Sure’s Tier III data centres on the Channel Islands provide the ideal environment to keep some of Europe’s largest organisations’ critical data safe and secure in a location outside of mainland UK and Europe.

Housing sensitive information from some of the largest internet retailers, providing long-term data solutions for clients in the legal sector, financial institutions and Government departments, Sure’s clients rely on the Company’s solid infrastructure to store confidential and important information in a secure environment and to ensure that services are continually available. G4S Secure Solutions works with Sure to provide a complete critical power solution to its Channel Islands’ data centres. The spring of 2018 marked the start of an infrastructure upgrade and replacement programme of back-up technology to these critical facilities including the UPS systems. G4S Secure Solutions works with Sure to provide a complete critical power solution to its Channel Islands’ data centres. The spring of 2018 marked the start of an infrastructure upgrade and replacement programme of back-up technology to these critical facilities including the UPS systems

Louis McGarry sales manager at CENTIEL UK Ltd explains: Although Sure’s Data Centres have always provided high-quality power protection to their clients, there becomes a point where equipment is superseded by the inevitable advances and improvements in technology. The critical power protection for Data Centre A and B included traditional, legacy transformer-based UPS technology.

Two UPS systems operated in parallel and as well as occupying a large physical footprint, the legacy systems were taking up commercially valuable rack space. In addition, they were not running as efficiently as the latest generation system would. A total cost of ownership study determined that the commercial benefits of the latest technology outweighed the maintenance and operating costs of the existing legacy equipment which justified their replacement.

 

“A typical UPS lifetime is generally around ten years,” continues McGarry. “At this time VRLA batteries and capacitors will generally require replacing and so if a UPS is approaching a point where a technical a refurbishment is recommended, i.e. batteries, capacitors, fans etc, it is worth considering the potential commercial advantages of replacement versus refurbishment. A new system will also have a warranty and the advances in technology mean it will be more efficient, making significant savings on running costs on both electricity and reduced cooling requirements.”

Wayne McKane, Critical Power Engineer, G4S confirms: “As part of a continuous improvement and replacement programme we were looking for an industry leading UPS manufacturer with a product to match the quality of Sure’s Tier III data centres.   We chose the CENTIEL team as our partners and trusted advisors for these important projects as the company is an industry leader at the very forefront of technological developments. We were looking for a truly modular solution to ensure efficient running and maintenance of systems within the data centres, where our staff could be easily trained to provide a first level response and the ability to exchange modules if required. We were also looking for the very latest technology to ensure maximum availability combined with a low total cost of ownership. CENTIEL ticked all the boxes.”

 

Louis McGarry continues “The G4S Secure Solutions team visited our R&D facility and factory in Switzerland early in 2018 as part of their selection process. G4S is an integration and implementation specialist and we have been delighted to work and train such a professional team on this project.”

The result is that CENTIEL’s 4th generation, three-phase, modular UPS system CumulusPower is now successfully deployed in two data centers on Guernsey and G4S Secure Solutions engineering staff have completed their initial training and are currently undertaking further advanced training to be able to provide ongoing support for these major installations.

Two 60 kW N+1 UPS have been supplied and installed in the data centres providing a minimum of 10 minutes run time. Each unit contains 320 internal battery blocks in an internal UPS frame for maximum autonomy and high-density power in an extremely small footprint. Due to the architecture of the CumulusPower UPS modules can be changed if needed without reverting to external maintenance bypass and raw mains. Therefore, the G4S team is able to service and maintain these systems with zero downtime.

McKane explains. “For the Data Centre A installation, we implemented a temporary shut down while work took place. However, for Data Centre B, we were able to swap out the UPS while the load was secured by generator so no shut down was needed, providing an uninterrupted service to our valued client base.

 

The first major power outage in two and a half years put Centiel’s Nine 9’s to the test.

McKane, continues: “Power is supplied to the Channel Islands by undersea cable from France. The Islands have diesel generation and a solid infrastructure to continue to supply power to the communities and businesses in the unlikely event of a power outage. Shortly after the new UPS were installed this summer, the Islands suffered its first major power outage in two and a half years. We were pleased to report the new CENTIEL UPS systems did their job perfectly and seamlessly protected the load of the two data centres.”

CumulusPower is known for its “9 nines” (99.9999999%) system availability and low total cost of ownership through its Maximum Efficiency Management (MEM) and low losses of energy.

McKane, confirms: “One immediate advantage Sure noticed in implementing CumulusPower was that because it was right-sized and ran at a maximum efficiency, the air conditioning required was significantly less.   I received a phone call shortly after installation to say: “I can’t believe how much air-conditioning we have had to switch off!”

 

Simon Roger, Facilities Manager Sure Data Centre adds: “Sure has seen an 18% saving on energy costs in the Data centres since the installation of CumulusPower and has predicted a payback period of less than 3 years. We have also had comments on the drastic reduction in operation noise levels of the new UPS. We can also add that Sure has commissioned a third unit for installation this year.”

Louis McGarry concludes: “From our experience, the energy savings when replacing old for new could result in the system paying for itself in three to five years. This is good news for the environment and the client alike. This reduced total cost of ownership is supplemented by having industry leading availability and ease of maintenance. It is no wonder that CumulusPower has now been installed in datacenters and comms rooms in over 60 countries across 5 continents, protecting more than 50 MW of critical power loads in locations including: the UK, Singapore, Australia, Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic and now the Channel Islands.”

For further information regarding SURE Data Centres, G4S Secure Solutions or Centiel’s industry-leading UPS contact enquiries@centiel.co.uk.

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