Alexander Forbes has demonstrated its commitment to green technologies, with the rollout of a green Tier 3 data centre at its Sandton headquarters using a solution provided by Schneider Electric.
The new data centre was built in response to the company’s increased focus on efficiency, modularity and operational expenditures. “Alexander Forbes received a full turnkey solution from Schneider Electric, making the integration seamless. The products installed all complemented one another and, together form a solution that has brought about an efficient, modular and state of the art data centre,” explains Eben Owen, enterprise and solutions manager for South Africa at Schneider Electric.
“The risks usually associated with such an implementation were minimised as Schneider Electric supplied all the relevant components and, together with the Alexander Forbes Group IT team, managed the entire process, whilst offering support to all existing mission-critical applications and the IT infrastructure during the rollout,” he says.
Schneider Electric products implemented include dependable, high quality Prisma modular distribution boards, the Symmetra PX redundant, scalable, power protection system, and MGE Galaxy 7000 and 5000 3-Phase uninterruptable power supplies (UPSes), providing high performance, right-sized, modular, hot-scalable power protection with ultrahigh availability and efficiency.
From an all-important cooling perspective, the green data centre also includes an APC InRow cooling architecture, Uniflair chillers and a hot aisle containment system (HACS), which is a modular ceiling panel and door system for use in isolating the supply and return air between the NetShelter rack and the InRow cooling solution. According to Owen, this containment system is designed to create a separate environment for air distribution in order to prevent mixing of hot and cold air streams, resulting in a more predictable cooling pattern; and the InRow cooling architecture alone will reduce energy costs by up to 30%.
In order to manage and monitor the new data centre, Schneider Electric installed its proprietary StruxureWare platform of applications and suites, providing greater visibility into energy and other resource use across the organisation and providing access to all of the data and tools needed to operate a more reliable, efficient, productive, safe and green data centre. In addition, NetBotz security and environmental monitoring appliances were implemented to provide temperature, humidity, door contact and dry contact monitoring that also allows the data centre manager to monitor environmental conditions remotely.
According to David van Niekerk, IT network operations manager at Alexander Forbes Group IT, Schneider Electric was appointed as it is a technology leader in the energy management market, with an excellent reputation which extends to its élite partner, Dimension Data. “We needed to build a state of the art, green data centre that utilised some of the best of brand products available, while remaining cost effective,” he explains. “Schneider Electric ticked all our boxes from a systems and project management perspective. We wanted just one accountable party to deal with if any issues arose from the design stage through to actual implementation.”
How smart signalling can transform Africa’s manufacturing future Schneider Electric South Africa
Industrial Wireless
Imagine a factory floor where humans and machines communicate in real time with issues flagged instantly, workflows adjusted seamlessly and downtime reduced to near zero. This is the reality unfolding across Africa as manufacturers embrace the next generation of intelligent signalling technologies.
Read more...Unpacking the technoeconomic case for cleaner power in wastewater plants Schneider Electric South Africa
Electrical Power & Protection
Behind every reliable wastewater plant is an electrical system exposed to the effects of harmonics, voltage distortion and overloaded networks caused by fleets of variable speed drives on pumps and aerators.Together, they steadily drive up maintenance demands and elevate the risk of failure.
Read more...Rethinking power for Africa’s data centres Schneider Electric South Africa
Electrical Power & Protection
Africa’s digital economy is scaling faster than its power systems. If it wants resilient, competitive and sustainable data centres, the starting point must be a grid-to-chip architecture rather than a genset-first mentality.
Read more...Siemens ecosystem strengthens data and AI integration Siemens South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Siemens has announced significant expansions to its Industrial Edge ecosystem, accelerating data and AI integration and releasing enhanced cybersecurity functionalities. These enable a seamless integration of IT and OT environments, optimise processes and reduce operational disruptions.
Read more...Unifying building information into a sea of insight Schneider Electric South Africa
Electrical Power & Protection
Facility managers realise that in order to gain the most from building automation, they can longer deploy and operate technologies in isolation. Modern, integrated building management solutions address this challenge by bringing data from multiple sources and dispersed locations like HVAC, lighting, access control, lifts, generators, field devices, energy and
Read more...Why digital LV switchboards matter Schneider Electric South Africa
Electrical Power & Protection
Today’s buildings account for up to 40% of global energy consumption and CO2 emissions. However, buildings are also expected to deliver higher availability and stronger safety performance while also being sustainable. Digital swirchboards make a difference in the way buildings are developed, upgraded and managed.
Read more...Siemens manages shipbuilding process for HD Hyundai Siemens South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Siemens has been selected by HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering as a preferred partner to establish an integrated platform to manage the entire shipbuilding process as a single data flow to help ensure consistency across all its global shipyard facilities.
Read more...The new energy landscape for buildings will be enabled by e-mobility Schneider Electric South Africa
Electrical Power & Protection
The adoption of the electric vehicle continues to proliferate, and buildings are becoming a vital part of the e-mobility movement, which requires a whole new approach to energy management.
Read more...Transforming the process industry through digitalisation Endress+Hauser South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
By connecting field devices, systems and people, digitalisation creates new opportunities to optimise operations, enhance maintenance strategies and support continuous improvement. As a leading instrumentation provider and major source of process data, Endress+Hauser plays a key role in enabling this transformation.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.
printer friendly version