• • • COVER STORY • • •
On365 had been a strategic partner to the university for many years, providing preventative maintenance and physical infrastructure replacement services to ensure operational continuity. On365’s work as a services partner was also vital during the pandemic where the dependency on digital applications had accelerated.
In this instance, all services procedures were quickly adapted to make them covid-safe, ensuring the university received essential ongoing support but with controls to limit contact and access for on365 engineers, IT staff and students. Mr Newall said: “We work with On365 because they have the specialist skills we require in-house. They don’t subcontract to other organisations, and we know we can trust them to know exactly what they’re doing to service and maintain our data centre equipment to the highest possible standards.”
Whilst upgrading to the next generation of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Row Data Center solution, the team took the opportunity to bring other parts of the dependent infrastructure under IT’s control, including the cooling systems. Mr Newall explained: “Previously we had a chilled water system, and whilst we had control of the InRow cooling and the data centre, we were still reliant upon facilities management to look after the chillers on the roof.” This, it turns out, had not created problems until the searing hot summer of 2022, when local temperatures reached nearly 40 degrees C.
“During that period the chillers broke down; fortunately most of the campus was on holiday. The cooling system wasn’t designed for those sorts of conditions, there weren’t dual chilled water circuits or chillers. We’d built the data centre to be resilient with no single point of failure, but that strategy was impacted as we had no control over the fabric of the room, which included the external systems supporting the air conditioning.” As such the university selected Schneider Electric InRow DX (direct expansion) units to accompany the new EcoStruxure Row Data Center, creating two separate circuits to extend the ‘no single points of failure’ design throughout the facility. It also used containment to gain more cooling control and cool the IT racks directly. This made the environment more suitable for a new generation of compact and powerful servers, and subsequently, the solution was replicated at Holywell Park.
Along with the installation of the new containment system, the university upgraded the management software used to control its infrastructure. Previously, Loughborough had used Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Data Center Expert software but has now deployed its EcoStruxure IT platform for improved manageability, real-time visibility and data-driven insights. This enables it to proactively anticipate any failures and take steps to mitigate them before they become critical.
Mr Newall said: “One of the features we really like about EcoStruxure IT is that it sends alerts to our mobile phones. “When needed, we can talk directly to Schneider Electric’s support staff and if we do experience an issue, it’s good to know they’ve already started compiling data to remedy the situation.”
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • NOVEMBER 2023 9
The University also invested in a three-year contract for Schneider Electric’s full manufacturer’s service support, which has been executed via on365. As an Elite Service partner, on365 provides Schneider Electric Service functions alongside complete electrical and mechanical services such as Fgas and pipework installation.
This ongoing commitment protects the university’s investments in new infrastructure by ensuring the equipment is fully operational, reliable, and quality maintained. Carl Richardson, technology support manager, on365 Ltd, said: “Having a well-structured preventative maintenance program is vital to ensure that the data centre and IT systems are optimised and operationally efficient. “At on365, we’ve continued to collaborate closely with the university, not only to provide them with significant value, but to ensure they can meet their strict procurement governance whilst having access to our extensive support and services capabilities.”
The university also utilises a large distributed, edge network environment, which has in-excess of 60 single-phase UPS’s protecting it. As part of its service agreement, these critical power systems are monitored and maintained via Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure IT, providing real-time visibility into their UPSs’ health and status, and helping IT personnel to manage the network across the campus. Further improvements in resilience and efficiency were also achieved by replacing legacy UPSs with Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VS uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) with lithium- ion batteries. Galaxy VS incorporates Schneider Electric’s patented eConversion operating mode as standard, offering up to 99% energy efficiency, without compromising availability.
Galaxy UPS with lithium-ion not only have the advantage of a much smaller footprint than lead- acid batteries, but can withstand many more charge/ recharge cycles, providing the possibility of novel energy-saving methodologies to reduce power demands.
Questions about power use at Loughborough are becoming more important as the University looks for new ways to increase its sustainability efforts and reduce its carbon footprint. Through its work with Schneider Electric and on365, the university now has multiple systems installed which monitor electrical consumption as well as identifying where electricity is used. Decisions can then be made about how to use energy more intelligently or reduce it. This is vital for an institution with so many large and power-hungry sports halls and two data centres which operate continuously.
Results
The newly modernised data centre environments have immediately provided Loughborough with higher levels of performance and operational efficiency. Adopting a second generation EcoStruxure Row Data Center solution with hot aisle containment and InRow cooling has both improved cooling control and energy efficiency, while removing all remaining single points of failure. Further, the use of Galaxy VS UPS has increased resilience for the universities research applications and ensures optimum levels of uptime.
Adopting Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure IT platform has provided Loughborough with enhanced levels of visibility and data-driven insights that quickly help to identify and mitigate potential faults before they become critical across the campus. This, in conjunction with its new services plan delivered via on365, has given the university 24x7 access to expert maintenance support. Looking forward, Schneider Electric and on365’s work with Loughborough University has been invaluable and will play a key role in its future IT sustainability strategy.
By modernising its infrastructure with the latest in resilient and energy efficient technologies and harnessing the power of both data analytics and predictive maintenance, the university has futureproofed its campus to support new breakthroughs in sporting research.
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