At the moment virtualisation and cloud computing (especially in-house cloud solutions) are two of the major trends affecting new IT infrastructure projects. Whilst these technologies are well understood by many organisations, their impact on the requirements in the IT room or data centre are not as well known.
Besides the savings in compute, storage and connection costs, the centralisation and virtualisation of IT infrastructure allows for significant cost savings from a facilities point of view.
Thanks to this development, power usage effectiveness (PUE) has joined the lexicon of the IT manager. Achieving the desired improvement in PUE often requires a redesign of that IT room or data centre environment, not to mention an understanding of cooling, power and associated technologies.
Redundancy and resilience is also required in all of these systems. However, one key challenge for many Irish companies today is deciding on the correct design of their revamped IT room or local data centre.
Choosing the right type, size and efficiency of uninterruptible power supply (UPS), cooling options (such as room, in-the row, contained hot or cold, aisle, water-to-air, air-to-air, thermal density and more), lights-out management, as well as passive infrastructure (including cabinets, frames and cabling) are all factors that need to be re-examined.
Some or all of these disciplines lie outside the experience of the average IT manager. Indeed facilities departments may be tasked with the power reduction targets for the business and again the experience may not be there.
This results in a skills gap. The solution to this issue is to take a holistic approach to the design of the data centre, encompassing compute, storage and connect requirements, together with their corresponding power, cooling and management requirements, to achieve a resilient, cost-effective, right sized solution.
Ensuring that you engage with an experienced provider is key to addressing the issues involved. With that in mind, Kedington has been the leading IT networking and cabling business in Ireland for many years.
Our services include designing and installing many of the key components in Ireland’s largest data centres. We have been the reference point for many organisations when making their strategic design decisions on racking, cabling, power and cooling infrastructure.
In addition to all of this, we have recently entered in to a strategic partnership with Emerson Network Power. This was on the back of a long standing relationship with Avocent who have recently been acquired by Emerson.
With global revenues of well over €17 billion, they are one of the real heavyweights in this arena. Their other recent acquisitions of Liebert and Chloride to add to their UPS portfolio has greatly strengthened their ability to deal with all segments of the market.
The combination of expertise from Kedington and Emerson Network Power now offers a unique level of expertise and service in the Irish market for any business planning changes in their IT or data centre environment.
Tadhg Foley is director of solutions at Kedington.
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