optimum operating conditions. How can data centres stay in shape?

Tackling rising energy costs and gaining a competitive edge See page 12

IN THIS ISSUE

20 Energy efficiency Costing the earth? Why data centres don’t deserve their bad reputation

Data centre outages

Demand-side response

Incidents are increasing, says the Uptime Institute, so what are data centres getting wrong?

Experts consider: is the juice worth the squeeze?

Optimisation Data centres must stop the ‘drift’: how to avoid wasting energy, while improving resilience

missioncriticalpower.uk

ISSUE 18: October 2018

The Uptime Institute says that outages are increasing in severity and frequency. So what is going wrong and how can the sector up its game?

DSR: could you, should you? Ian Bitterlin considers the potential risks involved for data centre operators

Stop the ‘drift’: even the best designed facility can stray from optimum operating conditions. How can data centres stay in shape?

Tackling rising energy costs and gaining a competitive edge

Cooling

See page 12

A high-security data centre in South Wales required optimum temperature conditions

Protecting patients

Front Cover

Tackling rising energy costs and gaining a competitive edge

UK hospitals need to improve their IT infrastructure to prevent outages

Comment

Market Trends

News

Energy Management

Insight

Demand-side Response

Power Management

UPS

Racking & Enclosures

Products

DCIM

Q&A

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October 2018 MCP

COMMENT

Missing a trick? Demand-side response (DSR) continues to divide opinion. For some, it is perceived as ‘too risky’, for others ‘the juice has to be worth the squeeze’. We also hear from an increasing number of businesses that are reaping the rewards. The latest DSR Report by Mission Critical Power’s sister publication The Energyst suggests that the majority of those that take part are happy with their outcomes. At the same time, the cost of battery storage is coming down and, for some businesses, the business case for investment in this technology is being built around ensuring uptime, as well as financial gain. For mission critical sites, this is an interesting discussion point. SES Water’s Henrietta Stock comments: “Our sites sometimes experience network power quality issues so we could build a business case around using batteries for resilience." However, she adds that the battery technology and configuration is really important as there is likely to be a ‘trade-off’ between using the battery for resilience and using it to maximise DSR revenues. Ian Bitterlin warns of some of the risks involved in participating in DSR, from a data centre perspective. Clearly, the sector still requires some convincing that DSR can be performed without jeopardising resilience. That said, we know that some data centres are now participating and have reported a positive outcome, to date. We also know that hospitals, airports, the transport sector and the water industry have been

Editor Louise Frampton louise@energystmedia.com t: 020 34092043 m: 07824317819 Managing Editor Tim McManan-Smith tim@energystmedia.com Design and production Paul Lindsell production@energystmedia.com m: 07790 434813

MCP October 2018

Sales director Steve Swaine steve@energystmedia.com t: 020 3714 4451 m: 07818 574300

dipping their toes into the DSR market to varying degrees. In addition, the Mayor of London aims to create a 1GW London flexibility market as part of a plan to make London a zero carbon city by 2050 with smart flexible energy systems. Under the initial phase of Flex London, the Greater London Authority is working to bring together flex providers across the public and private sector with solution providers in order to help balance the power system, reduce bills, demand and emissions, and enable greater penetration of renewables, storage and electric vehicles. As well as matchmaking energy users with flex solutions providers, the aim is also to match make end users with similar needs that may benefit from shared resources, such as battery storage. This approach could lead to new business models – shared-storage-as-a-service between two hospitals, for example – that deliver flexibility that otherwise might not stack up for individual organisations. The debate as to whether DSR actually increases or erodes resilience is set to continue. There is certainly an appetite for cost avoidance and opportunities to reduce costs. Furthermore, with support in ‘high places’, DSR is likely to become more accessible for public sector sites, such as hospitals. Mission critical facilities should consider these developments and decide whether they are missing a trick. Of course, if that ‘trick’ involves putting your head on the magician’s chopping block, you will want assurances that the magician has performed his trick many times before. Louise Frampton, editor

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Commercial manager Daniel Coyne T: 02037517863 M: 07557109476 E: daniel@energystmedia.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publishers. The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Mission Critical Power is a controlled circulation magazine available to selected professionals interested in energy, who fall within the publishers terms of control. For those outside of these terms, annual subscriptions is £60 including postage in the UK. For all subscriptions outside the UK the annual subscription is £120 including postage.

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NEWS & COMMENT

Behind the meter battery storage: resilience trumps grid revenues? When it comes to behind the meter battery storage, a share of grid services or arbitrage revenues is almost irrelevant for some industrial and commercial firms, according to Alex Mardapittas, chief executive officer of storage and UPS manufacturer Powerstar. Mardapittas says resilience underpins the storage business case and for certain companies can enable payback in less than 12 months. He cites a critical component manufacturer in the aerospace sector. “They make bearings from special alloy blocks provided by Rolls-Royce. If there is any voltage dip, even for less than a second, the machines stop. That means they have to bin the alloy block,” says Mardapittas. "Rolls-Royce charges them six figures per block destroyed – and last year they binned eight blocks.” Since installing its kit in April “we have saved them two events”, claims Mardapittas. “So they don’t care about grid revenues. Yes, they avoid DUoS red bands and Triad in

Resilience underpins the storage business case

winter and are doing FFR. But they don’t really care about that. Resilience is what they want. So [from an end user perspective] storage should not be a device for revenues, but to protect the overall needs of the company and to integrate other forms of generation.” Others agree. Spencer Green, optimisation manager at Breedon Cement’s Hope Works, was interviewed by Mission Critical Power's sister title, The Energyst, for a forthcoming report on battery storage. Green says the company

has looked at battery storage “at a high level” but says any investment would hinge on threats to security of supply. “The only way we could justify [a battery] is in terms of resilience. If we start to see a greater degree of grid instability and it starts to impact production, that argument may come into play.” Should Breedon decide to buy a battery, the company would not overlook revenue opportunities, says Green, “but [grid services] would never make a business case on their own”.

A number of in-depth interviews with industrial, commercial and public sector organisations will be published in the Battery Storage Report, which will be launched at the Battery Storage Event on 30 October at One Moorgate Place, London. The event will explore business models, revenue opportunities, costs savings and how to ensure optimal returns within the context of a fluid market and regulatory environment. Event partners will include National Grid, GridBeyond, E.ON, Flexitricity and npower, while a host of panellists will provide insights into the following themes: 'Business models for enduser storage systems', 'FFR: Batteries will eat themselves' and 'Batteries: How to finance the asset'. The Battery Storage Event is free to qualifying individuals (public and private sector end user organisations) considering implementing battery storage within their sites, or seeking to optimise existing assets. To register, visit: batterystorageevent.uk

DSR report investigates risks and rewards A survey carried out by Mission Critical Power’s sister publication The Energyst confirms that most businesses that participate in demand-side response (DSR) are motivated by money. However, they want revenue certainty and assurances that their core business will not be affected. The fourth DSR Report reveals that there is a desire for suppliers and aggregators to simplify their options in language that the finance, operations and engineering departments can all understand. As well as price certainty, they want stable policy and regulation. Most of those participating in DSR reported they are broadly satisfied with the outcome. For MCP October 2018

those not participating in DSR, lack of knowledge, perception of risk, insufficient rewards and/or lack of revenue certainty remain barriers. Those providers unsatisfied with DSR were asked why and responses mostly revolved around revenue: its unpredictability, declining value or that it was insufficient. For those using diesel back-ups, 50% say MCPD will stop them; 40% don't know. Only 10% said it won’t stop them. Key barriers for non-DSR participants remain unchanged. The perception of risk of disruption to core business was cited by 40% as was a lack of understanding of the market and available options. Most (83%) of those that do

not participate in DSR would be interested in doing so if it did not affect their operations (77% in 2017 survey). However, trusting third parties with key pieces of kit was highlighted as a significant barrier. While the sample is made up from different participants to previous surveys, lack of trust in third parties is cited by more respondents this year than in 2017 (13%) and 2016 (23%). Return on investment is the highest cited reason for not doing DSR. This compares with 31% in 2017 and 24% in 2016, though different sample caveats apply. To download a free copy of the report, visit: theenergyst.com/dsr missioncriticalpower.uk

Focusing on Irish data centre growth Data Centres Ireland will bring together owners, operators, suppliers, investors and innovators under one roof at Dublin’s RDS. Taking place on Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 November, the event will feature panels, keynote speakers and networking opportunities, with over 56 speakers and chairs. Each day of Data Centres Ireland will feature two streams focusing on strategy and operations, with talks and panels covering topics including 5G connectivity and OTT content, power distribution, data centre optimisation software, the data centre planning processes, data centre operations and

sustainable energy. Speakers at Data Centres Ireland 2018 will include Conall Boland, deputy chairperson of An Bord Pleanála (Irish Planning Authority), Rosemary Steen, external affairs director of Eirgrid Group, Anthony Rourke, director of government and infrastructure advisory at EY and Tanya Duncan, managing director of Interxion Ireland. Supported by BICSI Ireland, Host in Ireland, the DCA (the Data Centre Trade Association), IDA Ireland, techUK, the Green Grid and iMasons, it is the largest exhibition of its kind taking place in Ireland. To register, visit: datacentresireland.com

Equinix unveils plan to open eighth Paris data centre in 2019 Global interconnection and data centre company Equinix will open its first international business exchange (IBX) data centre dedicated to the evolving needs of the company’s largest Cloud customers in Paris in Q1 2019. The Paris data centre – called PA8 – will see an investment of $73m (£55m). Private interconnection nodes for Cloud players are located at Equinix facilities. The site will provide enterprises with greater access to top providers at Equinix via low-latency and private connectivity

options. Equinix will also extend its relationships with strategic partners, as well as

stengthening its position in the overall Cloud ecosystem. The PA8 IBX will include approximately 850 cabinets in the first phase of build out. It will be the eighth Equinix data centre in the Paris metro, which is already home to 200-plus communications services providers including AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Salesforce and Microsoft Azure. Today, more than 800 companies colocate in Equinix data centres in France to connect to business partners and customers across their digital supply chains.

Businesses fail to test resilience plans In a study of more than 1,000 businesses, Centrica Business Solutions has been working to identify the key drivers and barriers to adopting new energy approaches including battery storage, on-site generation and demand side response. Most businesses will take control of their own energy use by generating a quarter of their electricity onsite by 2025, with 77% of businesses in the UK and Ireland predicting this change will take place in just seven years. About a quarter missioncriticalpower.uk

(26%) of businesses have already invested in on-site generation in the form of solar and/or combined heat and power (CHP) with a third considering investing in these technologies. The increase in demand for flexibility that sees businesses rewarded for increasing, decreasing or shifting their energy use has been identified as an opportunity by 44% of businesses planning to feed energy into the grid in future. According to the Energy Advantage Report, well over

a quarter (28%) rank energy security and resilience as a substantial risk to their business. While the majority (88%) of companies have an energy resilience plan, little more than half of them test it regularly and many don’t assess resilience at all locations. This is despite the fact that many organisations have faced issues relating to resilience in the past 12 months. Almost a third have ben affected by internal factors, where equipment failures have interrupted their supply.

News in brief London data centre expansion for Colt Colt Data Centre Services has announced the expansion of its London North data centre, with six new data halls being built as part of the first phase of the project. The expansion project will comprise 10 new data halls in total. A major power upgrade is also under way that will see the site almost double its utility power. The delivery of the first two halls is expected in Q1 next year and remainder being delivered in Q2 2019. On completion of the project, the total IT power supply will be more than 40MW. Power outage hits EduServ customers Public sector-focused IT provider EduServ has suffered a data centre power outage following ‘an electrical surge’, resulting in a number of public sector and government websites becoming unavailable. It is unknown how many of EduServ customers were affected, but the provider's clients include central government departments, a large number of local councils, various third sector organisations and all UK universities. The outage is reported to have led to damage to some circuits at the facility. Made in Dagenham The green light has been given to NTT Communications to build two new data centres in Dagenham, east London. When completed, the new facilities will provide a total of 53,000 sq m and combined power of 1.75MW. The area is being targeted for development into a digital and media hub, and these latest data centres will be located near a new film studio.

