Datacentre UPS – DCD London 2011
Modularity, modularity, modularity
Datacentre Dynamics (DCD London 2011) (which took place last week 30th Nov – 1st Dec) was all about modularity with two key solutions dominating in terms of power protection: containerisation and modular UPS. Both offer a perfect solution to the problem of acquiring enough capacity in as short a time as possible to meet the power needs of today and provide scalability and flexibility for tomorrow.
The drivers behind modularity in the data centre are the burgeoning move towards cloud services; the residue of the credit crunch (meaning there is less capital funding available to build new bricks and mortar data centres); and the fact that service providers have realised they do not actually need (nor do they want) to build their own data centres.
Modularity in the form of a container, enables data centre capacity to be met in a very short time – often a matter of weeks rather than months. The speed of deployment for a standard 20 or 60 foot ISO container is around six to twelve weeks (depending upon the demands of the installation, whether building works need to be carried out, such as the creation of a concrete apron if necessary).
Containers are also portable and location flexible. They can be moved and located to sites where a building project would be prohibitive and are not tied to real estate so they can be moved again if required. This makes them ideal for the secondary market of short-term rental. Modular, containerised data centres can also be highly efficient and cost effective and are standardised to ensure there is little requirement for customisation.
We supply our UPS products for containerised installations in conjunction with specialist resellers and power technology manufacturers such as Elcos generators. In such cases, the application includes UPS and energy storage devices (flywheel UPS or battery set), switchgear and electrical system in a standard-sized container. It’s a fully contained power protection system, offering ease and speed of delivery and installation and is ideal for projects where space is at a premium. It’s fully self-contained and can be moved and relocated if required.
Recognising the need for modularity within conventional bricks and mortar data centres, we also provide modular and scalable UPS specifically for mission critical environments where growth is anticipated but requires a flexible approach because how quickly it will happen or how fast are difficult to accurately predict.
Riello’s Multi Guard modular UPS has been specifically designed to be scalable, functional and reliable. Capacity ranges from 15kVA to 120kVA. It offers a cabinet design, similar to a server cabinet, in which up to eight 15kVA UPS modules are fitted to offer maximum availability, redundancy and protection for mission critical applications, such as data centres and networks. Each 15kVA module is a fully functioning UPS in its own right, so each can be easily hot-swapped for service and repair without load disruption.