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| Cooling par excellence in Silicon Valley |
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[Arnstorf, 02 December 2009]
Bay Area Internet Solutions (BAIS), founded in the US in 1995, is one of the leading providers of high-speed Internet and hosting solutions for small, medium and large companies around the globe. Based in the technology stronghold of Silicon Valley in northern California near San Francisco, BAIS represents progress and the most modern solutions in the IT sector.
Since its foundation the operator has been in a position to provide hundreds of companies, ranging right up to the very biggest corporations, a safe, sound and secure IT infrastructure thanks to a data center of approx. 24,000 m². The company’s area space and therefore its capacities were increased to keep up as some customers expanded. Another data center was therefore provided in Santa Clara California to meet all the requirements a modern solution could possibly have. As BAIS wanted to offer a secure, high availability IT infrastructure, this obviously required products that could meet the entire challenge. Which is where Knürr’s experts came into play: With a Cold Aisle Containment solution, Server Racks and additional solutions from parent company, Emerson Network Power, the data center was upgraded into an energy-efficient high availability data center (TIER IV class), which guarantees 99.999% failure-safety 365 days a year and around the clock. Emerson Network Power delivered the German company’s products and solutions from the Liebert product series, which helped bring the physical IT infrastructure up to the latest state of technology.
Latest technologies with parallel cost reductions
As the necessary systems had to be very high quality, BAIS logically opted for Knürr’s Server Racks, which are designed for up to 60 high-density servers, without impairing the data center’s scalability. The planning team also ordered Knürr Miracel Racks, which are extremely flexible and insensitive to disturbances. “The state-of-the-art solutions make it easier for our customers to integrate additional servers, whenever our capacities have to be increased,” says Tom Wye, BAIS President and Chief Executive Officer, adding: “The equipment we got was produced from extremely durable material, which means the customer is ensured a safe, sound and secure installation.” Added to this is the fact that the cooling solution is simply one-of-a-kind. The enclosure’s perforated doors allow up to 83% airflow, which in turn guarantees exceptional cooling on the racks. The safety of the equipment in the Server Racks is never in question. The objective, among other factors, was to create a power and cooling infrastructure that could cope with 300 kW per m². Knürr’s cooling technologies meet these requirements and increase efficiency by up to 30%. “We were looking for a provider that could give us a suitable thermal management solution for our data center. And we eventually found one with Knürr,” says a beaming Tom Wye.
All the options were carefully weighed up at BAIS in the planning stage: “We considered both cold and hot aisle containments,” says Mr. Wye. Ultimately the choice was made for cold aisle containment with an air-tight Plexiglas corridor and more that 450 optimized Knürr enclosures. Knürr set something of a precedent in implementing its Cold Aisle Containment solution: the data center in Santa Clara is one of the first in northern California to be equipped with this kind of solution, using it to cool some 500 server racks.
Cold aisle containment as the optimum cooling solution
The benefit is crystal clear for the operator: the cold air is specifically guided to where it is needed. With the perforated doors of the Knürr enclosures the air doesn’t get into the room – instead it goes directly into the server rack. Efficiency is massively increased, as no energy is unnecessarily wasted. Cold aisle containment enables improved cooling capacity and, in contrast to conventional cold/hot aisle systems, it supports the use of servers with increased cooling requirements. Cooling capacities of up to 10 kW are absolutely no problem!
Evenly distributed cooling air supply with cold aisle containment also prevents hotspots, which in turn enables flexible positioning of all IT components in the contained aisle, and ensures good cooling quality at all times. In combination with speed-controlled circulation air cooling equipment, the energy consumption for the air circulation is significantly reduced, so that the investment in cold aisle containment amortizes after just a few months. The system’s biggest benefit is that it can be upgraded while the data center continues to run and operate.
“BAIS can now guarantee optimum temperatures in the data center, and can therefore operate efficiently as best the customer would want it to. By guaranteeing 100% separation of hot and cold air, the company can utilize the cooling capacity that would normally be lost when the two airs mix,” says Knürr Marketing Director, Werner Gropp.
The declared objective was improved efficiency and optimized thermal management in the data center. The implementation of suitable, modern cooling solutions was therefore an obligation and not a voluntary exercise in meeting the self-set standards. The integration of technologies that make operations more economical and ecological was front and center in the planning stage. And this was addressed and resolved with Knürr’s solutions – the new cooling infrastructure specifically means energy savings of four million kWh per year. The other systems that Emerson Network Power implemented at the company also support the efficiency of the power and cooling infrastructure and leave absolutely no requirements unfulfilled. |
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About Knürr
Knürr AG based in Arnstorf, Bavaria, was founded in 1931, and in January 2006 became part of Emerson Network Power, a division of the global technology leader, Emerson, which has an annual turnover of 20 billion dollars, 140,000 employees and 277 production sites around the world. Knürr’s system solutions in the world of information and network technology and telecommunications soon established the company’s exceptional reputation as one of the leading developers and manufacturers of rack and enclosure platforms. These include systems for the indoor and outdoor area, all relevant active and passive components in the 19-inch construction area, and the thermal and cable management technologies this entails. With standardized and customized developments, the company supports its customers with innovative technologies and comprehensive knowledge in the completion of its assignments.
For more information go to: www.knuerr.com |
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About Emerson Network Power
Emerson Network Power is an Emerson Group company (NYSE: EMR) and industry leader with its continuity solutions (Business-Critical Continuity™). The company is recognized as a reliable provider of flexible and dependable solutions that effectively protect the important components of the customer’s infrastructure. On the basis of the biggest global service organization in the industry, Emerson Network Power provides a wide range of innovative power supply, cooling and connection solutions. Added to this are services for the computer, communication, health care and industrial systems areas. Emerson Network Power’s most important product brand names include Liebert, ASCO, Astec and Lorain.
You will find more information on Emerson Network Power’s products and corporate solutions at www.emerson.com
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About Emerson
Emerson (NYSE: EMR) is based in St. Louis, Missouri (USA), and as a leading technology and development specialist provides globally innovative customer solutions in the areas of network power supply, process management, industrial automation and thermal management, as well as the corresponding equipment and tools. In fiscal 2008 the company generated turnover of US $ 24.8 bn.
For more information go to www.emerson.com |
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Knürr AG
Mariakirchener Straße 38
D-94424 Arnstorf
Telephone: +49 (0) 8723 -27-0
Telefax: +49 (0) 8723-27-154
eMail:
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