October 2018 MCP

INSIGHT

Why are data centre outages on the increase? Incidences of IT downtime or severe service degradation have increased in the past year, an Uptime Institute survey of operators and IT practitioners reveals. Louise Frampton reports

he rate of outages experienced by data centres has increased in the past year, according to a survey of 900 operators and IT practitioners conducted by the Uptime Institute. Particularly concerning is the fact that the severity of these outages has also increased. The survey results show that most respondents believe that their hybrid data centre approach – a mix of offpremises and privately owned on-premises capacity –has made their IT operations more resilient. However, this is not supported by the evidence: the number of respondents that experienced an IT downtime incident or severe service degradation in the past year (31%) increased compared with last year’s survey (about 25%). In the past three years, almost half of the 2018 survey respondents had an outage. MCP October 2018

For most, it took one to four hours to fully recover, with one third of respondents reporting a recovery time of five hours or longer. Surprisingly, 43% did not calculate the cost of a ‘significant outage’. “This is not best practice for investment decisions… When downtime happens, it certainly hurts,” comments Uptime Institute Research vicepresident Rhonda Ascierto. She points out that the figures reported to the Uptime Institute should “worry any CIO”; while half said that the

cost was less than $100,000, 15% said that the cost was in excess of $1m, and more than a third of outages reported by respondents cost $250,000 or more. In some cases, the costs were in excess of $10m. Almost 80% said their most recent outage was preventable and the most common cause was on-premise power failure (33%). This was followed by network failure (30%) and software/IT system error (28%). Worryingly, more than 30% experienced a failure at a third-party provider. There is

The main factor in the increase in data centre failures is the fact that so many data centres are showing their age and the importance of these facilities is not always recognised by some organisations – Andy Hirst, Sudlows

increasing reliance on thirdparty data centres and failures are becoming a critical issue, according the Uptime Institute. This is a particular concern, according to Ascierto, as CIOs and service providers have limited visibility and control over third parties. “In addition to the survey results, we have a data base of large public data centre outages which are big enough to make the national news. These are rampant,” she says. “For an industry as mission critical as this, the data is embarrassing.” Tackling the causes So what does the industry believe is fuelling the increase in outages? Why are data centres failing and where does the blame lie? Andy Hirst, managing director of critical infrastructures at Sudlows (a data centre design and build company), says the missioncriticalpower.uk

9 managers are screaming out for more resilience, it sometimes goes to the back of the annual budget review and the data centre managers are told to ‘get on with what they have’.” Hirst points out that, as these facilities age and failures occur, it becomes apparent just how important these facilities actually are. “This is why we are finding so many data centres are now being upgraded,” he says, warning that the risks associated with this, must be properly managed. “We are about to carry out ‘open heart surgery’ on a critical facility, while still maintaining uptime, yet some clients, I hasten to add not all clients, require significant improvement on efficiency, while incorporating a higher level of resilience. The crunch is they usually require this in an unrealistic time scale, with

31%

of respondents experienced a downtime incident in the past year use a company that does not have the required experience, they may have a catastrophic failure,” Hirst continues. The silver lining, in his view, is that the outage statistics should start looking a lot healthier, once these upgrades have been properly carried out. Designing for resilience While upgrading ageing infrastructure will help reduce the risk of outages in the long term, how are new data centres designing for improved resilience? Gerard Thibault, CIO at Kao

failures do not significantly impact the overall cooling capacity available,” comments Thibault. “The distributed nature of the overall cooling system provides higher availability, unlike a chilled water system with the ‘bottle neck’ of a secondary circuit pumping arrangement, which can provide an effective single point of failure, even if seemingly concurrently maintainable or fault tolerant designs are implemented. “The IEC design chosen not only reduces the power overhead of the data centre, it removes the complex compressors and components that often cause traditional designs to have increased downtime on plant, which can reduce redundancy or even cause outages. This design ensures the correct environment to provide operators and customers ongoing IT services

UPS monitoring across all outputs, and each unit in the system, as well as across all power phases, guarantees that overloads are far less likely to occur during either normal operation and failure scenarios – Gerard Thibault, Kao Data results of the survey are alarming but not surprising. Despite the failsafes being built into the design of data centres, he believes that there will always be outages due to unforeseen circumstances, whether this is human error or freak weather conditions: “There are three key findings reported that need consideration, these being skill shortages, higher densities being deployed in a facility that is not fit for purpose and in some cases, complex or over engineered solutions that are not necessarily required,” says Hirst. “However, I feel the main factor in the increase in data centre failures is the fact that so many data centres are showing their age and the importance of these facilities is not always recognised by some organisations. “Even though the data centre missioncriticalpower.uk

a reduced budget, sometimes incorporating untried technologies to be installed in a non-existent footprint. “At Sudlows, we work with clients to assist them in understanding the risks and we carry out due diligence on new technologies, so we are in a position to advise on these. “We also understand that once the button is pushed on a project, the ROI clock is ticking. However, this cannot come at a price of putting the facility at risk and that, in my opinion, is one of the main factors leading to the increase in outages.” Hirst believes that data centre managers are “stuck between a rock and a hard place”; they either carry on with the aged facility, applying ‘sticking plasters’, or upgrade the facility. “If the upgrade is not designed correctly, the risks are not carefully considered, or they

Data, believes that safe and reliable operation flows from achieving a balance between engineering and technology. “Provided you have the right concept and trained and experienced staff, high levels of availability are achievable,” comments Thibault. Kao Data, a recent entrant to the wholesale data centre market, has built its infrastructure around Open Compute Project (OPC) design principles. Central to the facility’s focus on availability and efficiency is the design of the cooling systems. “Our approach to simplifying the key area of energy efficiency and cooling is to use indirect evaporative cooling (IEC) technology (which is effective in most temperate climates) where the system is principally basic fans and a heat exchanger with no moving parts. This ensures minor cooling system

to the highest levels,” Thibault explains. He points out that implementing AHSRAE ‘recommended’ conditions reduces the opportunities for electronic systems failure. Redundancy and risk The Uptime Institute’s research shows that 22% of those with a 2N architecture (cooling and power) had an outage in the past year, while those with an N+1 architecture did not fare so well: 33% had an outage in the past year. Uptime Institute’s Rhonda Ascierto says that this data may change in the future as N+1 systems are becoming more sophisticated, aided by management software. Gerard Thibault comments: “If you reduce the amount of redundant UPS equipment, then the ‘risk’ of non-available systems will increase. » October 2018 MCP

INSIGHT

“However, if managed correctly by the human and perhaps AI interface, there is no reason why there should be such a drastic increase in downtime, as indicated in the Uptime Institute Global Survey.” Thibault advises that an understanding, not only of the IT equipment requirements but also of the electrical systems’ dynamics, is required to implement an efficient back-up electrical supply system. An effective approach, according to Thibault, involves adopting a distributed redundant UPS technology to minimise common mode events on availability. “Opting for a ‘three to make two’ architecture, can provide the benefits of a 25% reduction in plant provision but can offer 2N power distribution right to the IT rack,” says Thibault. However, he adds that it is not unheard of for electrical systems designers to take the reduction in redundant capacity to extremes. “Systems based on an ‘eight to make seven’ architecture certainly save money in UPS plant terms... but this increases risk and can even increase deployment costs due to the multiple interlaced low voltage distribution paths required. “Clearly, having only 12.5% redundant equipment capacity compared to 50% will have an effect on the economics of the system; but, more importantly, in the view of Kao Data, the human challenge of monitoring eight UPS systems and considering all failure load transfer scenarios makes system management more complex,” Thibault explains. The critical element is system management, in his view. UPS monitoring across all outputs, and each unit in the system, as well as across all power phases, guarantees that overloads are far less likely to occur during either normal operation and failure scenarios. “Without load management, cascade failures are more likely to happen. It is those scenarios that increase recovery MCP October 2018

performance regulation. “Certification to ‘standards’, such as Uptime Institute’s Tier models, TIA 942 and BICSI, is a start; but a more uniform and either industry led or government supported system of regulation is critical in ‘guaranteeing’ IT system performance going forward,” comments Thibault. He believes that standardisation, through initiatives such as the OCP, could help drive more reliable applications and systems, reduce costs and increase compliance in the data centre sector. In the long term, this will offer more consistent results across the market.

We have a data base of large public data centre outages which are big enough to make the national news. These are rampant. For an industry as mission critical as this, the data is embarrassing – Rhonda Ascierto, Uptime Institute problems, as the event sequence is difficult to trace without having expensive SCADA to monitor the systems,” Thibault continues. He highlights the market trend for ‘load bursting’, where customers overuse their power allocation, which generally relies on operators using system diversity. “If this process is used, operators must anticipate that, when uncoordinated bursts of power consumption collide, this will initiate overloads and outages will occur. This points towards the ‘traditional’ data centre design strategy of incorporating ‘safety margins’ to provide some comfort level. However, the result is ultimately increased capital costs per kW,” says Thibault. He adds that flexibility is also a key factor in implementing processes and systems that

reduce the probability of failures and outages. Hybrid IT solutions with different power density requirements within one environment (1.5-30kW racks) require infrastructure solutions to match the criticality of each IT layer. “One route is to offer multiple levels of redundancy on the electrical architecture, with even the possibility of mixed resilience levels within an IT technology suite. We believe this provides energy efficient and fault-tolerant systems,” comments Thibault. Performance regulation? The data centre continues to increase in importance as the digital economy grows and is a major influence on business as well as our daily lives. As such, Thibault believes that the data centre industry must move towards some form of

The future The challenges around managing resilience are set to increase further, according to the Uptime Institute. An anticipated build out of new edge computing capacity will add a new layer of complexity in the years ahead, while the ongoing move to hybrid IT is already creating technology, organisational and management complexity. Operators say they are not confident in their organisation’s ability to compare risk/ performance across their on-premises, colocation and Cloud facilities. The Uptime Institute warns that outages will increasingly create cascading failures across multiple sites and services. One area for improvement is assigning ownership of the issue: only about half of respondents (49%) have a single department head or executive who is charged with resiliency across their various on-premises, Cloud and colocation assets. Against this back-drop, data centre skill shortages will also intensify and this remains a major threat to the industry. Ultimately, while effective management of data centre infrastructure will be key to building resilience, the human element, known to be a leading factor in outages, must not be underestimated. l missioncriticalpower.uk

Sponsored column

Mechanism, which is why we need to consider moving away from simplistic forms of DSR and looking more at that opportunity.” SES Water is considering battery storage but has concerns over predictability of revenue. “We’ve had conversations with different companies that might be willing to provide and/ or finance a battery and we have support internally, but it is still in the very early stages,” said Stock. She added that the cost of investing in battery technology is also decreasing. This could see the business case focus on using batteries for resilience, in the future. Healthy returns? Trust looks at DSR potential Delegates also heard from Vikas Ahuja, energy projects manager at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. A few years ago, the trust looked at the potential of DSR using standby generators for STOR. However, due to the age and condition of the generators, and the

trust is now looking at battery storage. “We are looking for a fully funded solution that includes maintenance,” Ahuja explained. “We are extremely interested in improving resilience of our electrical infrastructure and that is the driving factor. A share in the revenues that can be achieved from arbitrage, FFR and other options would be a very welcome bonus.” The trust hopes to find an energy performance contract structure that guarantees savings or revenue share over a contract period of eight to 10 years. Ahuja has conducted feasibility studies with parties to try and find a suitable solution but, so far, providers have not ticked all of the boxes with business plans that detail the revenue share or guaranteed savings. “We are looking for a minimum risk package,” said Ahuja. If the trust is successful with its storage solution, it may be able to combine the battery with its 2MWe CHP.

The future is responding throughout the day; smaller reductions more of the time, rather than big ‘clunky’ responses at defined periods cost of enabling the assets to participate, participation was ruled out. At the same time, STOR prices collapsed. Barriers at this time included concerns over staffing – the trust was not confident that it had sufficient manpower to manage switchovers from mains to standby or vice versa during the periods when STOR events were likely to take place. There was also a question mark over increased maintenance and running costs. Other barriers were around the perception of risk – due to the critical nature of healthcare facilities, some stakeholders felt that the standby generators should only be used for their intended function – to provide back-up power when needed. The idea was shelved but the

theenergyst.com missioncriticalpower.uk

To persuade organisations to participate in flexibility, “customers need clarity and they need certainty,” commented Npower’s Ben Spry, adding that what is important is “having a diverse mix of revenue streams at your disposal”. Part of the challenge, in Spry’s view, is educating organisations about the opportunities. The 2018 DSR survey, launched at the event (theenergyst.com/dsr), suggests those who have taken the plunge are broadly satisfied with the outcome. For those yet to come on board, a lack of knowledge, perceived risk and a lack of certainty around revenues remain barriers to adoption. These concerns will need to be addressed to pave the way for increased uptake of DSR. l

Energy in Industry 4.0: Harnessing the Connected Site Advances in Industry 4.0 can enhance energy strategies and improve the resilience of critical sites. DSR is often seen as a risk to critical sites, such as data centres, healthcare sites and even some manufacturing processes. What many don’t realise is that with the right technology in place, overall risk can actually be reduced by implementing DSR technology. When using the right DSR tech, assets benefit from energy automation, optimisation, analytics, benchmarking and predictive maintenance, as well as the advantages of additional DSR revenue and savings. All of which are enhanced when working with a platform driven by AI and machine learning algorithms. The patterns emerging from the data collated and interpreted by GridBeyond’s platform are used to improve on-site overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance is often overlooked but is becoming more prevalent from a financial and operational planning perspective, as well as ensuring further business resilience. The machine learning

applied to a connected network of assets means highly accurate automation, alerts and thresholding in this sense, as well as key insights for benchmarking and analytics. Critical sites are also ideal candidates for battery storage which, when managed effectively, means a site can find flexibility greater than the sum of its parts and reduce the amount of storage needed. In addition to the back-up, site resilience, revenues and peak avoidance savings associated with a battery, GridBeyond’s hybrid approach reduces the financial risk of purchasing a battery by combining the flexibility available within the on-site assets with the battery, thus reducing the size of battery required for participation. For more information on GridBeyond’s technology platform and how it is applied to energy strategies for mission critical sites, contact the team on 01923 431 638 or service@gridbeyond.com GridBeyond’s whitepaper ‘Energy in Industry 4.0: Harnessing the Connected Site’ is now available at www.gridbeyond.com/ insights

MARKET TRENDS

Rising costs (including energy costs) was a concern for about 32% of those polled, while, in third place, increasing regulatory burden was reported to be a challenge for 13% of respondents. Other threats identified included increased competition from new and existing competitors. Commenting on the results, UPSL sales and marketing director Tim Wilkes said: “When comparing the latest

EU’ve spelled out fears A UPSL survey of the IT industry highlights concerns over Brexit and rising energy costs

ising energy costs and political uncertainty are the biggest threats to the IT industry, according to a survey of more than 800 senior IT and data centre professionals across the UK and Ireland. Conducted by

Uninterruptible Power Supplies Limited (UPSL), the poll revealed that more than 35% of respondents believe political uncertainty is the biggest threat to their business in the coming 12 months. It could be argued that the latest results reflect the perceived lack of clarity over Brexit, combined with the threat of increased US protectionism and a range of other global geopolitical factors facing the industry right now. Those concerns were supported by another

London market shows continued growth While the results of UPSL’s survey highlight concerns regarding political uncertainty, a report by Equinix, one of the biggest operators of data centres globally has revealed that Brexit is not slowing investment in the sector in the UK. The new report, which maps the astonishing growth of global data, reports that, despite Brexit, London is still the most important market in Europe with regards to data, even if Frankfurt is the fastest growing market in the world. The Global Interconnection Index (GXI) measures interconnection bandwidth, or private data exchange between companies away from the public internet – by far the biggest means of data exchange. This form of data exchange will soon be 10 times as big as the internet, and is growing twice as fast. “Despite Brexit and political uncertainty in the UK, the GXI reveals that London is projected to show strong growth, accounting for more than 35% of Europe’s MCP October 2018

question from the survey, which posed: “What impact do you think Brexit will have on your business?” More than 60% of those questioned felt that Brexit will have a negative impact on their business, with over 50% fearing it will have ‘a small negative impact’ and more than 13% who worried it would have ‘a large negative impact’. Conversely, just over 15% of those questioned felt that Brexit would have a positive impact on their business.

