iTnews
  • Home
  • News
  • Technology
  • Networking

Metro Power Company buys micro data centre

By Ry Crozier on Jul 5, 2010 1:13PM
Metro Power Company buys micro data centre

Hosts energy management system trialled by BHP Iron Ore.

Metro Power Company has shunned co-location of its server kit in third-party data centres in favour of a fully self-contained "micro data centre" product developed in Western Australia.

The company is one of the first customers for Zellabox, which is now distributed by IT services giant CSC.

The Zellabox acts like a portable server room. It includes rack space, environmental control systems, air conditioning, uninterruptible power supplies, and even a fire detection and suppression system within the enclosure.

Metro Power Company is using a Zellabox to house an energy management system that it is developing and piloting with BHP Billiton's Iron Ore division that promises to reduce the mineral giant's energy footprint.

The E2M system is purportedly able to ‘suggest' changes in production equipment use and maintenance schedules and adjust electricity buying patterns to use more power from sustainable sources, conserve energy, increase efficiency and save money.

How E2M works

The E2M system has two fibre connections - one directly into BHP Iron Ore's IT systems and a second that goes out to the internet.

E2M interfaces with a relational database attached to BHP's automation and control systems.

Information - from how many tons of ore are moving on a conveyor at any point in time to the amount of energy being used - is drawn out of the database and into E2M.

It is then combined with asset management, maintenance and production planning feeds and "a myriad of weather forecasting feeds", and fed through a combination of statistical analysis and genetic algorithms.

The result, according to Metro Power Company's managing director Timothy Edwards, is that - within parameters - the E2M system is able to "learn" the behaviour of the BHP plant in real-time and suggests how the company can alter plant usage or electricity buying to reduce its energy costs.

"E2M can suggest to us to push and pull what time maintenance activity might occur or to push and pull production activity by 10 percent," Edwards said.

"It might only be able to suggest that at two days notice.

"[The system] can analyse consumption data and market trends [in electricity pricing] and suggest what we can do to meet [BHP's] key priorities - to keep electricity on and at a lower cost."

A key benefit is that iron ore production cycles could be increased on days where sustainable energy is going to be cheaper than coal-fired power - for example, days when it is forecast to be windy.

Data centre search

Edwards told iTnews that Metro Power Company had chosen to host E2M onsite in a Zellabox rather than offsite at a third-party data centre due to security and equipment access concerns.

He said the company had scoped data centres around Perth to host E2M but "we struggled to find everything we needed on the market, not just from a cybersecurity and access perspective, but also in terms of space at the right price."

"We'd be no sooner settling on our requirements for one data centre that we'd be told the space is tentatively booked or used," he said.

The cybersecurity concerns were shared by BHP and Metro Power Company. They stem partially from the way E2M works, transferring sensitive production data between the sites.

Access to the components of the E2M system was also important because the system is still under development.

Being able to go in and make configuration changes when the servers are onsite is less onerous than sending people to and from the Metro Power Company offices and a third-party data centre, according to Edwards.

"When you host in a large data centre, you're relying on so many components between you and them to make sure you get the data," he said.

"If something goes wrong and you have to go in and physically plug into the console, you have to get someone there and rely on the access requirements to get into the centre.

"And if it's a component failure, you then have to reverse out of there, get the [replacement] component and come back."

The portability of Zellabox was also attractive. "We're in a pilot scenario now," Edwards said.

"In another six months, we'll probably move to a purpose-built establishment. We'll just pick up the Zellabox and take it with us.

"We'll just schedule some downtime, unplug and replug it in and away we go."

Edwards said he could see the benefits of the Zellabox system for remote sites, project management offices and other usage scenarios, particularly when the national broadband network is complete.

"In a world where there's going to be lots of fibre floating around... I think more people are going to turn to micro data centres, because there's less risk," he said.

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

Partner Content

Security "mindset shift" needed to protect organisations
Promoted Content Security "mindset shift" needed to protect organisations
Avoiding CAPEX by making on-premise IT more cloud-like
Promoted Content Avoiding CAPEX by making on-premise IT more cloud-like
Security: Understanding the fundamentals of governance, risk & compliance
Promoted Content Security: Understanding the fundamentals of governance, risk & compliance
Accenture and Google Cloud team up to create a loveable, Australian-first, renewable energy product
Promoted Content Accenture and Google Cloud team up to create a loveable, Australian-first, renewable energy product

Sponsored Whitepapers

Free eBook: Digital Transformation 101 – for banks
Free eBook: Digital Transformation 101 – for banks
Why financial services need to tackle their Middle Office
Why financial services need to tackle their Middle Office
Learn: The latest way to transfer files between customers
Learn: The latest way to transfer files between customers
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

Events

  • Forrester Technology & Innovation Asia Pacific 2022
By Ry Crozier
Jul 5 2010
1:13PM
0 Comments

Related Articles

  • Don't miss Australia’s premiere IoT Conference on 9th June
  • CS Energy CIO Terry Melton departs
  • RBA pushes first IaaS workload into Azure
  • Top 5 Benefits of Managed IT Services
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Email A Friend

Most Read Articles

Telstra deregisters 900MHz sites “hindering” Optus 5G rollout

Telstra deregisters 900MHz sites “hindering” Optus 5G rollout

Aussie Broadband nears end of NBN PoI fibre rollout

Aussie Broadband nears end of NBN PoI fibre rollout

Defence, DEWR drop $160m on Microsoft software, Azure

Defence, DEWR drop $160m on Microsoft software, Azure

Transport for NSW exits Global Switch data centre

Transport for NSW exits Global Switch data centre

Digital Nation

Case Study: Swinburne University overhauls student management system
Case Study: Swinburne University overhauls student management system
COVER STORY: What happens when Google changes its algorithm?
COVER STORY: What happens when Google changes its algorithm?
Personalisation strategies need to be built from the ground up
Personalisation strategies need to be built from the ground up
COVER STORY: Multiple cloud models make security more complex
COVER STORY: Multiple cloud models make security more complex
Case Study: Multicloud business drivers at MLC Life Insurance
Case Study: Multicloud business drivers at MLC Life Insurance
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.