Tag Archives: Datacentre

News

Keysource Adds to Sustainability Portfolio with Ekkosense

Keysource, the datacentre and critical environment specialist, has signed a strategic partnership with EkkoSense, the global software leader in AI and VR driven thermal optimisation for critical live environments, in a move further strengthening its extensive sustainability portfolio that helps datacentres on their full life sustainability journey from design through to operation.

Under the terms of the global agreement, Keysource will offer the EkkoSense datacentre optimization software to its new and existing customers as part of its solutions designed to maximise energy efficiency, save money and reduce carbon. Keysource will also support EkkoSense globally by providing professional services to users of its software as required to help them realise savings today and drive forward on a continual improvement basis.

The EkkoSense software provides real-time operational visibility enabling organisations to remove thermal and power risk, optimize cooling capacity, minimize energy waste and lead the way to achieve net zero across critical M&E infrastructure. It will complement Keysource’ existing sustainability focussed portfolio, from considering embodied carbon in design, through to full lifecycle optimisation, when combined with Keysource’ 40+ years’ critical infrastructure experience.

Chris West, Head of Manages Services at Keysource, said: “This is a powerful and mutually beneficial strategic partnership with EkkoSense providing the identification and visualisation of the opportunities and Keysource supporting datacentres to take the action necessary to realise and maximise the benefits. The result for customers will be a reduction in energy consumption, and increased sustainability, all helping to drive a sustainable strategy, to meet increasing ESG and surrounding regulatory requirements and a drive to NetZero.”

Matthew Farnell, EkkoSense’s EMEA Director of Sales added: “Our EkkoSoft Critical AI-driven data centre optimisation software is increasingly seen as the smart choice for organisations looking to optimise data centre performance while also delivering against their sustainability strategy. Keysource already offers one of our sector’s strongest portfolio of data centre energy and sustainability services, and we look forward to working together to help unlock further value for their customers.”

Cleaning & Facilities Management, News

Keysource To Support International Broadcast Company

Timeline TV, the leading provider of broadcast technology and services, has awarded Keysource, the data centre services specialist, a critical facilities management contract. Under the terms of the deal Keysource will provide maintenance and operational management support for the company’s data centre which is based at its Ealing Broadcast Centre (EBC), a 9,700 sq ft state-of-the-art broadcast facility which provides a wide range of services such as virtual studios, remote production, playout and post-production.

The data centre is central to Timeline TV’s ability to deliver HDR outside broadcasts, post-production, studios, RF and satellite, managed services and systems integration to the international TV market. With resilience a key driver, Keysource will deliver a fully comprehensive, self-delivered preventative maintenance solution across all M&E equipment. This will be backed up by 24/7 support from the field engineering team who will provide emergency response utilising back office technical analysis to reduce mean time to recovery.

Timeline TV will also have access to Keysource’s 24/7 helpdesk which is available 365 days a year based at its highly secure Data Centre Operations Centre at the Keysource HQ – just outside London where 24/7 remote monitoring of any BMS alerts will also be provided.

Luke Brimelow, Operations Manager at Keysource, said: “Due to the criticality of this facility where any unplanned downtime could result in TV programmes going off air, our aim is to achieve optimum performance. By identifying and managing issues that affect all aspects for the facility before they become critical, this joined-up approach to fault finding and resolution maximises critical availability, efficiency and resilience.
Bradley Woollett, Head of Engineering at Timeline TV, said: “We provide broadcast facilities for events ranging from the Football World Cup to political debates and corporate conferences. Reliable power and cooling infrastructure is vital to delivering these events successfully, with the technical power system supporting all data racks and control rooms. We have critical services and events 24 hours a day, in the broadcast industry less than a second of downtime is visible to the viewer so having the preventative maintenance and the 24/7 support from Keysource reassures us that we have minimised the risk from a critical facilities issue as far as possible.”

Carbon Reduction, News

Keysource and ChapmanBDSP Partner to Support the Data Centre Market on the Road to Net Zero Carbon

Keysource, the global data centre design, consultancy and operations specialist, and Chapmanbdsp the global built environment specialist, have formed a partnership that creates a new offer to support clients on the road to net zero carbon emissions in the data centre and critical infrastructure market.

The collaborative service combines both industry leaders’ expertise to provide customers with the ability to measure and manage the full carbon lifecycle of a project, including embodied and operational carbon, along with carbon offset options, whether planning a new build or upgrading an existing facility.