60%

of those questioned felt that Brexit will have a negative impact on their business results to those from 2016, it is clear there’s been a significant shift in attitudes. Political uncertainty didn’t register as a top 10 response back then but that was before the Brexit vote and the impact that it’s had on the value of the pound. “That rising costs is a close second is less surprising. In 2016, rising energy costs was the top response for over 77% of respondents, so it says a lot about how the UK’s IT and data centre business landscape has shifted in just two years.” l

Interconnection Bandwidth growth,” states Russell Poole, managing director UK at Equinix. “London’s digital acceleration shows that post-Brexit, interconnection bandwidth continues to be driven by the secular growth of global data traffic and the massive shift in IT to support this data explosion. Equinix’s 12 data centres across the UK and the recent expansion of Equinix’s LD4 data centre in Slough, is an example of the continued investment and growth in London’s digital sector.” In a further independent survey of 130 senior UK IT decision makers, Equinix found that, despite Brexit, 64% of senior IT decision-makers believe that due to the flourishing data centre industry in the UK, the UK is the best place in Europe to interconnect with partners, customers, supply chain and Cloud service providers. Frankfurt will grow faster than London, at 58% CAGR vs London’s 52%, but London is far larger – having twice the capacity of Frankfurt. More than half (51%) believe interconnection is key to their business’s survival – showing how critical London’s lead is to the UK’s post-Brexit competitiveness. missioncriticalpower.uk

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

DigiPlex helps heat Oslo homes Data centre plans to use its surplus heat to benefit the wider local community

igiPlex, a data centre provider based in Norway, and district heating supplier Fortum Oslo Varme, have signed a letter of intent on the recovery of heat from DigiPlex’s data centre at Ulven in Oslo. The agreement will help meet the energy needs of approximately 5,000 Oslo apartments. Data centres today account for 2% of the world’s annual CO2 emissions and 3% of power consumption. In Oslo, district heating is already sourced by renewable power. Due to statutory phasing out of fossil energy sources for heating and urban development, demand for district heating is increasing. With Fortum Oslo Varme planning to increase heat production, the company has sought out sources of renewable energy that are

DigiPlex will heat 5,000 Oslo homes suitable for production. Through planned increases in capacity at DigiPlex’s data centre, the volume of recovered heat supplied to the district heating system will increase. “Digitisation must move towards a greener world, and our cooperation with Fortum Oslo Varme is an important step in that direction. From autumn 2019, when end users in Norway browse the web, they will be indirectly contributing to the

heating of apartments in Oslo,” comments DigiPlex CEO Gisle M Eckhoff. Fortum Oslo Varme managing director Eirik F Tandberg adds: “The district heating system operated by Fortum Oslo Varme is a 60-mile thermal energy distribution system in Oslo and is a great tool for moving energy from areas with excess to where energy is needed. “This type of third-party delivery into the district

heating network benefits both the environment and the city’s population. Fortum Oslo Varme is already recovering energy from the sewage of Oslo, and by recovering the surplus heat from data centres, we further increase the share of recovered heat in our production. “By using resources already available, instead of letting them go to waste, we make district heating and energy use in buildings a part of the circular economy. Water-borne heating solutions in buildings are what makes this innovation possible.” DigiPlex operates its data centres exclusively on renewable power, with its facilities drawing on Norwegian hydropower plants. “The reuse of waste heat is the next step in our journey towards a more sustainable society,” concludes Eckhoff. l

ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Costing the earth? Energy waste is on the decline...

he Uptime Institute’s 2018 survey shows data centre operators are continuing to lower energy waste. “The portrayal of data centres as ‘big, energy hungry, pollution machines’ couldn’t be further from the truth,” comments, Equinix Services managing director Michael Winterson. “We have a natural propensity to seek out energy efficiency, which people don’t always understand about the data centre industry.” According to the survey results, the average PUE in 2007 was reported to be 2.5 – this figure improved to 1.98 in 2011 and to 1.65 in 2013. Since then, improvements have been incremental, reaching a record average PUE of 1.58 in 2018. Equinix is one of the many data centre operators striving to reduce its environmental impact – the company has a long-term goal of using 100% clean and renewable energy for its global platform, and has adopted more aggressive regional PUE design targets for new sites, as well as major expansions. “Twenty years ago, if a client used a kW of power in my data MCP October 2018

centre, I would need to use 1.5kW. During this period, this has been reduced to 200W. That is a reduction of 86%. This isn’t just us, the entire industry has sought these efficiencies, as energy is one of the highest costs for data centres,” comments Winterson. “The industry has dramatically reduced the amount of energy necessary to deliver a service to a client – whether it is a video

56%

The renewable energy coverage for Equinix data centres worldwide on YouTube or a mission critical application.” Winterson says it is “part of the industry’s DNA to build a data centre that is better than the one before” and there has been a drive to seek out the next generation in energy sustainable solutions. Equinix believes the use of distributed generation will yield significant clean energy benefits, as well as increasing resilience

Equinix’s Michael Winterson says the industry does not deserve its bad image when it comes to energy use. He discusses innovation and sustainability with Louise Frampton

and reducing the risks of largescale power outages and cascade failures. To this end, the company is incorporating more rooftop solar into its portfolio and supporting new technologies, such as fuel cells. Efficiency innovation “We have instituted within our business a sustainable practices team. This is not just ‘a couple of pages on our website’; there are people dedicating their time to analysing the business and societal value of any technology that is being put out there,” Winterson explains. Equinix is currently trialling a range of technologies to establish whether these energy efficient solutions can be migrated from the laboratory to a real-world business context. This includes the use of hydrogen gas generation in Silicon Valley. “There is a 1MW solution on the campus that we are working on. We are also performing a test of aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) technology in Amsterdam and London,” says Winterson. This geothermal technology can achieve seasonal

energy efficiency ratio values in excess of 60 – four to six times more efficient than conventional heating and cooling systems. “Typically, a data centre will use 1W of electricity to clear out 7W of heat – a 7:1 ratio. With this ATES technology, we can achieve a ratio of 100:1, so we can move 100KW of heat per 1KW of actual electricity consumed. We have to find this next generation of ‘huge’ technologies, as we are getting close to the edge of perfection,” Winterson continues. Equinix is also working with a group in Sweden on the capture and resale of heat, Winterson reveals. “There is potential, if we can capture enough heat from our customers, that our theoretical energy use could drop to a negative number. If we can capture 200W of heat and only use 200W to power the data centre, we will effectively be running the data centre for free. This is the next generation, where we become energy neutral,” he says. Government regulation, according to Winterson, may actually disincentivise the market from adopting the latest generations of technology. » missioncriticalpower.uk

ENERGY MANAGEMENT

“By the time the regulation becomes law, the horse will have already bolted and you will be shutting the door on an empty barn,” he comments. Nevertheless, there is a need for national incentives, to support the adoption of energy efficient technologies, and strategic thinking on a governmental level. “I’m not talking about tax breaks. The next generation of energy efficiencies are going to come from joined-up thinking,” says Winterson. As the industry grows, dirty servers are being replaced by clean, energy-efficient servers, and Winterson argues that, if we digitise what were once physical services, the planet will benefit from reduced waste, pollution and materials. Winterson believes governments need to understand that digitisation is the only way to sustain a growing and more urban population and that they need to work with industry.

monitoring software platform, IBX SmartView, to provide real-time event and alarm notifications, as well as enabling customers to monitor and forecast their utility usage. In the long-term, customers will be able to pull this data into artificial intelligence systems. Equinix is evaluating the potential for next-generation power management systems, which will be AI driven. The LD6 data centre in Slough has been optimised from an efficiency and environmental perspective energy efficiency will need to be industry-wide and coordinated with some kind of government policy… We need to think big about this; about the future of a digital economy,” he comments. Winterson points out that customers are increasingly demanding green credentials from data centre providers and this has been a key driver behind

The portrayal of data centres as ‘big, energy hungry, pollution machines’ couldn’t be further from the truth He highlights the potential of big energy users to participate in national grid balancing schemes, for example. At the moment, the business case for Equinix does not stack up – participation in demand side response will require engagement from government departments and long-term planning, in his view. “The next generation of

the company’s pledge to use 100% clean, renewable energy across its data centre platform. So far, Equinix has already achieved 56% renewable energy coverage worldwide, helping customers to ‘green their supply chains’ and meet corporate sustainability objectives. Winterson believes greater collaboration between the

Energy efficient data centres Equinix has implemented a number of energy efficient designs across its global portfolio of data centres: • Toronto (TR2) Smart chillers provide a low, fully loaded operational PUE. They incorporate Turbocor mag-lev compressor chillers with advanced economisation features, as well as water-side economiser heat exchangers for wintertime free cooling. High-efficiency air handlers allow cold aisle containment and granular modulation of the cooling air supply, thereby reducing the amount of energy required to cool the data centre. The system is expected to provide low annual PUE of about 1.25. • New York (NY6) Pairing indirect evaporative cooling (IDEC) with complete hot aisle containment reduces PUE in low-load situations. NY6 employs high-efficiency roofmounted Munters IDEC units and hot aisle containment MCP October 2018

data centre industry and its customers is now required to drive improvement further – to establish whether the customer’s IT is built to operate optimally. It is important to ask: have they optimised their server and network configuration? Has equipment been over-specified? “We are now educating clients that it is better to operate less devices with a higher utilisation rate as this uses less electricity. As the client pushes us towards sustainability, we are now engaging in a reverse conversation on whether their system is actually optimised in line with what they are trying to achieve,” Winterson comments. Increased intelligence to enable customers to have greater visibility into their physical infrastructure will help support environmental and operational decision-making in the future. In line with demand for greater transparency, Equinix has introduced its own data centre

Future efficiency gains The data centre sector has already delivered increasing levels of energy efficiency but the next challenge goes out to the software writers, according to Winterson. “We are already starting to see a revolution in design, where efficiency is being built into the software,” he comments. An example of this can be seen with the development of fitness watches. Increasing intelligence is being built into these devices but this level of intelligence needs to be achieved without draining the battery. “The Internet of Things is going to lead to a massive rewrite of software. The industry is grappling with the size of data and the amount of application power necessary to run that data,” Winterson explains. “We are looking at the optimisation of the network, from the fitness watch to a Cloud-based service, to a web front-end, to an operating system. All this is needed to build a connected world.” l

with granular supply air control. This achieves an estimated fully loaded average annual PUE of 1.21. IDEC also reduces overall mechanical cooling capacity required in many locations. Other Equinix sites, including London (LD6) and Melbourne (ME1), employ the use of IDEC units. • Amsterdam (AM3) Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) is just one of the innovative features. ATES employs cold groundwater to cool equipment during winter months, eliminating the need for traditional mechanical cooling within the data centre. Excess heat is even used to warm buildings nearby. AM3 has achieved a design PUE of 1.19. • Toronto (TR1) A deep lake water cooling (DLWC) system significantly reduces power consumption by drawing water from the chilly depths of Lake Ontario to cool buildings in downtown Toronto, including the data centre. This novel approach reduces total energy needs by 50% or more. missioncriticalpower.uk

RACKING & ENCLOSURES

Racking up efficiencies Rittalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Clive Partridge explains the key considerations for planning rack developments to ensure an optimal installation

here are a number of key areas for IT and data centre managers to consider when it comes to planning future rack developments. One of the most critical is deciding the precise configuration of the internal components. This typically underpins the success of the whole project, especially when IT racks are not installed in a standardised data centre environment. Meanwhile, choosing which rack to install requires an understanding of its purpose, the routing of cabling for power supply and networks, and the ideal cooling solution. Here is a summary of some of the key questions to ask to help ensure the success of any future installation and commissioning of racks.

