Loughborough University Drives Data Centre Efficiency and Reliability with Schneider Electric and on365
Schneider Electric, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, has delivered a new data centre modernisation project for Loughborough University in collaboration with its Elite Partners, on365 – a specialist in physical IT infrastructure services for public sector, SME and corporate clients across the UK and Europe.
Read More: Avalara Launches Sales Tax Calculator Plugin for ChatGPT
The project saw Schneider Electric and on365 modernise the universities IT infrastructure with new energy efficient technologies, including an EcoStruxure Row Data Center, InRow Cooling solution, GalaxyTM VS UPS and EcoStruxure IT software, enabling the university to harness the power of resilient IT infrastructure, data analytics and digital services to support new breakthroughs in sporting research.
A world leader in academia
Loughborough University is today ranked world number one for sports-related subjects, and is home to the UK’s largest concentration of world-class sporting facilities – with an attending body of 19,500 students across its 523-acre campus. IT is fundamental to its operations, from its high-performance computing (HPC) servers, which support analytical research projects, to a highly virtualised data centre environment that provisions critical applications including finance, administration, and security.
To overcome a series of data centre challenges including requirements for a complete redesign, modernisation of legacy cooling systems and improved cooling efficiencies, and greater visibility of its distributed IT assets, Loughborough worked with on365 and Schneider Electric to undertake a major modernisation project at its Haslegrave and Holywell Park data centres.
Delivered in two phases, the project saw on365 firstly modernise the Haslegrave facility by replacing an outdated raised floor and deploying an EcoStruxure Row Data Center solution – an integral part of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure for Data Centers architecture an IoT-enabled system. The deployment of this, integrated row-based data centre solution has significantly improved the overall structure, enabling an efficient data centre design.
During the upgrade, on365 also brought other parts of the infrastructure under the IT department’s control, using new InRow DX (direct expansion) units to deliver improved cooling reliability and provide it with greater ability to cope with unplanned weather events, including heat waves, which had adversely affected its IT and cooling operations in the past.
Latest Insights: How to Get Started with Prompt Engineering in Generative AI Projects
Use of the EcoStruxure Row Data Center solution also created new space for future IT expansions and extended a ‘no single points of failure’ design throughout the facility. This made the environment more suitable for a new generation of compact and powerful servers, and the solution was replicated at Holywell Park thereafter. Further improvements in resilience and efficiency were also achieved by replacing legacy UPSs with Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VS UPS with lithium-ion batteries, which offers up to 99% energy efficiency, without compromising availability.
“At the foundational level of everything which is data-driven at the university, the Haslegrave and Holywell data centres are the power behind a host of advancements in sports science, and our transition towards a more sustainable operation,” said Mark Newall, IT specialist at the University of Loughborough. “Working with Schneider Electric and on365 has enabled our data centre to become more efficient, effective and resilient.”
AiThority: MinD-Video: A Video Generative Tool That Uses Augmented table Diffusion
[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]
Comments are closed.