The aim is to give customers the insight of what contributes to a projects whole life carbon and the intervention opportunities available to realise their sustainability goals. The approach and methodology developed provides a transparent and visual way to manage key decision making whilst considering the broader impacts of those options.

Jon Healy, Operations Director at Keysource, commented: “We recognise that measuring and managing embodied carbon needs to form part of a holistic development process, particularly for data centres. This partnership provides customers a combined resource of consultancy and advisory services to complete carbon assessments in parallel with other project drivers. Leveraging our data centre experience, we’re able to provide customers with high impact and feasible opportunities.”

Ray Upjohn, Chief Executive Officer at chapmanbdsp, said: “We see great value in combining our skills in the energy and sustainability arena. Together we’re proud to support the data centre market in overcoming the challenge of achieving net zero.”

 

Carbon Reduction, News

Datum moves to Renewable HVO Fuel as Part of Net zero Operations Strategy

Datum Datacentres, the business-critical data centre provider, has announced it will be transitioning from diesel to renewable HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) fuel for its backup generators at its flagship facility on the Cody Technology Park, Farnborough.  Working in partnership with Keysource, the global datacentre and critical environment specialist, this move will enable Datum to reduce up to 90% of net CO2 emissions if its backup generators are used.

This marks another significant step in Datum’s plans to become a fully carbon neutral data centre by 2030. As a stable, renewable and sustainable fuel, the move to HVO will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 90%, NOx emissions by as much as 27% and PM emissions by as much as 84%, compared with conventional diesel, all of which are key components in achieving improved air quality.

This transition builds on over a decade of focus on delivering environmentally efficient data centre services, using innovative design and technologies which allow Datum to operate at a PUE of sub-1.2, harnessing renewable energy sources and reducing scope 2 and 3 emissions.

Dominic Phillips, Managing Director at Datum, said: “Sustainability is very much in our DNA and with our ongoing partnership with Keysource, which spans over 15 years, we are confident in our strategy and roadmap. This move to introduce HVO fuel at our Farnborough facility is part of that and has meant that we can reduce our GHG emissions almost immediately.

Jon Healy, Operations Director at Keysource, said: “As sustainability and ESG has been catapulted to the forefront, turning to HVO fuel is a natural step for Datum to reduce their impact on the environment. Importantly, the Keysource role enables Datum to do this confidently without disruption or impact to performance and is just one initiative planned to reduce whole life-cycle carbon emissions.”

Appointments, News

Keysource Appoints New Head of Operational Services

Keysource, the datacentre and critical environment specialist, has appointed a new Head of Operational Services as part of a refresh that will see an increased focus on collecting and leveraging data to support the maintenance, operation and management of complex critical environments on behalf of its global clients

Jon White will take up the role bringing with him a strong IT and service delivery background having spent the past 4 years at Principal Ltd, a managed services provider, as Head of Professional Services and latterly as Service Delivery Director. He will join Operations Manager Luke Brimelow and Technical Services Manager Mark Butcher in delivering operational services and support clients with their critical environment lifecycle.

Jon Healy, Operations Director at Keysource, said: “We currently operate over 200 contracts worldwide delivering a range of bespoke solutions including our 24/7 Help Desk, remote monitoring, preventative maintenance and emergency response. Jon’s appointment will complement our existing team as we continue evolving how we deliver an exceptional customer experience and ensuring that facilities deliver maximum uptime, effectively and sustainably.”

News, Tech

Keysource Extends Consultancy Offer with New Partnership

Keysource, the data centre and critical environment specialist, has extended its consultancy offer to include detailed analysis on the sustainability and environmental impact of clients’ IT hardware in their data centres. It follows a new partnership agreement with Interact, the specialist company that uses machine learning to deliver verifiable analysis of energy and carbon usage of IT hardware in data centres.

Keysource’s consultancy team will utilise Interact’s unique software to quickly and accurately provide clients with a detailed analysis and report on the current state of its on-premises data centres/server estate (e.g., racks, blades etc.), with actionable advice on selecting the IT Hardware for their requirements, taking into account cost, energy efficiency and sustainability.  Reliable recommendations (backed by groundbreaking scientific research and studies) will then be provided within a detailed report allowing organisations to make informed lifecycle decisions.