MCP October 2018

What will the rack be used for? The number and type of components will have an impact on the size of the rack. If it will simply be used to house servers, then an IT rack 600mm wide will suffice. However, if it is primarily for network components, the rack should be 800mm wide to accommodate the cabling. But, increasingly, enterprises are combining server and network components within individual IT racks. As IT takes on an increasingly significant

role within organisations, more and more components are packed in to make best possible use of existing infrastructure. This means the largest available racks should be selected in line with space constraints. An IT rack that is 42 units high, 800mm wide and 1,200mm deep provides ample room for custom configurations and allows for future expansion. What form of climate control is needed? Will the rack be installed in a room that does not have an

Choosing which rack to install requires an understanding of its purpose, the routing of cabling for power supply and networks, and the ideal cooling solution

integrated cooling system? If so, then a suitable cooling system needs to be considered from the outset. If just a single IT rack is needed, then cooling could simply be roof-mounted fans. If a greater cooling capacity is required, then a compressor cooling unit can be added, either externally or internally, in the form of a DX system â&#x20AC;&#x201C; although a higher IP rated rack will be required. DX systems are becoming more popular as they are relatively easy to install and can be deployed in office environments thanks to the low noise levels of the internal component. Should the rack be deployed in a conventional data centre, with either perimeter cooling units or InRow cooling units adjacent to the racks, then perforated doors should be used. Additional benefits missioncriticalpower.uk

25 ‘hot zone’ at the rack rear and therefore lower the delta T across the rack. All open rack units should be closed off with simple 1U snap-off section blanking plates for effective separation. To this end, there is a range of accessories available to enhance cool-air routing, enabling horizontal airflow for side ‘breathing’ switches, and more. Effective seals and climate control solutions tailored to the IT rack’s specific purpose will translate into improved energy efficiency. A little bit of planning goes a long way when it comes to reducing energy costs for IT operations. Where do you want your cables? A detailed plan for interior and exterior cable routing should be in place before a server enclosure is purchased and configured. The power supply, in particular, has to be considered. Many active

In this scenario, the roof plate needs to be configured correctly, openings should be closed off with brush strips creating a tight seal, simplifying cable management and improving energy efficiency. It also means that even after cables have been installed, accessories (including roof plates with multiple parts) can be easily removed for simpler maintenance and retrofits. Many rack vendors offer a choice of elements for effective cable management, enabling customised component configurations. Both open and closed cable duct systems are available for horizontal and vertical cabling, and cabling between thermal zones. Typically, air-tightness and a defined air pressure must be maintained to prevent warm air and cool air from mixing. This important consideration is often built into the design of

Pinpointing and replacing a single cable is then far simpler if there is a failure or if a reconfiguration is required. Recent developments Innovative products are now becoming available for in-rack cable management. One of these seems quite interesting: the network cable organiser (NCO). The NCO is a 482.6mm (19”) cable storage system. It takes up 1U in the network enclosure and contains 24 tested CAT 6, Class E patch cables or fibreoptic cables, each with a length of 1.6m (sufficient for 23U). It has a modular structure and is made up of individual cassettes. The pulley system integrated into the cassettes allows surplus cable lengths to be drawn in automatically which ensures that every cable is available in the perfect length, eliminating the need to order and stock a variety of different

Effective seals and climate control solutions tailored to the IT rack’s specific purpose will translate into improved energy efficiency. A little bit of planning goes a long way when it comes to reducing energy costs for IT operations can also be obtained here by deploying aisle containment or cocooning, where either the cold or the hot aisle (or in some cases both) is enclosed, the major benefit being lower operating costs and more efficient cooling (ie better delta T – the difference in temperature between two measuring points). Sealed Up? There are various options for cooling IT rack interiors depending on their use. For example, inside server enclosures the cool air should flow from front to back, while in network enclosures it should be directed through the parts that need to be cooled. In both scenarios, it is important to seal around the front 19” section to ensure cool air does not leak into the missioncriticalpower.uk

IT components require a redundant power supply which generally means two rack-mounted vertical power distribution units (PDUs) at the rack rear, left and right for an ‘A’ and ‘B’ supply respectively, making cable management a bit more complex. Moreover, best practice usually recommends power and copper data cables should be kept physically apart to avoid the unlikely possibility of electrical field interference. Special attention must be paid to the minimum bend radius of the fibre-optic cables to prevent signal attenuation. If the racks are to be placed on a raised floor, then power and network cabling can simply be laid on separate cable trays underneath. You can also mount cables under the ceiling and route them above the top of the racks.

many rack vendors’ enclosure products. The enclosure supports the need for air circulation in conjunction with the corresponding cable installation components. External cable management? Crowded IT racks have little available space to squeeze in new components. One answer is to route cables outside the racks such that cable ducts pass through the side of the rack, routing cabling over the top so that it re-enters the rack from the opposite side. Although this approach can save a great deal of space, it may make identifying individual cables more difficult and maintenance work more complicated. Wherever easy maintenance is a priority, cables should be routed inside the racks.

cable lengths. The result is permanently well-organised cable management, providing a perfect overview of what is connected where. It is also more energy efficient, avoiding airflow blockages that can arise as a result of surplus lengths of the individual cables inside the enclosure facilitates more efficient cooling. And the NCO saves on space, because it only requires 1U per switch. Cable management panels are not required, saving additional space, while the flat cables used in the NCO only use onethird of the space of a round cable. The flat cables still offer the same level of reliability, are 100% tested and the fibreoptic cables additionally have a measurement record on the cassette. l October 2018 MCP

BACK-UP POWER

to carry more load. Most businesses choose a 3/3 phase UPS, but for an application used to keeping critical equipment in a port up and running, it could be argued that a longer UPS duration is needed.

Shipping forecast ‘good’ Reducing outage risk becomes plain sailing at UK port

P Automation is helping to prevent outages at UK ports through the supply of critical infrastructure. Most recently, this has included the installation of a Riello UPS system for a major port in the north east of England, to improve the duration of its power supply. First, the company needed to determine the correct UPS system for its site. Before implementing a new UPS

system, the installer has to determine whether the customer needs a single- or three-phase UPS. This requires examining the loads the UPS will protect and assessing voltage range or kVa value. Generally, loads of 20kVA or less can safely use a single-phase UPS, whereas larger loads will likely need a three-phase UPS. For port conveyor applications such as this one, a three-phase UPS is

usually required. The next consideration is whether to use a 3/1 or 3/3 configuration. A 3/1 UPS takes in three-phase power and outputs a single phase, while a 3/3 takes in three-phase power and delivers three-phase to the downstream loads. In three-phase systems, the power circuit combines three alternating currents that vary in phase by 120 degrees. As a result, the power would never drop to zero, making it possible

Longer autonomy With this in mind, CP Automation installed a Riello 3/1 phase UPS system at 40kVa to improve the port’s power supply, complete with 80 rechargeable batteries. This provided the port with 1.5 hours of power autonomy during power outage, much longer than it would have been if a 3/3 UPS alternative has been chosen. The batteries are charged by the rectifier; so that if mains power fails, the UPS uses this energy source to power the inverter, reducing the risk of unplanned power outages at the port. CP Automation also installed active harmonic filters at the site to mitigate harmful harmonics at the facility. A total of six Comsys ADF P300 Active Filters were fitted to ensure the harmonics from all the variable speed drives (VSDs) on site were eliminated. l

Banking on reliable power at BT Crestchic supplies fleet of transportable load banks and load bank trailer sets for load testing

restchic Loadbanks, a specialist loadbank manufacturer and rental expert, has supplied a fleet of 30 transportable load banks and 27 state-of-theart loadbank trailer sets to telecommunications giant BT. Ranging in size from 60kW to 600kW and all operating on a 1.0 power factor, the equipment will be used to complete the load testing of UPS and generator systems MCP October 2018

during commissioning and maintenance works. Karl Baynton, health, safety and environment manager for BT’s Technology Service and Operations, commented on

the recent equipment upgrade: “With a variety of Crestchic equipment already within our arsenal, we asked them to provide us with a solution which would upgrade a

considerable proportion of our ageing loadbank equipment. “The new loadbanks needed to be transportable between buildings and be versatile in handling a varied workload; two requirements which didn’t faze the team at Crestchic. “For the 27 larger units required, they suggested their new trailer-mounted loadbanks which are ideal for quick and safe transportation of larger equipment. We hope to purchase more units in the near future as we continue to upgrade equipment.” To meet BT’s requirement for a self-contained testing package, all of the loadbanks were supplied with 10m sets of load cables. l missioncriticalpower.uk

Legislation

Understanding environmental regulation Greg Altria, associate consultant with SLR, provides an insight into the Environmental Permitting Regulations affecting mission critical sites

he Environmental Permitting Regulations (England and Wales) 2016 (as amended) (EPR) are used by the government to place controls on a whole range of activities that have the ability to impact the environment or human health. As it relates to data centres, the operation of generators for back-up purposes, triad avoidance and/or balancing services are regulated activities. It should be noted that the regulations do not apply to Scotland or Northern Ireland. Although similar legislation does exist in these regions,

the devolved administration’s interpretation of the relevant directives and application of additional controls differs to that in England and Wales. In brief, the EPR require operators to obtain an environmental permit and comply with its conditions. The type of permit required and its associated conditions depend on its aggregated thermal input, the operating regime and its application as Figure 1 (see below) illustrates. Part A(1) IED permits are complex. They contain conditions relating to management systems, energy

efficiency, efficient use of raw materials, waste generation and management, storage of fuels and oils, operating hours, emissions and monitoring, noise and vibration, record keeping, reporting and notification. Operators have to apply ‘best available techniques’ (BAT) to ensuring risks to the environment are controlled, unless the cost of applying BAT is disproportionate to the environmental benefits in which case derogations can be applied for. In principle, Part B, Specified Generator and Medium Combustion Plant Directive

(MCPD) permits are simple in nature. They should only seek to regulate impacts associated with emissions to air such that the permits contain conditions relating to monitoring, record keeping, reporting and notification. In practice, this can have significant implications for data centres. Unless generators are operated for emergency backup purposes only (including associated testing) and for less than 50 hours/year each, they will be classed as ‘Specified Generators’. Permits for Specified »

Figure 1: Permitting routes for data centre generators

My data centre operates generators. What type of environmental permit do I require?

Our aggregators have an aggregated thermal input greater than 50MW

Our aggregators have an aggregated thermal input greater than 20MW

Our aggregators have an aggregated thermal input less than 50MW and are for back-up purposes plus triad avoidance and/or balancing services

Our aggregators have an aggregated thermal input less than 50MW and are for backup purposes only

Part 1(A) Industrial Emissions Directive Environmental Permit required*

Part B Environmental Permit required*

Specified Generator Environmental Permit required**

Medium Combustion Plant Environmental Permit required

* Permit will also contain Specified Generator and Medium Combustion Plant Directive conditions ** Permit will also contain Medium Combustion Plant Directive conditions

missioncriticalpower.uk

October 2018 MCP

Legislation

Generators establish limits on the concentration of oxides of nitrogen which must be complied with. Similarly, permits for medium combustion plant (MCP) contain limits where the operating hours for the aggregated plant exceeds 500 hours/year on average. For diesel generators, the limits necessitate secondary abatement to be installed. What are the cost implications of abatement technologies? The emissions from generation plant are common to all combustion processes and relate to the temperature of combustion and the excess air entrained within the combustion stages. Therefore, the fuel used is a significant factor in determining the necessity for abatement technologies to aid reducing emissions levels and ensuring compliance. In general, natural gas fuelled generation plant sets the standards and usage of existing and standard catalytic converters and optimised generator set-ups meet the requirements. However, for diesel fired generation plant full compliance with the

Figure 2: Key dates for medium combustion plant (MCP)

20.12.2018

01.01.2025

01.01.2030

New MCPs must be permitted, emissions tested within four months and comply with Emission Limit Values

Existing MCPs of 5MW and below must comply ELVs

01.01.2024

01.01.2029

Existing MCPs above 5MW must be permitted and test emission within four months of receiving the permit

Existing MCPs 5MW and below must be permitted and test emission within four months of receiving the permit

strictest requirements for reduced emissions will require additional abatement technologies. The optimum level of emission abatement for diesel fired plant will require SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) technology utilising injection of a urea/ ammonia solution into the exhaust system before passing across a catalyst to accelerate and optimise conversion and abatement of NOx generated. Such a system will nominally cost between ÂŁ90,000 and ÂŁ150,000 for a generator unit of approximately 1-2MWe. The systems generally can be mounted on top of a generator container (subject to structural/support

requirements) and require some additional controls to monitor the temperature of the exhaust and the injection of additive. The additives will also require some additional tank for storage. How will it be enforced/ policed? The Environment Agency (EA) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) are the regulators in England and Wales respectively for all the aforementioned permits. Compliance is assessed by the regulators using a combination of deskbased reviews, site audits and emissions monitoring. The amount of time spent by the regulators in regulating

a site typically reflects its risk. More complex and noncompliant sites are given more attention, for example. A scoring system is employed by the regulators for noncompliances. Sites are scored for non-compliances depending on the potential severity of the environment impact. Sites are categorised depending on their compliance rating and their annual permit subsistence fees are adjusted using multipliers. For example, operators of an E-rated site will pay 50% more in annual subsistence fees than a B-rated site. The EA and NRW have enforcement powers that include the provision of suspension notices, enforcement notices

29 and, ultimately, prosecution comprising criminal sanctions and fines via the Courts. Are gas generators affected or just diesel? The regulations encompass generators of all fuel types. However, gas fuelled generators are typically able to comply with the emissions limits without secondary abatement. What action do data centres need to take? Data centres qualifying under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) and Part B environmental permits should

already have a permit in place. New sites or those installing new plant should have a permit in place prior to commencement of operations if the new/expanded operations qualify. To obtain a permit, an application must be made to the EA/NRW which outlines how the operator will manage environmental and human health impacts associated with the operation and ensure compliance with the permit’s conditions. Permits for Specified Generators and MCP are forthcoming requirements.

