Environmentally controlled Smart Package hits SA IT rack market

Smart Package Philosophy 101:

Cooling the cabinet instead of the whole room ensures that the cooling is directed where it is required. This concept of cooling is more efficient, and depending on the size of the room, can save between 15% and 40% energy.

A smaller cooling unit means less CO2 emissions, by cooling a lower volume of air. We can quantify this better once we understand the environments that the Smart Packages will operate in per site.

The rack solution offers ultimate flexibility, allowing the solution to be configured for the current requirements with the “pay as you grow” type concept.

The "pay as you grow" concept plays a pivotal role in a rack solution. The IT infrastructure is modular and is precisely tailored to the current needs of the user. If these requirements increase, the technology may be quickly and easily extended.

The benefits include - No over-dimensioning, no unnecessary fixed costs, and if necessary, easy extendibility even when the system is operational. This saves on costs, as one only buys for the current requirements.

A typical split unit air-conditioning system in a normal server room would control temperature to a set maximum. This often continues, without change even when there are very little servers running at maximum, and even keeps running at 11 degrees Celcius in the middle of winter, when such cooling is not required. This is the biggest waste of energy in a full data room situation.

Layers of dust on a heat exchange surface in the outer circuit of cooling units may reduce efficiency by 30% to 50%, due to their insulating effect. A revolutionary RiNano coating prevents this, thanks to its water, dirt and oil repellent effect, and ensures a long-term consistent cooling output.

With RiNano coating servicing, maintenance intervals required are extended and cleaning work becomes much easier. The cooling units have been designed for harsh industrial environments, therefore in normal clean IT environments, the units are virtually maintenance free - this equates to reduced cost and greener output.

As the units are hermetically sealed, there is no need for maintenance. In a split unit design, there is need for maintenance and checking for gas pressure at fixed intervals, which means more maintenance costs.

Although the initial cost of a split unit is low, over a period of time, the running costs of the split unit far outweigh Rittal's sealed unit.

The situation is worsened by the fact that the installation sites are dispersed across two continents, including some sites where, certainly, there will be need to fly technicians due to lack of know-how.

Rittal's cooling units can easily be installed or removed by an instructed person, which is not the case with a split unit, where trained personnel need to take out the unit. It is always cheaper to fly back the faulty unit than to fly a technician (with correct spares) to site. With a full list of proposed sites and the costs of flying and accommodating each technician, the ROI will be clearer once the stability of our units is proven to you.

Integrated condensate management means no mess. This eliminates additional labour costs associated with plumbing. This also means more substantial savings when setting up the initial room/rack. No piping for condensate is required at all!

If and when necessary, all aspects of the infrastructure can be moved with ease, which is not the case with the traditional server room. No expertise is required to do this move.

This means the user has flexibility with the systems and can recover easily in case of some natural disasters, which may call for relocation.

The recent cases of an earthquake in Japan and a flooding before in Brisbane and Sydney illustrate the need for DR room flexibility.

Our systems come preconfigured, which means significant cost and time savings. Set-up is a matter of hours (ie, putting the rack in place), which means no hidden costs.

Plant disruptions are reduced to a minimum, eliminating costly reductions in productivity often caused by the disruptions associated with construction or building of a new room. Additionally, the racks can be shipped preconfigured with the server, cooling and communication equipment pre-installed to your branches, or office locations anywhere in Africa.

As all the aspects of the rack solution are fully remotely managed, operating costs are reduced to a minimum. Reduced costs and travel mean a lower carbon footprint for maintenance of these units.

Most functions related to management can be done remotely. When exceptional circumstances do arise - your company will be notified via a range of CMC (Rittal communications network) triggers and sent over their security network.

Other manufacturers rely on on-site technicians, managing racks individually sometimes more than four times a year - at your cost!

Again - all of these notes can only be quantified after our traditional run-in period, and possibly after one year, we can do an audit on how much carbon cost was saved due to Rittal's category leading efficiency.

Our aim as a partner in IT infrastructure will be to supply a constant flow of equipment to areas needed in as green a way as possible.