Considerations will include assessing server hardware to replace and/or what components to upgrade, server/blade/rack consolidations that can be achieved (usually 55% or higher, delivering the same compute performance at the same utilisation level) and the energy and critical environmental impact (CO2) these changes will have from a cost and time perspective. Results from recent datacentre projects over 5 years include over £900,000 savings and 2,800 tonnes of CO2.

Richard Clifford, Head of Solutions at Keysource, said: “This is an exciting evolution of our energy efficiency and sustainability services, expanding further into the IT Stack, increasing the energy efficiency and carbon reduction savings across the Stack. This service will help our clients to deliver maximum performance, with the lowest possible impact on the environment and with a lower and highly optimized cost. We will recommend the best possible cost optimised IT hardware configurations with the lowest energy draw and CO2 footprint, ensuring sustainability goals are accomplished and the circular strategies many businesses now wish to focus on and embrace are quickly and efficiently addressed and accomplished. Our Managed Services team are also best placed to enact these changes, and realise these savings over the life of the infrastructure”.

News

MPS Chooses Keysource for Critical Upgrade

Keysource, the data centre and critical environment specialist has successfully completed a critical upgrade for The Medical Protection Society (MPS) at its on-premise data centre in Leeds. This latest project builds on a 17-year relationship between the two businesses during which Keysource has provided full support across MPS’s technical estate.

Initially, MPS engaged Keysource to review its end-of-life UPS requirement for both its immediate needs and future capacity. Other key factors were the need to reduce cost, minimise carbon footprint and avoid disruption. Keysource carried out a feasibility study incorporating options for replacing with a like-for-like system (a smaller UPS system to support reduced load) and upgrading the existing UPS system with critical components and batteries to prolong the UPS lifespan and manufacturer support for a further 5 years. A report of Keysource findings was provided to Medical Protection Society, taking into consideration costs, risks and downtime.

Keysource advised the upgrade to the existing system as the best solution providing reduced CAPEX, risk and embodied carbon – offering the most sustainable option, reducing the need for additional manufacturing and extending the life of the system. The upgrade was successfully completed during a weekday evening.

Commenting on the project, Ian McLean at MPS, said: “Keysource was a natural fit for this project due to our long history and the trust built over this time. Their ability to articulate the options with clear benefits was key, so that we could make a fully informed decision, as well as outlining the clear benefits of this more sustainable approach when considering the embodied carbon.“

Richard Clifford, Head of Solutions at Keysource, said: “We successfully upgraded this live system out of hours, without disruption and with zero downtime.  Our solution has the added benefit of minimising embodied carbon associated with the system by extending its useable life.”

 

News

Keysource Launches ‘Digital Twin’ Service

Keysource, the datacentre and critical environment specialists, has launched a new service that provides organisations with a digital twin of a datacentre’s internal and external infrastructure and environment. This enables new or changes in data centre requirements to be virtually demonstrated and assessed in a single model which visually validates design and operation. Key benefits include virtual design validation, optimised solutions, faster deployment through simpler designs and reduced costs.

By combining virtual IT, CFD (Computational Flow Dynamics) modelling and configuration from specialist data centre design and operators, the service provides customers the benefit of assessing normal and “what-if” scenarios. This capability and insight can be used for new data centres, planning expansions for an existing sites and existing operational lifecycle management, helping organisations to realise and maximize the true value of their infrastructure investments.

The service models variable load conditions, along with impact analysis of change, including internal infrastructure changes or failures and external environmental factors, such as wind profiles, humidity, solar gain, and even exhaust emission contamination from generators.

The service enables companies to make informed decisions and confidently design and operate to required availability levels. By knowing exactly how much capacity they have at their disposal without risking downtime, companies can stop over provisioning expensive resources.

Commenting in the new service Jon Healy, Operations Director at Keysource, said: “From Hyperscale to Edge facilities our modelling service can been used globally, developing designs to meet different requirements, design levels and local conditions – including and upgrading existing facilities through optimisation or tactical upgrades. Using the power of leading tools, automation and our industry experts in design and operation, our service provides key insight to mitigate risk, reduce cost and speed up the design process, giving organisations confidence that their design will work.”

 

News

Supply Chain Disruption – Taking Stock – BCS Announces Findings From Latest Datacentre Survey

An optimistic sector with record levels of respondents (98%) seeing demand either maintained or increasing was an encouraging finding from The Winter Report 2021/22,  which is undertaken by independent research house IX Consulting and commissioned by BCS, (Business Critical Solutions) the specialist services provider to the digital infrastructure industry. It captures the views of over 3000 senior datacentre professionals across Europe, including owners, operators, developers, consultants and end users.