The timelines presented in Figures 2 and 3 provide key dates for MCPs and Specified Generators. It should be noted that ‘existing’ MCPs can become ‘new’ if investments in refurbishment of an item of plant exceeds 50% of the investment cost for a new unit. Similarly, Tranche A generators can become Tranche B generators if new capacity market agreements are made or if investments in refurbishment exceeds 50% of the investment cost for a new unit. Where a combination of new and existing 1-5MW, 5-50MW

Figure 3: Key dates for ‘Specified Generators’

01.10.2019

01.01.2019

Tranche A 5-50MW MCP generators with NOx emissions above 500mg/Nm3 which operate for more than 50 hours per annum must be permitted. The EA will require that NOx emissions do not give rise to an exceedance of the Air Quality Regulations

Tranche A 1-5MW MCP generators must be permitted and comply with the MCPD ELVs

01.01.2019

01.01.2025

All Tranche B 5-MCP generators must be permitted and emissions tested within four months and comply wiht the standard permit conditions and the NOx ELV of 190mg/Nm3 within 10 minutes of operation

Tranche A 5-50MW with NOx emissions above 500mg/Nm3 need to comply with NOx ELV of 190mg/Nm3 within 20 minutes of operation Remaining Tranche A 5-50MW MCP generators must be permitted and comply with the MCPD ELVs

and Tranche A and Tranche B generators exist on a site, the relevant date for permitting off all the units on a site is the earliest date. How will it impact activities such as DSR? In order to continue to provide demand-side response (DSR) services, or, participate in triad avoidance (if the generators operate for more than 50 hours per year), operators will need to retrofit secondary abatement to diesel generators to meet emission limits for Specified Generators. The economic viability of doing so will need to be assessed on a case by case basis. The cost of obtaining the relevant permit and complying with its requirements must be taken into account. Data centres should consider if the permit places any restraints on it which may affect their contractual obligations, and, consider the financial viability of continuing if the cost of compliance is significant. DSR is here to stay as it is an effective way of balancing the supply of electricity generation to meet demand. However, the economics for using diesel generators to participate in this market will become much less attractive. l

DATA CENTRE INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT

ata centres are becoming “too big and too complex” to manage without data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) software, and the risks are far too great, according to Uptime Institute Research vice-president Rhonda Ascierto. Visibility and control in the form of data and analytics is critical, in her view. As the latest survey from Uptime Institute shows, many data centres are struggling to get to grips with the resilience of their operation and the rate and severity of outages is disturbingly high. Analytics can help reduce some of these risks. The Uptime Institute’s survey highlights that a ‘small majority’ of data centres now have some type of DCIM, and typically their implementation has been successful ‘contrary to widespread industry reports’. As more workloads move to the Cloud, the need for analytics and visibility is becoming even greater. Many workloads span multiple locations – onsite, offprem or in a colo. “This creates challenges on a number of levels – workloads are harder to predict, they have unpredictable swings in power use, and failures can have greater knock-on effects. In order to support this, you need real-time operational management and intelligence reporting,” comments Ascierto. Redefining ‘failure’ Commenting on the Uptime Institute’s latest survey findings, Nlyte Software’s chief strategy officer, Enzo Greco, says that the Institute has redefined ‘failure’ – rather than simply being an enterprise-wide, catastrophic event, ‘failure’ now refers to any incident that results in a “degradation of service”. “Many things can contribute to a degradation of service. It can be a power event, a thermal event, a security anomaly – or any number of issues… there are many variables – failure of the IT systems, failure of the facility and there is user

MCP October 2018

Using analytics to tackle outage risks Nlyte Software’s Enzo Greco speaks to Louise Frampton about the role of artificial intelligence in the wake of an Uptime Institute survey which found that many data centres are struggling to get to grips with increasing complexity failure, which is still the most prevalent,” he comments. Greco agrees with Ascierto that analytics have a key role to play in addressing risk and this is now receiving a great deal of attention in the market. He points out that data centres generate a tremendous amount of data, including data generated by the server, operational data created by applications and a huge amount of data generated by the facility – from temperature and humidity, to power quality. “In the past, we would look

at a very small subset of data inputs, such as the temperature. Today, we have multi-varied analytics… ultimately, we can include these many different inputs to optimise outcomes,” says Greco. He adds that it is important to integrate the different systems within the data centre – including the building management system (BMS), data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) system and IT service management (ITSM) system. “It is not uncommon for one

of these to find a fault but not share it with the other systems. What constitutes state-ofthe art is to integrate these different systems together so that we can have end-to-end visibility, but also end-to-end management of problems that may occur,” says Greco. Nlyte recently added AI-driven data centre management as a service (DMaaS) to its real-time DCIM software (Nlyte Machine Learning) with IBM Watson Internet of Things (IoT). This cognitive DCIM

When there was just one data centre, it was simple – people knew what to control. Increasingly, there may be a set of centralised data centres, surrounded by any number of edge centres, and these need to be managed as a cohesive enterprise missioncriticalpower.uk

31 to be reactive – taking corrective action to address a problem after it arises. The role of analytics is to change this reactive model, into a proactive one. “The ability to predict events has always been the holy grail of the data centre and this software allows them to do just that,” he comments.

75%

of respondents to the Uptime Institute’s survey said their DCIM deployment was ‘successful’ solution simplifies DCIM adoption, workload optimisation and helps prevent data centre power and performance issues. DMaaS aggregates and analyses large sets of anonymised DCIM data, which is enhanced with machine learning to spot anomalies and patterns, optimise operations, as well as predict and forecast. Greco points out that data centres, until now, have tended missioncriticalpower.uk

Efficient cooling management Data centres are also facing increasing scrutiny around the power they consume, but an increasing focus on energy management is also adding to the complexity of operations. “Traditionally, you would have room-level cooling in the data centre. Today, there is a move to precision cooling, where it is possible to cool down to an individual rack. This goes a long way towards better efficiency. The technology allows us to do this, but there are so many control points, it cannot be performed manually… you need to have AI to manage this complexity,” continues Greco. He explains that if the data centre operator is able to predict that they will have a hotspot in the future, they can be highly efficient by targeting their cooling, pre-emptively, towards this area before problems occur. At the same time, if they have integration of BMS, DCIM, as well as the IT systems, they can establish that an entire part of the data centre will have very little application activity in the future. Hence, they may not need to cool that part of the data centre in the same way and have the option

54%

of respondents to the Uptime Institute’s survey said they have purchased DCIM software to increase the temperature in that location. Greco says that the next efficiency gains are not going to come from the cooling units themselves, which are already very efficient, but in how the units are operated. However, he also believes that there is “no better way to increase efficiency than to shut down idle servers”. Visibility of server usage can be integrated with information from the DCIM system on how the data centre is operating, and this can then coordinate with the BMS, which controls the temperature within the data centre. This integration of technologies is critical to efficient operation. ‘Dark’ facilities With the increasing proliferation of unmanned edge data centres, smarter, more integrated control systems will become ever more important. “You will need localised intelligence; if something fails, you won’t have the luxury of being able to walk through the facility. These ‘dark’ facilities are part of a much larger fabric. “When there was just one data centre, it was simple – people knew what to control. Increasingly, there may be a set of centralised data centres, surrounded by any number of

Edge centres, and these need to be managed as a cohesive enterprise. “These Edge data centres are an extension of one local, computing capacity, but geographically dispersed, and this topology is far more difficult to manage. It is calling out for artificial intelligence.” DMaaS While Greco points out that the ability to interpret data across the data centre – and the Edge – is vital, there is an opportunity to take this knowledge even further. “Data centre management as a service enables you to access not just the data from your own facility, from your own environment and equipment, but also to gain an insight from similar environments, to predict failure. For example, UPS systems are the last defence against failure, so there is a lot of monitoring and control of these assets. While the data centre benefits from receiving data inputs from their own UPS systems, in the market place, there are thousands of these installed. The promise of DMaaS is to share information from all of these installations, which provides far better insight,” he comments. Ultimately, analytics will enable data centre personnel to optimise their operations and identify potential vulnerabilities, taking corrective actions before harmful issues occur. This could contribute to the reduction of the outages, that have been reported, in recent years, while helping to reduce the impact of data centres on the environment. l

DCIM now ‘mainstream’ Historically, DCIM has been a controversial and under-deployed technology. However, according to the Uptime Institute’s latest survey, DCIM has reached the point of being a ‘mainstream data centre technology’. More than half of survey respondents (54%) said they had purchased commercial DCIM software, with an additional 11% having deployed homegrown DCIM. Highlighting the maturity of the technology, 75% of the users said their deployment was successful, and nearly half (47%) are supplementing their implementation with more DCIM tools.The most common motivation for deploying DCIM was capacity planning (76%) and power monitoring (74%). Other reasons ranged from giving executives and customers (of multi-tenant data centres) visibility (52%), to compliance (35%). October 2018 MCP

THERMAL OPTIMISATION

Data centres with a cool edge Localised small to medium data centres are back in the spotlight as Edge computing becomes increasingly popular. Yan Evans, global director data centre solutions at FläktGroup, discusses the key considerations for data centre managers when specifying a cooling solution on the edge

ocalised small to medium data centres are back in the spotlight as Edge computing becomes increasingly popular to process latencycritical data on the periphery of the network. Although many of the principles for controlling temperature in industrialsize server farms also apply to decentralised data centres, the latter poses particular challenges in terms of space, building constraints, scalability and utility connections. Today, data is coming from all corners of the planet thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT), mobile data, streaming media and more. It is estimated that global data centre IP traffic will grow three-fold in the next five years and traffic within hyperscale data centres will quadruple by 2021. This increases the compute load on the Cloud and creates challenges, such as latency and bandwidth demand, which is compounded by the physical distance between connected devices and data centres. The reality is that datarelated technological advances hinge on greater network efficiencies – namely, speed MCP October 2018

– and Edge computing can provide the answer. Regional facilities help to cache data closer to the end users and connected devices sending or creating it. This improves real-time processing and streamlines data pathways, which are vital to seeing these next-generation technologies take hold. As a result, data centre strategy needs to be evolving to meet the demands of edge facilities. However, these premises are often based in comparatively old, redundant, commercial spaces and it can be difficult to manage the climate and ensure that the servers have the correct conditions they need in order to operate. So, what are the key factors data centre managers should consider when choosing a solution for this most tricky of environments? Reliability and performance Any business that has been affected by the internet going down knows exactly how frustrating that can be, often paralysing the business for the duration of the downtime. That is why, first and foremost, the reliability of

FläktGroup’s Multi-Denco close control units can be installed or modified quickly and at low cost Edge computing is of critical importance. Any cooling system deployed for this environment must ensure a constant, suitable temperature throughout the data centre 24 hours a day, alleviating the risk of downtime and allowing access to the stored data whenever it is needed. The use of electronically commutated (EC) fans in both indoor and outdoor units, together with speed controlled refrigeration compressors, means that energy efficiency is much greater when operating at less than design loadings. For this reason it is customary to keep any backup systems online, which not only provides ‘hot’ standby but also ensures extra units earn their keep by reducing energy consumption to a minimum.

Scalability Data centres on the edge need to be flexible enough to scale up to meet demand, increasing capacity in stages as further customers sign up. As a result, edge data centres will be set up to be dynamic in order to meet changing requirements. For example, should the need increase in a particular area of the country, the company operating the data centre will simply shift stock IT hardware to the relevant sites in order to process data in a suitable location, while alleviating oversupply of equipment to quieter locations. Because servers are often moved from site to site this quickly, it is important to have a cooling solution that can also be fully operational within short lead times. Therefore, cooling missioncriticalpower.uk

33 Data centre strategy needs to be evolving to meet the demands of edge facilities. However, these premises are often based in comparatively old, redundant, commercial spaces and it can be difficult to manage the climate – Yan Evans, FläktGroup solutions with large amounts of fixed site infrastructure are largely inappropriate for edge data centres. Instead, those that can be scaled up or down in a modular way should be considered, as well as units that are easily transportable so that they can be moved to key sites when necessary. FläktGroup’s Multi-Denco close control units require only a single set of smallbore refrigeration pipework between the indoor and outdoor equipment, similar in size to a domestic central heating system. This can be installed or modified very

quickly and at low cost to achieve the required flexibility. Overcoming space constraints Edge data centres are often characterised by a lack of space, compared to their larger competitors. Data centre and IT managers must consider the area that a cooling system needs and explore alternative cooling methods to ensure valuable space is reserved for IT power. Enough room also needs to be ensured for maintenance without sacrificing footprint for server racks and IT equipment. Often, the use of the smallest

quantity of highest capacity units is not the best solution. The space challenge is not confined to the interior either; sufficient outdoor areas should be allocated for external units of a cooling system. If outdoor space is limited, manufacturers such as FläktGroup can offer compact solutions – for example, a hybrid unit which combines both the condenser and freecooling dry cooler for heat rejection. Although slightly less efficient than having separate systems, this is often chosen when external space is at a premium, as it takes up

no more room than a system without free-cooling. There are many issues which are unique to setting up edge data centres but advances in cooling technology can help to overcome challenges around reliability, scalability and space. In turn, this ensures a site runs effectively while ensuring availability and performance. l

DATA CENTRE OPTIMISATION

Dub3 incorporates energy efficient features, such as adiabatic cooling

critical components throughout DUB3’s design and deployment stages.

