FEATURE UPS & STANDBY POWER
INCREASED PROTECTION FOR UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
The University of Edinburgh opened its doors in 1583 and regular investment is required to ensure its infrastructure is fit for purpose and futureproofed for the next generation of pioneers
W
hen the time came for a comprehensive review and upgrade
of the institution’s data centre technology and supporting power protection infrastructure, selecting a UPS partner able to offer the right level of efficiency, flexibility and resilience was an important element of the larger project. The situation was an aging UPS
system that still met current power requirements but was inefficient and didn’t offer the resilience and ease of maintenance that was critical for the university’s future plans. The existing power protection equipment had been in place for more than a decade, and its traditional standalone technology was power hungry and didn’t support the ability to perform essential maintenance without taking the system offline and exposing the critical load to the risk of a mains-borne disturbance. In the midst of the university’s IT and
power protection review, the situation became more critical when the battery banks supporting the existing UPS burst, leading to a total loss of protection. Although protection was quickly restored, it was clear that a long-term solution was required without delay. Graeme Wood, the university’s head of
enterprise services, explains: “Following the incident with our power blocks, it was clear that the right solution was to design and install an entirely new system, taking a root-and-branch approach to guarantee the return on investment was maximised over the extended lifespan of the system. We needed a UPS that provided us with the necessary level of protection, but of equal importance was its ability to grow
in line with our needs and have the modularity to ensure the system could remain online 100 per cent of the time.” As part of the renovations and upgrades,
Wood and his team set themselves the ambitious goal of removing all single points of failure and building a system that had comprehensive resilience. “We decided we wanted to commission
two complete systems to replace the single UPS that was then in place, along with the switchgear and every inch of wiring. We wanted duel power supply all the way from the external source, connected to two fully independent UPS systems and feeding two power outlets per server rack in an A & B configuration,” says Wood. “After reviewing a number of
comparable systems and manufacturers, we decided that Kohler Uninterruptible Power (KUP) and its PowerWAVE 9000DPA represented the best fit for us. It scored well across the board, with a high power density, no single points of failure, six nines availability and high efficiency credentials – and backed by a dedicated support team that is directly employed by KUP, not third-party contractors who work across multiple brands.” The design for two identical systems
was agreed, with each system consisting of two PowerWAVE 9000DPA frames, containing seven 50kVA modules working in parallel to provide 300kVA of protection, with the additional module providing N+1 redundancy. The chosen product and approach
offered the university the best fit for its requirements, with notably higher levels of efficiency, despite the lower loading
Kohler Uninterruptible Power
kohler-ups.co.uk
of each system due to the 300kVA critical load being shared across all four UPS frames. Equally, should the load increase, redundancy and resilience will not be affected, due to the PowerWAVE 9000DPA’s ‘hot swap’ modularity and decentralised parallel architecture, which enables capacity to be added in cost effective incremental steps if power requirements grow. Additionally, the ability to quickly add, remove or replace modules whilst the system is online significantly reduces mean time to repair (MTTR) and simplifies system power upgrades – both critical requirements for the project. With the system design agreed and
specified, the next challenge to overcome was commissioning. Available space was very limited but with careful planning and the experience of the KUP install team, the process went off with a hitch. The installation of the PowerWAVE
9000DPA systems and related equipment has already provided the university with significant resilience and financial benefits. In addition to the massive increase in capacity, protection and redundancy, total system efficiency has also increased.
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