However, despite these findings – the highest levels of confidence since the survey began 14 years ago – there are real concerns within the industry about how to deliver this capacity against a backdrop of a shortage of key skills and the ongoing disruption in the supply chain. In fact 91% of respondents had experienced some issues over the past 12 months.  Disruptions were felt the hardest amongst our build professionals, with 69% of developer/investor respondents and 62% of design engineering and construction respondents reporting that in 2021 they had experienced significant supply chain volatility.

James Hart, CEO at BCS, said: “These well documented supply problems have led to delayed deliveries and higher prices. They are widespread and there is a general reduction in the supply and the reliability of supply visible in our sectors.  There are massive dislocations in the container market, shipping routes, ports, air cargo, trucking lines, railways and even warehouses. The result is shortages of key manufacturing components, order backlogs, delivery delays and a spike in transportation costs and consumer prices.

“Covid 19 has not only exacerbated these issues but has also brought about a shift in how we look at current supply chains.  Certainly, more companies and governments are reviewing their supply chains for critical items, with a mind towards security of supply as well as cost. Our expectation and recent experience is that supply chains are already shortening as a response to Covid, either via reshoring, or as companies try to diversify their sources of supply. We at BCS are helping clients through this process and have mapped supply chains associated with the deployment of data centres.”

To download The Winter Report 21/22 in full please click here: https://www.bcs.uk.com/winter-report-2021-supply-chain-disruption-taking-stock/

 

 

News

New Data Centre shows Ark’s commitment to deliver zero carbon data centres in the UK

Longcross Park is a significant step on the journey of dynamic continuous improvement enabling organisations to meet aggressive sustainability targets

Ark Data Centres is proud to announce that its Longcross facility, due to come onstream in 2023, will deliver the definitive blueprint for socially responsible data centres through the deployment of the latest innovations and future-proofed technologies – enabling organisations to reduce their emissions and meet their own sustainability targets.

With 2021 the year when the world is looking to the UK for climate change leadership via the G7 summit and the upcoming COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in early November, Ark is affirming its commitment to drive towards zero carbon data centres in the UK. 2021 will see national and industry targets flow down to the public sector and individual businesses. Ark’s Longcross data centre will enable organisations to make sustainability commitments that they will be able to achieve within the aggressive timeframes set.

Longcross data centre is being designed from inception to minimise carbon emissions and dramatically reduce waste and water consumption. Its back-up generators, which in the data centre industry have traditionally been powered by diesel, will be replaced with gas generators that will have an immediate impact on reducing Nitrogen oxide (NOx) levels which have become dangerously high in city areas, impacting on asthma sufferers and even mortality rates.

From day one the generators are future-proofed and ready for hydrogen as the UK grid transitions. Eventually using 100% hydrogen will provide only energy, heat and water vapour – which will deliver zero CO2 and no harmful emissions. Longcross will be air cooled delivering the lowest PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) – the ratio that shows how efficiently a computer data center uses energy – in the industry.

The Longcross site will incorporate extensive facilities for electric vehicles for employees and visitors. It will also feature ‘living walls’ of plants extensively around the park to absorb CO2 and offer a pleasant and attractive working environment. Roy Gibbens, Executive Director, Sales & Marketing at Ark Data Centres said, “With Longcross data centre we’re reaffirming our commitment to ultimately deliver zero carbon data centres in the UK. We’re on a journey of dynamic continuous improvement utilising the latest innovations – and also future-proofing the facility so that it’s ready to take advantage of developments such as the move to a hydrogen-mix, then full hydrogen grid. In this way our customers can be assured that they can also commit to and meet their own aggressive sustainability promises and emissions targets, which will become increasingly important to regulators, investors and the public.”

The Longcross Park data centre is located in Chertsey, south west of the capital and is one of Ark’s four new facilities in the London area. It will join Alliance Park in W3; Meridian Park in N9 and Union Park in Hayes. Longcross Park is part of the Enterprise M3 Enterprise Zone and is one of the first commercial developments on the 300-acre Longcross Garden Village which will eventually comprise around 1,700 homes, community facilities including a new school, and an 85-acre country park. Longcross Film and TV studios, another technology innovator and rumored to be the resting place of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon, will be a neighbour.