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Client Confidential
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Location Northern Ireland, UK
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Value Confidential
Extending end-of-life of several data centres with an innovative cooling strategy
About the project
IN2 were commissioned to conduct a feasibility study of the state-of-health and subsequent retrofit of two data centres (1MW and 900KW) belonging to a public body in Northern Ireland. The study was focussed on the health of the cooling units which were found to be reaching end-of-life at the time of the study.
The study outlined the necessary upgrade works to maintain the operational life of these essential cooling systems and ensure the continuity of the primary cooling source in the data centres, as well as other critical areas such as communications rooms and server rooms.
The proposed changes were made in line with the client's estate and modernisation strategies, as well as the maximisation of energy efficiency and sustainability by implementing design principles and low-energy systems technologies to improve the environmental performance of the buildings. The Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 and its corresponding targets and Carbon Budgets have a significant impact on the client's estate, and, consequently, the proposals for this project which had to be in line with national reductions in carbon emissions.
At both sites, the existing cooling capacities ranged from 5kW - 20kW and 50kW - 200kW, meaning that the units should be upgraded to improve system resilience and prevent equipment failure. In both cases, it was decided that the limited availability of replacement parts could compromise the functionality of these systems in the future, making an upgrade essential. It was also decided that N+1 resilience, which involves the inclusion of one additional unit or component beyond what is required for normal operation, should be incorporated into the design of each space to ensure the protection of communications equipment. This ensures that in the event of a failure, there is a backup system in place. Due to these findings, IN2 also designed additional redundancy systems for the data centres within the retrofit, including new ventilation systems to back up operations in case of emergencies.
To preserve the sensitivity of the stored data, the construction approach had to ensure that multiple CRAC units at the data centre were live at any one time. With this in mind, IN2 proposed a phased approach to the replacement of the cooling systems. This entailed resizing and replacing one cooling unit whilst another was still live. This required precise coordination between different teams, efficient project management, and clear communication to handle the cooling unit replacements without any data losses.
The successful replacement of these air conditioning units has ensured the continuity and reliability of the client's communication departments and safeguarded them against system failures.