Supporting Ireland’s data centre growth Interxion’s DUB3 data centre has been designed using energysaving, modular architecture. At the heart of the design was the need to guarantee service delivery and quickly scale up capacity to support customer growth plans

nterxion is a leading principal supplier of data centre, colocation and connectivity services to some of the world’s leading businesses. The company serves a wide range of customers, operating 49 data centres in 13 cities throughout Europe, three of which are in Ireland. The company has been in operation in Ireland since 2001 and has continued to upscale as client demand for its colocation services grows. Located at Grange Castle in west Dublin, its DUB3 data centre, which was opened in December 2016, is a 2,400 sq m single-storey, fully concurrent maintainable facility with various fault-tolerant infrastructure features. DUB3 provides direct access to a connected community, allowing clients to interconnect with other organisations to cut costs, improve the quality of their service and create value. To ensure maximum energy efficiency, DUB3 was designed with a focus on energysaving, modular architecture, MCP October 2018

We have to remain flexible, with the capacity to scale up quickly as our customers’ requirements expand Tanya Duncan, Interxion

data centre, which would run on 100% renewable energy. Following the completion of a rigorous process to assess environmental impact and security risks, construction started in mid-February 2016. As a long-term partner working with Interxion on many global data centre projects, Schneider Electric contributed various components of physical infrastructure from its power, cooling and software solutions portfolio, ensuring rapid construction, delivery and seamless integration between all

Prominent market position “The Irish data centre market is unique,” explains Tanya Duncan, managing director of Interxion Ireland. “We are seen as a gateway country for large international companies who need a local presence for their European operations. As such, the local market is very large for the size of the country and the service providers are very knowledgeable in the way that they build and operate their data centres.” The key for Interxion to differentiate its serviceoffering from competitors is through operational excellence, according to Duncan. “We have to be able to guarantee service delivery to the highest standards. We have to remain flexible, with the capacity to scale up quickly as our customer’s requirements expand. We cannot afford to be a constraint on their growth plans,” she says. “Dublin is the interconnection hub and we are committed to helping our customers connect to their partners, suppliers and end users. Innovative businesses need a connectivity provider which has the knowledge to help them switch and scale as their business needs evolve.” The DUB3 facility provides »

incorporating cooling as well as maximum efficiency components. Interxion chose a greenfield site for its new missioncriticalpower.uk

DATA CENTRE OPTIMISATION

premium data centre services to Interxion’s clients, which range from local Irish companies to larger international corporations and the Cloud platform providers, across a wide range of business sectors. According to Karl Mulhall, operations manager of Interxion Ireland, the new facility is designed to support a total IT power load of 5MW when fully populated. This, he says, is driven by the demands of Interxion’s customers. “Cloud providers are asking for higher densities at rack level,” he says. “Our first data centre in Ireland operated at 1kW/m2, our second at 1.5kW/m2, and more recently DUB3 now operates at 2kW/m2. This allows us to put racks rated at between 10 and 15kW throughout the raised floor area.” Resilient power Schneider Electric has traditionally worked with Interxion as one of its suppliers of critical infrastructure components. This is consistent in many of the company’s operations across Europe, and helps to guarantee efficient and reliable operation of its data centres. Maintaining full service to the customer operation in the event of an outage is a vital requirement and the choice and deployment of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems is of paramount importance. At DUB3, Interxion is using Schneider Electric modular UPS

systems to provide continuous power to the IT racks within the new data centre. These are 1.6MW units arranged in a hexa-load design, which was developed by Interxion’s in-house engineering team and has in recent years been deployed across multiple sites. The hexa-load design allows four modular UPS systems to always offer 2N power redundancy to an entire rack by sharing the load in such a way that a failure of any one system causes the load to be shared by the other three while each are operating at 75% capacity. “Interxion’s ability to scale quickly and the operational excellence we provide are key selling points for our customers,” says Mulhall. “DUB3 is designed with failsafe tolerant infrastructure at critical areas to ensure we can support our customers stringent service level agreements. Our primary concerns have, and always will be the needs of our customers and to maintain our reputation as a reliable colocation service partner. The loss of reputation that would follow from any serious downtime would be far worse than a financial penalty.” The modular nature of the Schneider Electric UPS products is also an advantage, according to Mulhall. “Customers are becoming more demanding with regard to speed of deployment,” he says. “We have to roll out new capacity and have it up and running within very tight

and each new Interxion facility in Dublin has been designed to be progressively more efficient than the last. The power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric, namely the ratio of the overall electrical energy usage of a facility divided by the energy utilised by IT equipment, has decreased with the evolution of technologies available in the market today, and the design of each facility.

The loss of reputation that would follow from any serious downtime would be far worse than a financial penalty Karl Mulhall, Interxion timeframes. Modular systems like the Symmetra UPS allow us to grow in step with our customers’ requirements.” Flexibility of response also influences the choice of cooling architecture at DUB3. The facility has a raised floor with a cold aisle containment configuration because it provides greater flexibility when populating the IT halls, in accordance to the changing requirements of the company’s diverse customers. Energy efficiency When the outside ambient temperature exceeds all options for free cooling at DUB3, adiabatic coolers work in conjunction with external chillers. The cooling infrastructure, provided by Schneider Electric, includes computer room air conditioners (CRACs), containment systems and data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) software. Cooling efficiency is a major challenge for all data centres Maintaining uptime is vital and the choice of UPS was paramount

MCP October 2018

Security is critical In addition to delivering detailed customer reporting on the availability of power, climate control and various other aspects of data centre visibility required by clients, the integrated DCIM solution provides an exceptionally high level of security. One of DUB3’s key features is that its StruxureWare for Data Centers DCIM system has to protect against cyberattack and external threats, something that the company has engaged in heavily with Schneider Electric. “DCIM software these days is inherently complex,” says Mulhall. “Over the last eight years we’ve worked closely with Schneider Electric to create a strong, secure and user-friendly system. 100% renewable energy “Renewable energy is becoming more and more important to our customers,” says Duncan. “Energy is such a big part of the operating expense. We have to ensure we’re always running as efficiently as possible, and therefore we have contracts in place with utility providers for energy from 100% renewable sources.” “As a company, Interxion also needs to deploy the most energy efficient components in our data centres,” Duncan continues. “Partnering with Schneider Electric enables us to ensure we’re at the forefront of energy efficient technology, whether that’s in our CRAC units, our UPS systems or our cooling solutions. Everything that minimises power usage is of benefit to us all.” l missioncriticalpower.uk

DATA CENTRE OPTIMISATION

Why data centres can’t afford to drift Vertiv’s Giordano Albertazzi speaks to Louise Frampton about the challenges ahead for the sector and the need to keep data centre infrastructure ‘in shape’ to avoid wasting energy and ensure resilience

ata centre technology is advancing at pace and infrastructure is becoming more robust and energy efficient. However, even the best data centres ‘drift’ from their original wellfounded design principles, so that money is inevitably wasted as inefficiencies ‘creep in’ over time. The data centre landscape is rapidly changing, bringing new opportunities, as well as challenges, during a period of unprecedented demand and increasing complexity. So what are the key industry trends to watch for and how can the data centre sector manage potential risks and optimise critical infrastructure? “Data centre growth is being driven by the pervasive digitalisation of everything,” says Giordano Albertazzi, EMEA president of Vertiv in Europe, Middle East and Africa. “There is an increase in digitalisation across all sectors – from oil and gas, to the process industries.” “At the same time, we are seeing an emerging market for autonomous vehicles and more

MCP October 2018

mature digital applications supported by the Cloud,” Albertazzi points out. While the Cloud continues to grow and evolve, driving increasing demand for colocation, IoT and artificial intelligence are going to generate an ‘explosion’ in traffic that is unprecedented. “The potential is huge,” he comments. The Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence are two distinct areas but mutually reinforcing, according to Albertazzi. “IoT requires local infrastructure and this will ultimately drive the need for artificial intelligence, both centrally and at the edge,” he explains. The Edge According to Vertiv’s predictions, the nextgeneration data centre will exist beyond walls, seamlessly integrating core facilities with a more intelligent, missioncritical edge of network. These ‘Gen 4’ data centres are emerging and will become the model for IT networks of the 2020s.

‘Edge computing’ has become one of the most talked about trends in IT. Grand Valley Research projects a compound annual growth rate of 41% for Edge computing between 2018 and 2025. Nearly every industry is recognising the limitations of supporting users and emerging technologies through centralised IT infrastructures and this is pushing storage and computing closer to users and devices. This growth in edge applications will require robust and resilient local infrastructure, however. Earlier this year, Vertiv released its analysis, Defining Four Edge Archetypes and their Technology Requirements, which resulted in the identification of four main archetypes for edge applications and the technology required to support them. The four archetypes are: • Data Intensive This includes use cases where the amount of data makes it impractical to transfer over the network directly to the cloud or from the cloud to point-of-use due to data volume, cost or bandwidth

issues. Examples include smart cities, smart factories, smart homes/buildings, highdefinition content distribution, high-performance computing, restricted connectivity, virtual reality, and oil and gas digitalisation. The most widely used example is highdefinition content delivery, where major content providers such as Facebook, Amazon and Netflix actively partner with colocation providers to expand delivery networks to bring data-intensive streaming video closer to users to reduce costs and latency. • Human-Latency Sensitive This archetype includes use cases where services are optimised for human consumption, and it is all about speed. Delayed data delivery negatively impacts a user’s technology experience, potentially reducing a retailer’s sales and profitability. Use cases include smart retail, augmented reality, website optimisation, and natural language processing. • Machine-to-Machine Latency Sensitive Speed also missioncriticalpower.uk

39 connected/autonomous cars, autonomous robots and drones. Autonomous vehicles, for example, must have updated data to operate safely, as is the case with drones that may be used for e-commerce and package delivery.

is the defining characteristic of this archetype, which includes the arbitrage market, smart grid, smart security, real-time analytics, low-latency content distribution and defence force simulation. Because machines are able to process data much faster than humans, the consequences for slow delivery are higher than in the Human-Latency Archetype. For example, delays in commodities and stock trading, where prices fluctuate within fractions of a second, may turn potential gains into losses. • Life Critical This archetype encompasses use cases that directly impact human health and safety. Consequently, speed and reliability are vital. Use cases include smart transportation, digital health,

Stopping ‘the drift’ While there is significant transformation occurring at the edge, Albertazzi says he is also seeing increasing innovation in the traditional colocation space, towards efficient forms of infrastructure. He points out that developments in cooling are helping to deliver efficiencies. Thermal management and air conditioning technologies have changed drastically, with a move away from mechanical cooling towards the increasing use of evaporative and free cooling. Technologies such as the Liebert EFC can achieve mechanical PUE levels as low as 1.03, while it has also been possible to increase the operating temperatures of data centres. Other key developments include the emergence of liquid cooling. “It is early days, but we are keeping an eye on these technologies,” comments Albertazzi. “PUE has been improving over time and will continue,” says Albertazzi. “Energy efficiency is an economic imperative for whoever owns the infrastructure or makes it available as a service.” Although data centres are becoming more efficient, Vertiv’s site surveys suggest that many facilities drift from their original designed values. “So many things happen around load and IT infrastructure, over time. This

is very common and natural, but data centre operators need to keep their infrastructure in shape. It should go through cycles of profound upgrades – almost on a yearly basis...The energy efficiency gains can be significant.” Earlier this year, Vertiv and Telefónica announced a long-term partnership to provide Energy Savings as a Service (ESaaS). Through this agreement, Vertiv experts will conduct energy audits and deliver wide-ranging assessment reports outlining projected KPIs as well as energy savings for each site. The reports comprise a series of recommendations for optimising the performance, capacity, availability and efficiency of critical infrastructure, ultimately increasing energy savings. Vertiv will provide total support from consultancy and execution to 24/7 monitoring and maintenance services, requiring no capital expenditure from the customer with Vertiv fully financing the project as part of the ESaaS contract. Importance of ‘orchestration’ Albertazzi says that data centres also need to address the issues of resilience and reliability of infrastructure, highlighted by the Uptime Institute’s recent survey. Technologies are becoming more robust but applications are also becoming more demanding. “It is not just about individual technologies, whether this is cooling, power, racks or PDUs; it is about the orchestration of the technologies and understanding the entire

application. Infrastructure is becoming more complex, not only within the perimeters of the individual data centres, but also in terms of how interconnected the digital network is today. “Skills shortages are also an issue. The digital infrastructure industry, as a whole, needs to actively work to make the industry attractive; the technical skills required are much greater, today, as the infrastructure has become more complex – it needs to be designed to a much higher level and there is now a race for skills resources. “There is no such thing as a digital industry, without the infrastructure. We need to accelerate efforts in terms of addressing the skills shortage in this industry, starting with education,” comments Albertazzi. Addressing issues around maintenance is also important, he adds. This is not simply about ‘fixing’ infrastructure; there is a move towards predictive maintenance and holistically managing and optimising infrastructure. This will be facilitated by advances in artificial intelligence, according to Albertazzi. “We are moving very quickly towards smart services. The amount of data that we have in this industry on historical performance of equipment is second to none. Companies with a large installed base can add a lot of value to customers,” concludes Albertazzi. “It is a complex world and it is going to become even more complex as the edge unfolds.” l

So many things happen around load and IT infrastructure, over time. This is very common and natural, but data centre operators need to keep their infrastructure in shape. It should go through cycles of profound upgrades - Giordano Albertazzi, Vertiv missioncriticalpower.uk

August 2018 MCP

MODULAR SOLUTIONS

Ensuring the health of NHS IT Chris Wellfair of data centre solutions specialist Secure IT Environments says that hospital IT infrastructure, in many cases, requires significant improvement to ensure energy efficiency and resilience. In a cash-strapped NHS, could modular data centres provide an answer?

uring a period of financial constraint and increasing digitisation, hospitals face significant challenges when investing in IT infrastructure. Modular data centres offer a cost-effective option for healthcare organisations and can be easily expanded in the future, providing a ‘pay as you grow’ solution, to accommodate future infrastructure for digital healthcare services. The demands being placed on current digital infrastructure has led to a need for greater storage and processing power. Given the rapid growth of picture archiving and communication systems and medical imaging, MCP October 2018

most healthcare organisations need more data centre capacity. The data centre is at the heart of the operation, from CCTV to phone equipment, to life-saving equipment and vital patient data. Yet Secure IT Environments is seeing a trend where communications and server hardware cabinets are being located in what can only be described as the ‘broom cupboard’ as the existing data centre does not have the capacity. In some cases, the incorrect infrastructure – power, cooling and no fire suppression – has been installed, resulting in inefficiencies. However, this is just the tip

of the iceberg. In the main data centre, it is not uncommon for the mechanical and electrical infrastructures to have been poorly designed so they are also inefficient, while the structured cabling, in many cases, is a mess. Often, the data centre is located in areas that restrict access for equipment and have a flood risk. Infrastructure must be updated to meet the resilience requirements of hospitals, while still being cost-effective and energy efficient. Creating new buildings or adapting the old can be a very costly and lengthy process, often leading to project overruns or compromises that limit the way the data centre can be

expanded in the future. Going modular means you do not have to compromise. A well designed and built modular data centre will add capital value to an organisation, as well as peace of mind that the IT infrastructure is onsite and within sight – the build is flexible and trusts have complete control over the intricacies of how it is put together. Spaces that would ordinarily be wasted can be turned into highly secure and fireprotected IT environments. Furthermore, modular data centres have the ability to be built inside existing rooms, on roof tops or on other hospital land where the planning missioncriticalpower.uk

