Backup Power for Data Centers
Customer:
Manufacturing and distribution company
Product Highlighted:
CleanSource® UPS and CleanSource® DC
Business Challenge:
The Ada, Mich. based company manufactures and distributes nutrition, wellness, beauty and home products, particularly with a focus on vitamins, food supplements and cosmetics. The entire facility which includes its data center spans more than one million square feet. In the past, the operator relied on conventional double conversion battery based uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems to protect its mission critical data center from electrical disturbances. The lead acid batteries occupied more than 800 square feet of floor space at the facility and were regularly disposed of and replaced every three to five years which proved costly for the operator. In addition, the operator recognized the space dedicated to the battery based UPS systems would need to be expanded over the next several years to adequately provide power protection to data center operations. Additional servers would be needed to meet IT demand which was driven by the increase in the number of new employees.
The operator quickly started a search to identify an alternative UPS technology to avoid the constant replacement of the lead acid batteries every few years and also to address the company’s increasing IT demand. In addition, more floor space was needed for new server equipment, but space was difficult to come by since the lead acid batteries consumed a majority of the space dedicated to the data center’s UPS systems.
Active Power Solution:
The operator replaced all of their battery based UPS systems and deployed two CleanSource 1200 Series UPS systems, which can deliver 2.4 megawatts of power protection to the facility’s data center. To address the space issue, the operator also installed a CleanSource DC which only consumes approximately 20 square feet, meaning the operator can dedicate remaining space to more server equipment. Both CleanSource UPS and DC systems are extremely power dense and consume less than one-half the space compared to a legacy battery based UPS system. Due to its wide operating temperature range, the operator does not have to provide conditioned space for the systems which is required for a battery based system. In addition, the operator can avoid the time and money it takes to replace the lead acid batteries in a battery based UPS system. CleanSource UPS and DC are highly reliable sources of energy, delivering consistent predictable performance over its 20 year life span with absolutely no degradation in service.
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Customer:
Data center and Internet exchange service provider
Product Highlighted:
CleanSource® UPS
Business Challenge:
A Honolulu, Hawaii based managed collocation provider, the end user offers enterprises, network providers and e-commerce companies premium data center and Internet exchange services. To attract more service providers and large enterprises to the facility, the end user knew it had to expand and upgrade its existing facility’s infrastructure due to increased power demands. The end user had to demonstrate to prospective customers the facility could protect a client’s mission critical data and be up and running, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even in the event of a utility power outage. Downtime threatens to damage sensitive server equipment due to cooling loss and could potentially lose a client’s trust in the collocation provider altogether.
From a backup power standpoint, the end user was seeking a solution that offered long term cost savings over the life of the technology, particularly since the cost of electricity per kilowatt hour is much higher in Hawaii than the U.S. mainland. The end user was also space constrained. With the facility renovation, the end user would be dedicating floor space to more server equipment.
Active Power Solution:
The end user selected two Active Power CleanSource 1200 Series uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, delivering 2.4 megawatts of power to the facility. Total cost of ownership and space savings played a critical factor in selecting the flywheel based UPS system. Active Power presented to the end user the annual cost savings of using CleanSource UPS versus a conventional double conversion battery based UPS system. Based on a utility cost of 16 cents per kilowatt hour, the end user would save approximately $160,000 per year using the flywheel based system. This savings is driven by the up to 98 percent energy efficiency rating of Active Power’s CleanSource UPS – as compared to the approximately 90 percent energy efficiency in a legacy battery based system. This translates to a real bottom line reduction in energy consumption. CleanSource UPS is also extremely power dense, consuming one-half the space as compared to a battery based system. The end user no longer had to dedicate full rooms to lead acid batteries.
In late August, the end user completed its renovations. The original 11,800 square foot facility expanded to a state-of-the-art 21,300 square foot data center facility with a much higher design standard for power and cooling capacity. The facility has already attracted strong interest from many service providers and large enterprises.
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Customer:
Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Product Highlighted:
CoolAir UPS
Business Challenge:
Georgia State University is a research university sprawled over several blocks in downtown Atlanta. The 24x7x365 Network Operations Center (NOC) manager, Jerry Allen, prides himself in being on the cutting edge. When the university and the state of Georgia asked him to host new applications, he needed an additional UPS. With its generator at capacity, Georgia State needed an extended runtime UPS, but Mr. Allen did not want to use batteries, due to reliability issues in the past, and because he was nearly out of cooling in his NOC. “I did not want to put batteries back in my NOC,” stated Mr. Allen. “Not only are they bad for the environment and difficult to manage, but it’s also a matter of when batteries will fail, not “if.” That’s unacceptable.”
Active Power Solution:
Active Power worked quickly to deliver a CoolAir UPS in Georgia State’s short decision and implementation window. The CoolAir UPS provides over 20 minutes of runtime, which gives Georgia State ample time to shut down the less-critical systems it supports. The TACAS technology allowed the UPS to be placed in the NOC, and actually contributes to the cooling (during discharge) instead of adding to the cooling challenge. “It [the TACAS technology] is not complicated. In fact, it’s a mix of very reliable technologies married together,” said Mr. Allen.
Active Power’s usage agreement, which provides the UPS, maintenance and a warranty, for one annual fee under a multi-year term, made it an easy decision for Georgia State. It could spread the smaller costs over different budgets and, with the idea that the university may soon relocate its NOC or at any time decommission applications, thus reducing power needs, the usage plan gives it flexibility for the future. “It saves me money, it’s efficient, and I can sleep at night,” said Mr. Allen.
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