Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, has won the prestigious 'Datacentre Solution of The Year' category at the European IT & Software Excellence Awards, 2017. The award, for an upgrade project delivered in conjunction with APC by Schneider Electric™ Elite Partner Comtec Power, a leading UK data centre design and build company, was facilitated to meet the differing needs of Cardiff University's High Performance Computing (HPC) and Advanced research (ARCCA) facility.
The University worked with Comtec to design, populate and upgrade its data centre, which utilised components of Schneider Electric's InfraStruxure (ISX) data centre physical infrastructure solution in addition to high efficiency chillers and the StruxureWare for Data Centres: Data Centre Operations Energy Efficiency software module.
By providing complete visibility of all Power, Cooling and IT assets, the upgrade lowered the existing PUE level from 1.8 to 1.2. This in turn halved the Universities electricity bill, saving them approximately £125,000 in electricity annually and will provide the key stakeholders with a return on investment (ROI) in less than five years.
To maximise efficiency of the system, Comtec coordinated both rack density and layout with a 'close-coupled' chilled-water cooling solution and hot aisle containment (HACS). In addition, they deployed Schneider Electric's StruxureWare Data Centre Operation: Energy Efficiency management software, enabling the University to monitor and gain more granular, real-time insights into energy usage, to ensure maximum efficiency for all the elements of its infrastructure.
For more information, visit:
• http://blog.apc.com/uk/en/partnership-evolved
• http://www.schneider-electric.com
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYGnll4R9tg
• http://www.apc.com
• http://www.schneider-electric.com/b2b/en/solutions/system/s2/data-center-and-networks-preconfigured-systems.jsp
• http://www.comtecpower.com