iTnews
  • Home
  • News
  • Technology
  • Networking

Pod data centre wins over Centrelink

By Brett Winterford on Mar 25, 2010 6:34AM
Pod data centre wins over Centrelink

Canberra Data Centres calls for an "end to the raised floor data centre".

Canberra Data Centres has called for the "end to the raised floor data centre" after highlighting the success of a recent customer migration to a pod-based design, which iTnews understands to be Centrelink.

As reported exclusively on iTnews, Centrelink kitted out two Sun M9000 servers [pictured] and two Hitachi USP-V SAN storage boxes in a customised pod within the Canberra Data Centre in September 2009. iTnews understands that within the next fortnight the agency will install a further four of the beastly servers in an adjacent pod.

Yesterday, Canberra Data Centres managing director Greg Boorer delivered a case study of an unnamed Government department hosted within its facility to the audience at Gartner's data centre summit.

Whilst Boorer went to great lengths to obscure the details of the customer, iTnews has been able to verify that the case study customer was Centrelink.

Boorer told the audience that customers were slowly being won over to the pod format after expressing original hesitation.

iTnews has confirmed that Centrelink's original resistance to the format was due to concerns over how much effort was required in designing the layout of equipment within the pod in advance of the build.

"The problem with the custom pod approach is that you force us to undertake more pre-planning and deployment design than we ordinarily would in one of our traditional data centres," a Centrelink engineer had replied to CDC's pod proposal.

Judging by the timeline of the rollout to date, it would appear that the design phase has indeed been a long one. But according to Boorer, the results were worth the wait.

Boorer explained that the customer had sought 500 square metres of floor space, but Canberra Data Centre had fit the same amount of computing in a mere 120 square metres (one standard pod and two custom pods). In any other ASIO-certified data centre, he said, that 380 square metres of shared floor space would have cost $1.9 million a year (380 x $5000 per year).

Boorer also estimated that he had saved the agency some $1 million per year in power costs. Most raised floor data centres, he said, offer a temperature delta of 30 degrees celsius. (The temperature delta refers to the difference between the temperature of air coming out of CRAC or computer room air conditioning unit underneath a raised floor versus the temperature the CRAC unit takes the air back in at once it has passed through the racks of computing equipment).

"You shoot air into the raised floor at 6 or 7 degrees in order to get it to a particular point under the racks, so by the time it enters the racks it is 18 or 19 degrees, it gets warmer as it rises through rack, comes out at 28 or 29 degrees, and rises further in temperature as it travels back to CRAC unit at 36 and 37 degrees," Boorer said.

In the pod environment, he said, the air is coming into the inlet at 23 or 24 degrees, is pushed through the racks, captured in hot aisle and immediately treated at the heat source (where heat is produced) at 28 degrees - producing a delta of only four degrees.

"The air doesn't have time to sit and get hotter," he said.

The air conditioning and power required to cool air by a factor of four degrees is considerably lower than trying to reduce temperatures by 30 degrees, he said. Further, the pod environment allows for cooling to be monitored and controlled at a granular level, providing more consistent temperatures to computing equipment.

WIth $1 million per year of power savings and $1.9 million a year of real estate savings, Boorer estimated that the agency would save $15 million over the five year term of the contract - well worth the effort of making a greater investment in time designing the pod from the outset.

"You have to shake yourself out of your comfort zones and keep an open mind to this kind of infrastructure," he told the audience.

"It seems you are on one side or the other," he said, referring to the traditional raised floor approach versus pod-based designs.

"From my perspective, a raised floor only has certain amount of cooling capacity. It is a noose around your neck and at some stage someone will tighten it, its only a matter of when.

Boorer said the case study proved that pod-based designs are "not cutting edge", simply a better way of building a data centre.

"The Commonwealth Government is arguably the most conservative bunch of IT users in Australia today, and they are embracing this. Why wouldn't more people embrace it?"

Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.
Tags:
canberra data centrecentrelinkcoolinghardwarehitachinetworkingpodstoragestrategysuntemperature

Partner Content

"We're seeing some good policy put in place, but that's the exception"
Partner Content "We're seeing some good policy put in place, but that's the exception"
The Great Resignation has intensified insider security threats
Promoted Content The Great Resignation has intensified insider security threats
Security: Understanding the fundamentals of governance, risk & compliance
Promoted Content Security: Understanding the fundamentals of governance, risk & compliance
Avoiding CAPEX by making on-premise IT more cloud-like
Promoted Content Avoiding CAPEX by making on-premise IT more cloud-like

Sponsored Whitepapers

Extracting the value of data using Unified Observability
Extracting the value of data using Unified Observability
Planning before the breach: You can’t protect what you can’t see
Planning before the breach: You can’t protect what you can’t see
Beyond FTP: Securing and Managing File Transfers
Beyond FTP: Securing and Managing File Transfers
NextGen Security Operations: A Roadmap for the Future
NextGen Security Operations: A Roadmap for the Future
Video: Watch Juniper talk about its Aston Martin partnership
Video: Watch Juniper talk about its Aston Martin partnership

Events

  • CRN Channel Meets: CyberSecurity Live Event
  • IoT Insights: Secure By Design for manufacturing
  • Cyber Security for Government Summit
By Brett Winterford
Mar 25 2010
6:34AM
0 Comments

Related Articles

  • Don't miss Australia’s premiere IoT Conference on 9th June
  • Top 5 Benefits of Managed IT Services
  • Services Australia extends Hume data centre lease with CDC
  • Omicron, semiconductor shortages blow out Cisco’s delivery times
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Email A Friend

Most Read Articles

Qantas calls time on IBM, Fujitsu in tech modernisation

Qantas calls time on IBM, Fujitsu in tech modernisation

Service NSW hits digital services goal two years early

Service NSW hits digital services goal two years early

SA Police ignores Adelaide council plea for facial recognition ban on CCTV

SA Police ignores Adelaide council plea for facial recognition ban on CCTV

NBN Co says TPG tie-up could help Telstra sidestep spectrum limits

NBN Co says TPG tie-up could help Telstra sidestep spectrum limits

Digital Nation

Integrity, ethics and board decisions in the digital age
Integrity, ethics and board decisions in the digital age
IBM global chief data officer on the rise of the number crunchers
IBM global chief data officer on the rise of the number crunchers
Crypto experts optimistic about future of Bitcoin: Block
Crypto experts optimistic about future of Bitcoin: Block
The security threat of quantum computing
The security threat of quantum computing
COVER STORY: Operationalising net zero through the power of IoT
COVER STORY: Operationalising net zero through the power of IoT
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form without prior authorisation.
Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of nextmedia's Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.