Trend

Good things come in small packages

The modular approach to power systems may not be the most popular one today but it is getting there, says Vertika Yadav

Sapient wanted to get away from the huge space-consuming conventional UPS systems for its new data centre. It wanted something which was scalable, manageable and easy to maintain. It found its answer in modular power systems from APC that were scalable with features such as hot swap.

The modular structure comes with integrated solutions that combine power, air and environment management and come in fully configured enclosures—a solution that specifically caters to the requirements of a data centre.

Sanjay Panwar, Manager, Global Network Operation, MphasiS is happy to have gone the modular way for his data centre. After deploying modular solutions, the company has not been affected by downtime for the last one year. "Power, cooling and environmental management has to be integrated for today's data centres," he says, adding that this will not only ease the manageability but also help in crisis control and maintenance.

Considering the criticality of a data centre, integrated solutions have become the need of the hour. “In isolation, the service levels of a data centre might get affected if not done in a synergistic manner for infrastructure management, power, temperature and environment,” says Ashish Dhandekar, Manager IT, NSE.

Ever-ready power

The modular approach is catching on. We were involved in 300 deployments recently. Eleven of the top 15 BPOs have opted for integrated solutions. S S Bapat Senior Vice-president, Solutions Emerson Network Power India

The modular power system is the new mantra in big IT divisions. It is reliable and more efficient. “For data centres, it is becoming necessary to consider a modular approach from the perspective of providing resilience and avoiding a single point of failure,” says Dhandekar. It is not unusual now to consider power from two service providers or from two different transformers in case of a single service provider, using a parallel redundant UPS (at least with N+1 configuration) with a separate battery bank using static switch powering and power supply modules to each server. Even if a UPS system breaks down, the data centre continues to operate.

Therefore, the likely trend would be to provide an integrated solution for the data centre,” he predicts. Dhandekar also adds that the concept of an integrated solution is applicable to data centres owned and operated on a captive basis.

“In May, we were involved in 300 deployments,” informs S S Bapat, Senior Vice-president, Solutions, Emerson Network Power India. Of the top 15 BPOs (according to Nasscom), Emerson has provided integrated solutions to 11. The data centre solutions provided were customised according to the needs of each organisation and priced between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 3.5 crore.

Keeping cool

Organisations setting up data centres today are required to house between 20 and 40 rack mount servers in a single cabinet. Most of the servers used in a data centre generate tremendous heat. For instance high-density server platforms such as blades can raise the heat output to 10 KW per rack. A stack of blades can absorb all the cold air from the under-floor air conditioning unit, leaving the ones on top without the benefit of cooling. Failures occur mostly at the top of the rack due to this. Although precision air conditioning is used to maintain the room temperature between 12 and 16 degrees Celsius, it is not always effective. There is not much cooling inside the cabinets due to poor air circulation or even cross circulation where warm air from the cabinet outlet gets mixed with the cool incoming air from the AC system. Having a built-in cooling solution in the rack itself is an effective way to deal with heat build-ups. Solutions provided by vendors such as APC and Emerson include fans and a heat exchange coil fed with cold water or a coolant. The air flow inside the rack is kept horizontal and not vertical as in the under-floor system, so that the equipment is evenly cooled. Also, the rack has a built-in fire detection system.

The modular concept also helps IT departments save in terms of operational energy costs as well as the cost of maintaining AC plants.

These integrated solutions also facilitate the monitoring and maintenance of data centres. Data can be collected which can predict early signs of system failures, leakage and could send off early warning signals to the concerned people.

The modular system having in-built management solutions helps cut manpower costs too. With the ability to control both power and air-conditioning modules from a central location, organisations are not forced to employ people at different locations for controlling the system.

Great expectations

Although the new modular structure is something that would benefit any organisation in the long run, analysts see the initial adoption of this technology in level 3 or 4 data centres. “All these practices are part of bigger investments and strategies. It is only to assure clients of their security and safety,” avers Ashok Shende of Frost and Sullivan.

Conventional data centres are built for the long haul—a ten-year period. With a modular approach, however, CIOs can change their IT set-up as required.

Though IT architects are familiar with the concept of modular systems, the concept is yet to be ingrained. “We have not noticed this (modular systems) as a trend. Off late we have picked up orders for data centres to provide complete power solutions.” tells Deepak Sharma, Marketing Head, Eaton Power Quality.

Existing data centres will hesitate to migrate to the modular approach because of high installation costs but modular will be the way to go for new set-ups as it helps save space and, more importantly, is scalable.

vertika@expresscomputeronline.com