41 Case study: Ysbyty Glan Clwyd Hospital Secure IT Environments recently completed a new 41m2 secondary data centre at the Ysbyty Glan Clwyd Hospital, part of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, the largest health organisation in Wales, providing a full range of primary, community, mental health and acute hospital services for approximately 676,000 people. The hospital is currently undergoing a major redevelopment programme to generally modernise its existing buildings. This work included the need to establish a new energy efficient secondary data centre within the hospital building. Working in close conjunction with the onsite redevelopment principal contractor Laing O’Rourke, Secure IT Environments designed, supplied and installed the new facility. Sion Jones, head of information and communication technology for the health board, comments: “With an ever-increasing reliance on ICT underpinning the health board’s wide-ranging clinical and business activity, it is strategically essential that we maintain fit-for-purpose data centre facilities to host the many and varied systems that exist in a modern NHS ICT infrastructure.” The new data centre has been designed to meet the Class 2 requirements defined in BSEN 50600, parts one and two. The room comprises 16 x 19” cabinets, raised access flooring, overhead busbar power supply system, Novec fire suppression and very early smoke detection apparatus, data centre infrastructure management software for environmental monitoring of the room and infrastructure, access control and CCTV. Cooling and environmental controls are achieved through a chilled water system with a capacity of 160Kw. Secondary piping supports additional chillers to achieve a Class 4 rated system. N+1 in-row air conditioning was installed in a hot aisle containment configuration. UPS systems and batteries were installed in a separate nearby room, derived from separate A&B power supply streams, to ensure the resilience and redundancy necessary in hospital environments, where systems must be always available to ensure patient safety.

not have to be large but, again, designing for expansion through modular technology can offer a quick and easy route to achieve a seamless expansion programme, making for a swift and clean process when the time arrives. Data centre maintenance Running the IT infrastructure in a healthcare setting is a complicated process. It is not requirements or costs of new buildings are prohibitive. Speed of construction is another key feature that makes modular data centres an attractive option for hospital sites. They can be built extremely quickly as they are designed around standard equipment. In addition, they have a very small footprint and can even be stacked on top of one another. Expanding a data centre can be a struggle if you are limited to using internal office space. Healthcare providers must consider their future needs, even if the implementation is small from day one. External data centres do missioncriticalpower.uk

removes the capital outlay on specialist equipment needed to perform these tasks. Companies such as Secure IT Environments offer data centre maintenance services to the NHS. Typically, as a minimum, these services include regular cleaning, air conditioning and fire suppression maintenance, along with uninterruptible power supply testing and environmental monitoring

companies can also offer auditing on the performance of equipment for certain regulatory requirements and many data centre equipment manufacturers require sites to be able to prove maintenance regimes are in place in order to qualify for the guarantees on their equipment. Ultimately, modular data centres can offer trusts, high levels of physical protection

Server hardware cabinets are being located in what can only be described as a ‘broom cupboard’ as the existing data centre does not have the capacity Chris Wellfair, Secure IT Environments just about keeping the servers up and running. Hospital imaging, front-of-house, patient services and surgery all rely on the reliability of the IT systems. Outsourcing maintenance of the infrastructure not only removes the headache of making sure essential tasks happen but also contributes to the performance and resilience of the data centre. It also

system maintenance. In addition, service level agreements can be put in place to ensure that, when required, emergency call outs are available 24 hours a day, seven days per week, 365 days a year, within a four-hour response time. For certain critical sites this response time has been reduced to two hours. In addition, maintenance

and energy efficiency. While the finances of the NHS are facing unprecedented pressure, patient safety is paramount and, with increasing digitisation, reliable solutions are required to ensure maximum uptime. Modular data centres offer a way for hospitals to expand their use of IT infrastructure in a costeffective way. l October 2018 MCP

THERMAL OPTIMISATION

NGD keeps its cool Stulz UK and Transtherm Cooling Industries have delivered a substantial package of temperature management and plant cooling technology for the expansion of a high security data centre in South Wales

hen data centre superpower Next Generation Data (NGD) began the 100,000 sq ft, ground-floor expansion of its high security data centre in Newport, it relied on Stulz UK and Transtherm Cooling Industries to deliver a substantial package of temperature management and plant cooling technology. With an ultimate capacity of more than 22,000 racks and 750,000 sq ft, NGD’s Tier 3+ data centre is the biggest in Europe and serves some of the world’s leading companies, including global telecommunications provider BT and computer manufacturer IBM. The South Wales campus is also one of the most efficient data centres in Europe, with impressively low power usage effectiveness ratings (PUE). Having secured additional contracts with a number of Fortune 500 companies worth £125m over the next five years, NGD has developed the capacity to respond at a rapid speed in delivering the private and shared campus space required to fulfil the exacting MCP October 2018

needs of its world-class customers. For this particular expansion project, NGD specified 114 data centre specific GE Hybrid cooling systems from Stulz UK, plus a combination of 26 high-performance horizontal and VEE air blast coolers and pump sets from industrial cooling technology specialist, Transtherm, to manage the inside air temperature of the new campus expansion.

114

Number of data centre specific GE Hybrid cooling systems from Stulz UK specified Phil Smith, NGD’s construction director, comments: “Responding to global market opportunities is an important part of data centre best practice standards and our 16-week build-out programme allows us to lead from the helm when it comes to meeting demand, on time. “Completing a build of such

scale and complexity within just four months requires more than 500 construction workers to be permanently on site. To keep things moving at the right pace, suppliers are required to adjust the design and build of their products in accordance to the build schedule and deliver them just in time for installation to prevent costly delays to NGD and our local contracting firms. The solution provided by Stulz and Transtherm is a great example of how data centres can work with trusted and reliable supply chain partners.” A three-part delivery solution As long-term suppliers to NGD, both Stulz UK and Transtherm understood the importance of just-in-time deliveries so that the new air conditioning system did not impact the build speed on site. With a usual lead time of eight weeks for its GE Hybrid technology, Stulz UK set about devising suitable production alterations that would enable it to deliver their equipment within NGD’s rapid build programme. Mark Vojkovic, sales

manager for Stulz UK, explains: “Specified for installation into the floor of the new campus expansion, we altered the manufacturing process of our GE hybrid units to enable us to deliver the technology in two halves. First to be delivered were the fan bases, which were installed onto their stands during the earlier stages of the build, just in time for the construction of the suspended floor. Later in the build programme, between weeks 10 and 12, Stulz UK delivered the upper coil sections of the air conditioning units and Transtherm delivered, installed and commissioned its equipment on the outside of the building.” Tim Bound, director for missioncriticalpower.uk

The South Wales campus is one of the most efficient data centres in Europe, with impressively low Power Usage Effectiveness ratings NGD specified GE Hybrid cooling systems from Stulz UK, plus highperformance horizontal and VEE air blast coolers and pump sets from Transtherm Cooling Industries for the campus

Transtherm, adds: “Supplying a data centre superpower like NGD requires a reliable and creative supply chain solution which can not only work in tandem to deliver the most efficient product packages, but also communicate effectively to deliver products from multiple manufacturing sites ‘just-in-time’ in order to maintain their industry leading build-out times. “It’s vital on projects of this size that manufacturing partners can see the bigger picture and adjust their own project parameters to suit. “In this instance, NGD had 500 construction workers on site each day, working to an industry leading deadline. It was imperative that Stulz missioncriticalpower.uk

UK and Transtherm were appreciative of the onsite complexities so that we could deliver and install our plant with minimal disruption. “This project is a real testament to how Stulz UK and Transtherm can combine their technologies, engineering know-how and logistical capacity to deliver a substantial project, within potentially restrictive time and installation constraints.” Free air cooling The Stulz GE system uses outdoor air for free-cooling in cooler months when the outside ambient air temperature is below 20°C, with indirect transfer via glycol water solution maintaining the

vapour seal integrity of the data centre. The indoor unit has two cooling components, a direct expansion (DX) cooling coil and a free cooling coil. In warmer months, when the external ambient temperature is above 20°C, the system operates as a water-cooled DX system and the refrigeration compressor rejects heat into the water via a plate heat exchange (PHX) condenser. The water is pumped to the Transtherm air blast cooler where it is cooled, and the heat rejected to air. In cooler months, below 20°C external ambient temperature, the system automatically switches to freecooling mode, where dry cooler

fans are allowed to run and cool the water to approximately 5°C above ambient temperature before it is pumped through the free cooling coil. In these cooler months dependant on water temperature and/or heatload demands, the water can be used in ‘Mixed Mode’. In this mode the water is directed through both proportionally controlled valves and enables proportional free cooling and water-cooled DX cooling to work together. Crucially, 25% Ethylene glycol is added to water purely as an antifreeze to prevent the dry cooler from freezing when the outdoor ambient temperature is below zero. Stulz UK has specified Transtherm’s air blast cooling technology as part of its packaged air-conditioning solution for about 10 years. Situated around the periphery of the building and on its gantries, Transtherm’s 26 VEE air blast coolers are fitted with ERP Directive ready fans and deliver significant noise reduction, in accordance with BS EN 13487:2003. “Transtherm’s air blast coolers and pump sets complete our data centre offering by fulfilling our requirement for outside plant which is efficient and reliable,” Vojkovic concludes. l October 2018 MCP

POWER MANAGEMENT

Reducing energy use without sinking data centres under the sea Leo Craig, general manager at Riello, discusses the energy efficiency measures that data centres can implement to cut costs and improve their green credentials

hen we look at the biggest energy drain of any organisation, our data centres, are businesses taking the time to consider measures they can take to reduce wasted IT energy? This issue was recently thrown back into the public spotlight when Microsoft announced it is trialling the use of a new shipping containersized data centre that it has sunk onto the sea bed, just off

to travel, leading to faster and smoother web surfing for its users. However, as part of ‘Project Natick’, as it has been dubbed, Microsoft has also acknowledged that data centres typically generate a lot of heat, and by placing them in the sea they will cool faster. This would not only reduce energy usage and cut costs, but also improve the longevity of the unit.

entire global aviation industry or a small city. Many businesses, including the likes of Apple, are starting to adopt the concept of a ‘green data centre’. But there’s still plenty of work that could – and more importantly should – take place. For most businesses, taking IT systems for a dip in the deep blue sea is not really a viable option. There are, however, a few easy and relatively cheap

The modular approach ensures capacity corresponds closely to the data centre’s load requirements, removing the risk of oversizing and reducing day-to-day power consumption, cutting both energy bills and the site’s carbon footprint the coast of Scotland’s Orkney Islands. According to Microsoft, the main justification for this was actually improving internet connectivity to coastal communities as the data used would have less of a distance

According to research from the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), data centres already consume more than 3% of the world’s total electricity and generate 2% of our planet’s CO2 emissions. For context, that’s the equivalent of the

steps you can make to reduce energy waste within your data centre. Using a containment system Excessive heat is often the main culprit when it comes

to power waste within data centres. It requires a lot of energy to keep systems cool, and often larger server rooms and data centres mix hot and cold air in order to keep them at the ideal temperature. However, this can limit the capacity of the cooling system, which results in a power drain, and causes it to run less efficiently. This can be resolved by fixing air tiles into the cold aisle of the system. Not only does this make the cooling more productive, it also raises return temperatures, allowing your computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units to

Making the switch to high availability Failure was ‘not an option’ for global automotive client when it required a maximum efficiency static transfer switch MCP October 2018

ower Continuity power protects some of the most well known companies in the UK. When the company required a maximum efficiency static transfer switch (STS) for a major global automotive client, it looked long and hard at the STS options available from a

number of manufacturers. The client’s requirement was for multiple STS configurations with the proviso that “failure was not an option”. Following extensive tests, Power Continuity chose Socomec Statys transfer systems. John East, project director of Power Continuity, explained

that Statys transfer systems were chosen for their reliability and rapid transfer times. “Offline is simply not an option for our customers. The consequences of downtime are significant and can impact public safety, as well as business continuity,” he commented. missioncriticalpower.uk

45 Many businesses, including the likes of Apple, are starting to adopt the concept of a ‘green data centre’. But there’s still plenty of work that could – and more importantly should – take place needed to keep them running at full capacity. To remedy this, it is important to make an assessment of the equipment used, how often it is used, and whether it could benefit from being powered down during quieter periods of its use. It may be a relatively minor action, but it is the cheapest and easiest way to save energy and it can be actioned today.

operate more efficiently. Of course, hot and cold aisle containment probably is not practical for smaller server rooms and data centres, where space restrictions and increased costs make the option prohibitive.

level of segregation between data, operating systems and applications. This runs more efficiently, saves space, and reduces the number of power consuming servers, which is great for cost and for reducing energy waste.

Virtualise servers Within data centres you will often find a dedicated server for each application, which can be incredibly inefficient, for both energy use and budget. With virtualisation, you can share servers and storage onto one shared platform, while still maintaining a

Turn off idle IT equipment It might seem obvious but leaving equipment on idle uses more energy than you think. IT systems are often used far less than capacity allows. Servers, for instance, tend to only be about 5-15% utilised. When these systems are left on, but unused, they still consume a large amount of the power

Energy efficient UPS At the heart of most data centres lies the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system, an electrical unit which is used to support critical mainstream IT and communications infrastructures when mains power fails or supply is inconsistent. Previously these units were part of the energy consumption problem. These large, standalone towers used older technology that could only achieve optimised efficiency when carrying heavy loads of 80-90%. Such fixed-capacity units often tended to be oversized during initial installation to provide the necessary redundancy, meaning they regularly ran inefficiently at lower loads, wasting huge amounts of energy. These sizeable towers also pumped out plenty of heat so needed lots of energy-intensive cooling. However, the technology

Socomec’s STS systems transfer critical loads from one source to another, enhancing power availability while simplifying the electrical architecture. Supplied by two independent sources, Statys provides redundant power to mission critical loads, increasing the power supply availability by

selecting the best quality power supply and preventing fault propagation. These intelligent switching units transfer the load to an alternative source when the primary source is out of tolerance – ensuring high availability of the power supply for particularly sensitive or critical installations.

