Business17.04.2013

Schneider Electric installs total data centre solution at South Africa’s prime industrial park

Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, has installed a full data centre solution at the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ), a prime industrial park servicing various industries such as automotive, agro-processing and aqua-culture, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

According to Peter Mostert, technical support specialist at the ELIDZ, the industrial park was in the process of building a data centre and investigating the best-suited products for various components required for this environment, from uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) to cabinets, when it chose the Schneider Electric HACS (Hot Aisle Containment) N+1 redundant solution.

The solution consists of:

  • Modular powered UPS (Symmetra PX 32kW UPS scalable to 160kW with modular battery system);
  • Modular power distribution;
  • In Row cooling units (four x 29kW);
  • Rack power distribution;
  • Environmental monitoring to monitor UPSs, temperature of data centre and generator; and
  • Data centre software management system to fully manage any changes to the data centre.

“The Schneider Electric HACS solution was recommended as the ELIDZ was looking at creating one node room to serve the entire industrial park, with the possibility of hosting clients if space allows it,” says Mark Jenniker, strategic account manager: enterprise sales and solutions at Schneider Electric South Africa.

Mostert adds that a deciding factor for the ELIDZ was that the Schneider Electric offering provided an end-to-end solution, with a single management interface. “This was critical as we required all components to be designed in such a way so as to work together, without compatibility issues,” he says.
Schneider Electric South Africa gave the ELIDZ access to existing customer sites where the equipment was operational, in order to see it working in an actual environment. “We also had extensive design sessions that concluded in the ELIDZ receiving a total solution, which was linked to a build number and document that would ensure when we went to market all components were included and we had a working solution regardless of the final supplier appointed to complete the build,” says Mostert.

“It is assuring to know that we have a working solution, that all equipment was installed to the OEM recommendations and that all components were manufactured to work together. In addition, the fact that it is managed from a central management system was another great benefit.”

 

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