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FACILITIES DCIM


who is challenged by the enduring siloes between IT and facilities that lead to a breakdown in communication, making it difficult to take the first steps towards streamlining operations. The key too improved efficiency and reduced costs are by working together and creating a different approach to managing IT to process assets and workloads, we are bridging the gap between IT and facilities and giving IT managers the granular data and insight they need to run their facilities at an optimum level.


QYou able to provide one or two brief customer success stories?


A We had a blue-chip organisation wanting to monitor their rack power usage but couldn’t afford any disruption or downtime. So we had to design a system where each rack was individually metered, with up to 30 racks in a row. A SIPp monitors each row, and with nine rows in the data centre, detailed information is provided on a total of 270 meters. The nine SIPp’s which monitor the rows feed into a tenth unit; a SIPp Vision device. This device provides a system ‘portal’ through which the other SIPp devices can be connected and networked to provide a fully featured power monitoring system. The system currently operates in metering mode for rack monitoring; it can work as a standalone system or be integrated with the BMS if required. The power usage data provided by each SIPp device is displayed on the dashboard, making it simple to get an at-a-glance update. Thanks to the integration via the SIPp Vision device, the user can toggle through the various rows’ dashboard readouts from a single point of use, allowing close examination of the row or rack of interest. There is a straightforward system and alarm level set up, the SIPp monitoring makes it easy to set alarm levels if usage levels are exceeded, avoiding any risk of overload and also helping improve billing accuracy. The SIPp’s dashboard can easily be configured to generate an alert if readings stray outside set parameters.


A red line shows the alarm limit on the display, making it easy to see any exceptional reading, and if an alarm is triggered, the SIPp generates an email to a specified engineering or management contact. The customer was impressed from all management levels the simplicity of the system but recognised the importance of the data received to make informed decisions. TalkTalk wanted to ensure the continuity of its broadband, television, data and telephony services for its four million plus customers across the UK. They have for many years used Synapsys’ technology for BMS monitoring and integration of its data centre UPS, DC power systems, CRAC units, metering and environmental monitoring.


TalkTalk needed to monitor the rack power and needed a solution that would seamlessly integrate into their current platform. So by installing the SIPp rack power monitoring solution monitoring at all its UK data centre and including an expansion to a second data centre at its Manchester site. The other major issue they had was how to address each system as it used a different communications protocol to communicate with including RS232, RS485, SNMP, Modbus and other system-specific protocols. We needed to find a way to get all the different elements of the network communicating, and the SIPp offered the best solution for integration and monitoring.


QWhat are Synapsys’ routes to market – direct/Channel/a mixture?


A Our route to market has been with system integrators but not exclusive supplying and installing our SIP’s for their customers. We


also work closely with end-users, manufacturers and testing houses to make sure they have the correct solution for their data centres but at the same time we make sure their preferred installer is fully trained and up to speed with our innovate SIP solutions where we would offer to help with commissioning of the system.


QWhat plans do you have to expand – both in the UK and overseas?


A We already have customers overseas using our SIP technology, in Ireland, Scandinavia and further afield. When new opportunities


arise we are always open to look at each opportunity. QWhat can we expect from Synapsys in the next 12-18 months?


A Synapsys have a lot of exciting plans over the next 12 to 18 months, including releasing some new innovative products for the data centre market ranging from a customer friendly DCIM package to multi-parameter web based dashboards and we are also looking at a large room intelligent lighting control solution which can be used over a complete data hall or office space.


QAre you a glass half-full or half-empty person when it comes to energy resources moving forward?


A I would say I’m a half-full person when it comes to energy resources moving forward. As we need to look at managing our


energy usage we need to be more careful how we use our energy. Be more conscious of what we are leaving on and what can shut down especially in data centres, for example in the UK alone data centres use 2-3% of all the overall power the whole country. So we need to look at what we leave running and look carefully on what can be switched off or removed.


QAny other comments/thoughts on the data centre industry?


A The data centre industry is rapidly growing and with energy costs continuing to steadily rise over the next few years, data centres need to look at their running costs and see where they can reduce their consumption. With the government and the CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment) putting pressure on data centres to reduce their power, this is when they need to carefully look at the age of the equipment and turn off equipment if it’s not needed. Remember if you can’t measure it then you won’t be able to monitor it and won’t know where to begin.


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