The project with this leading power continuity client included the installation of 9 x 200A Statys cabinet version units for global critical IT loads and 1 x 800A Statys cabinet version for mechanical loads. In the event of a power failure, Socomec’s STS transfers the load from ‘preferred’ to

missioncriticalpower.uk

has developed rapidly in recent years, and now your UPS system could be part of the solution. Just as cooling equipment has improved, so too has UPS technology. Modular systems – which replace sizable standalone units with compact individual rack-mount style power modules paralleled together, to provide capacity and redundancy, deliver performance efficiency, scalability and ‘smart’ interconnectivity beyond the capabilities of their predecessors. The modular approach ensures capacity corresponds closely to the data centre’s load requirements, removing the risk of oversizing and reducing day-to-day power consumption, cutting both energy bills and the site’s carbon footprint. It also gives facilities managers the flexibility to add extra power modules in whenever the need arises, minimising the initial investment while offering the in-built scalability to ‘pay as you grow’. If cutting carbon costs and reducing energy consumption within your data centre is at the top of your agenda, these small adjustments can be made quickly and with relatively minimal cost. Therefore, you could see your IT energy wastage drastically improve so there is no need to sink your data centre just yet. ●

‘alternative’ source in typically 3-5mS. Using Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (SCRs) – fast-acting switching devices – the switching is carried out under processor control. With inbuilt component redundancy (power supplies, micro controllers and SCR driver boards) reliable operation is guaranteed. ● October 2018 MCP

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY

n 2000, would anyone have accurately predicted where the world of data and data centres is today? I doubt it, as so much has changed in the past 18 years, but let’s try to predict what is going to happen to data centres in the next 15 to 20 years. It may be wise to look at where we were in 2000 and where we are today. Of course, innovations in technology and unpredictable changes in the wider world may dramatically alter the way we currently think and work, but let’s give it a go anyway. In most aspects of life a want or need drives innovation. However, in the data communications arena it can be argued that advances in technology have enabled and driven changes in all aspects of our social and working lives. For example, in 2000 broadband was first introduced in the UK with a download speed of 512kbs, mobile phones were used for making phone calls and text messaging and most documents were sent by ‘snail mail’ or fax (remember them?). Then, in 2004, Facebook was created and in 2007 Apple introduced the first smartphone and the world as we knew it changed. We now create as much data in a single day as was created from the beginning of time until 2000, and the speed at which we create this data is increasing exponentially. The data processing power of a 2MW data centre in 2000 is now the same data processing power found in a 6kW data rack and despite this huge increase in data processing power, data centres are still struggling to keep up with demand. It is technology that has enabled this data explosion and it is data centres that have had to adapt to keep up with the demand for the storage and processing of data. The ‘oldies’ among us will remember mainframes then desktop PCs and then file servers as leading edge technology. Today, we are witnessing the transition from server rooms to Cloud MCP October 2018

The future of data centres

Tier 4 availability will become the norm and not the exception, predicts Centiel chairman David Bond. He argues that the demand for clean energy, resilience and energy efficiency will continue to be high on the agenda computing to Edge computing. The Cloud has become a victim of its own success as more and more organisations have seen the advantages. More and more data has been created. As a result of its popularity, the Cloud has become somewhat overcrowded and data centres have struggled to keep up with the growth in demand. Something else needed to happen. Today, we talk about the Internet of Things (IoT) where pretty much any electrical/ electronic machine/device is capable of connecting to the internet and thereby capable of creating data (note: these intelligent machines/devices are sometimes refered to as Edge devices). Most of the data edge devices create is disorganised and random with no real use but at some time some of this data may be vitally important so it must be collected, processed and stored. It is where it is processed and stored that is the issue and this is where Edge computing comes in. In order to make best use of

the data they collect and of the advantages the Cloud offers, organisations are creating their own micro and small data centres and using them to store and process their data local to the organisation. The organisation can then decide whether to store their data locally, send it to the Cloud (also known as the core) or to discard it. The Edge devices and these micro/small data centres are Edge computing in action. How does the above help us predict the future of data centres? Well, we know that ever increasing amounts of data is being created at a faster rate every day and that this data revolution has not really impacted the developing world yet. With this in mind, the need for more and more large and mega data centres will continue despite the ongoing innovations in data processing and storage technologies and despite organisations becoming more refined about what they send to the core. We also know that it makes logical and practical sense to

filter and process the data as close as possible to its source. With this in mind, there will be an ever increasing number of organisation specific micro and small datacentres operating at the Edge. So, what will the data centres of the future look like? Without doubt 100% availability will continue to be their overriding objective, with Tier 4 levels of availability becoming the norm, not the exception. The growth in renewable energy creation will ease some of the environmental pressures on data centres. However, pursuit of PUE of as close to 1.0 as possible will continue to be a major objective due to the need to minimise operational running costs. Also, with data processing and storage technology changing so rapidly, and with data volumes increasing so quickly, it will remain practically impossible for organisations to accurately predict their needed data centre capacity (and therefore its availability and efficiency) unless the data centre missioncriticalpower.uk

47 infrastructure is highly flexible by design. The physical infrastructure needed to enable the highest levels of availability, efficiency and flexibility are easier to design in when planning and building a large and mega data centre than when planning a micro and small data centre. If we now focus on the need for Edge-related micro and small data centres, from an air cooling perspective, the good news is that modern IT systems can run at higher temperatures so the need for very closely controlled (and hence expensive) cooling is less but it is still needed. The bad news is that average temperatures in the UK will continue to rise and the air cooling systems must be sized to manage the heat of the summer when the potential for free cooling has all but disappeared. From a power protection perspective, as no data centre can run without electrical power, the guaranteed availability of clean power will remain critically important and

A poorly designed micro and small data centre could cost an organisation a lot of money in terms of poor availability, wasted infrastructure and running costs David Bond, Centiel with the UK’s power quality not good enough to ensure 100% uptime, the need for power protection systems will remain essential. The latest generation of power protection (ie UPS) equipment is modular in design (to give flexibility), has nine 9s availability (due to high module reliability and ‘hot swap’ capability) and is almost 98% true, on-line efficient. While technology improvements are always possible when a UPS is almost 100% available and 100% efficient, there is not much further for the technology to go. However, UPS energy storage in the form of lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries will be a game changer. Cumulus Power, Centiel’s

fourth generation, three-phase, modular UPS, combines an Intelligent Module Technology (IMT) with a fault-tolerant parallel distributed active redundant architecture (DARA) to offer availability of 99.9999999% with a low total cost of ownership. Its simple N+1 scalable configuration ensures optimum efficiency and it is Lio-in ready. Li-ion batteries are smaller, lighter and will hapily operate at higher ambient temperatures. This means some of the environmental, floor loading and structural challenges of introducing a micro data centre into an existing SME on, say, the top floor of a London building will simply disappear. In summary, the exponential

growth in society’s online connectivity and data creation continue unchecked and will undoubtedly see further significant growth in large and mega data centres. At the same time, Edge computing will also result in the need for a rapid and significant increase in ‘local’ micro and small data centres to support the data activities of organisations of all sizes. A well designed micro and small data centre will last an organisation several generations of IT equipment whereas a poorly designed micro and small data centre could cost an organisation a lot of money in terms of poor availability, wasted infrastructure and running costs. l

Products

Transformer winding analysers

Top and bottom cabling for UPS Centiel has introduced a simple solution to allow either top or bottom cabling connection for its three-phase, modular UPS system, CumulusPower. This new design now means the UPS can be connected from either high or low level, without the requirement for a separate cable entry enclosure, enabling a more flexible layout within comms rooms and data centres, maximising the use of space and potentially reducing installation costs. Mike Elms from Centiel UK explains: “Until now, the majority of UPS units’ final power connections were at low level within the UPS frame. This made the bending radius of larger cables a problem whether the cables were installed at floor

level or, even worse, at high level and then had to be run down tray/ladder to then be worked into the bottom of the UPS frame. “The solution was to install a separate: ‘top cable entry’ (TCE) enclosure meaning additional cost and space which can now be saved. The flexible, modular configuration of CumulusPower means we are able to provide the option of having the UPS input terminals at either low or high level within the frame to accept cables from below or above depending on the site requirements.” CumulusPower is Centiel’s fourth generation modular UPS system with Intelligent Module Technology (IMT), a fault-tolerant parallel distributed active redundant architecture (DARA), offering ‘nine nines’ system availability.

High efficiency uninterruptible power Uninterruptible Power Supplies Limited (UPSL) has launched the latest addition to its range of efficient modular UPS products, PowerWAVE 9250DPA. Designed specifically for medium-sized critical power applications, the PowerWAVE 9250DPA offers a low cost of ownership, delivering module and system efficiency above 97% and significantly reducing power losses. The new UPS also supports ‘Xtra VFI’, which further minimises power consumption by intelligently configuring the number of modules required to support the current critical load requirements. The new PowerWAVE 9250DPA supports the latest in lithium-ion battery technology, and the associated energy storage benefits of longer life, lower cooling costs, faster charge/discharge and smaller space and weight requirement. Peace of mind is also provided through the PowerWAVE 9250DPA’s ability to connect with UPSL’s hardware and batterymonitoring software to continuously safeguard your operation from any location. Designed with users in mind, the PowerWAVE 9250DPA continues UPSL’s development of DPA (Decentralised Paralleled Architecture) technology, with ‘hot-swappable’ modules that can be removed and replaced in minutes, without risking downtime. Front access for cabling provides another benefit, eliminating the need for extra space at the rear. With a physical footprint of just 0.73m2, the PowerWAVE 9250DPA offers one of the industry’s highest power densities (342 kW/m2), delivering scalable power from 50 kW to 250 (N+1) kW in a single frame, and up to 1.5MW when six units are connected in parallel.

MCP October 2018

To save time and money for engineers and technicians whose work involves testing power transformers, Megger has launched its new MWA300 range of transformer winding analysers. These instruments combine facilities for turns ratio testing and winding resistance measurement in a single compact unit, delivering benefits that include portability, reduced set-up time, increased safety and enhanced productivity. Connections between the transformer under test and the instrument need only be made once to carry out the full range of ratio and resistance tests. This not only saves time, but also reduces the inconvenience of having to make separate connections for each test, especially when the transformer connection points are difficult to access. The MWA300 is 55% smaller and 40% lighter than individual testing instruments with the same functionality and, as only one set of leads is required, it offers a readily portable solution for engineers wishing to quickly diagnose transformers located in the field or on manufacturing sites. In addition to carrying out turns ratio and winding resistance tests, the MWA300 can be used to measure magnetic balance and flux distribution, excitation current, polarity and phase angle deviation. Loose connections, turn-to-turn shorts, broken strands, winding deformation, tap changer contact and timing problems, as well as overheating can also be identified with this versatile instrument. Designed with safety in mind, the MWA300 has an integral core demagnetisation function, which automatically demagnetises the core after DC testing. This ensures operator safety and eliminates the problems that can result if a transformer is re-energised after testing with the core in a magnetised condition. For processing and analysing test results, the MWA300 series uses Megger’s popular PowerDB package as a single software platform, saving the user additional time with only one setup and one easy-to-use test form. missioncriticalpower.uk

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October 2018 MCP

Q&A

Dr Alex Mardapittas Powerstar’s chief executive officer discusses a trip back in time to the Stone Age, the ultimate whodunnit and the search for intelligent life in the universe Who would you least like to share a lift with? Al Pacino… You’re God for the day. What’s the first thing you do? Eliminate bullies. They are counterproductive in all aspects of life. If you could travel back in time to a period in history, what would it be? I’d like to travel back to the Stone-Iron Age boundary. It would be incredible to see the greatest discovery that has changed the world so much (also no mobile phones). Who are you enjoying listening to? I like listening to music, mainly Yiannis. What unsolved mystery would you like the answers to? Are there any other intelligent life forms in the universe? In such a vast amount of space I struggle to believe we are alone. What would you take to a desert island? A flintstone to make fire, a fishing rod with a lot of hooks for fishing and a hut for the sun. I believe in being self-sufficient and would enjoy getting back to nature.

What would your super power be and why? I’d have to choose a superhuman brain capacity. I’d love to constantly generate new, innovative and great ideas. What would you do with a million pounds? Save it for a rainy day. What’s your greatest extravagance? I would have to say buying a company. If you were blessed with any talent, what would your dream job be? I have my dream job. Love every minute of it. What is the best piece of advice ever been given? Never do anything without a goal. Aim to achieve something in everything you do. What irritates you the most in life? Apathy in someone. Being able to understand people and share their feelings is what

I’d like to travel back to the Stone-Iron Age boundary. It would be incredible to see the greatest discovery that has changed the world so much fundamentally makes us human and I find being in the company of anyone without that ability to be frustrating. What should energy users be doing to help themselves in the current climate? Invest in anything that reduces costs. Anything with positive Net Present Value (NPV) should be considered. What’s the best thing – work wise – that you did

recently? Launching a new product. It’s a very exciting time for our business as we launched an amorphous core smart distribution transformer with integrated remote monitoring capabilities on 19 September. By combining a super low loss amorphous core with remote monitoring capabilities, it provides an opportunity for businesses to enhance their sustainability efforts in a measurable way while the ongoing collection of data can help identify areas for further optimisations. l

What’s your favourite film or book? My favourite book has to be Murder on the Orient Express. I find it such a fascinating story. If you could perpetuate a myth about yourself, what would it be? That I lead a stress free life. MCP October 2018

Murder on the Orient Express is ‘a fascinating story’ missioncriticalpower.uk