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Friday, August 3rd, 2012
Author: Rik Williams

DC3 Update August

All the external pipework at DC3 has now been completed. Next week we will be turning on the 2 Airedale chillers and pumping water around the twin circuits to balance the flow rates in the system. Once we are happy with pump speeds etc, we will drain the system and then refill it with a water / glycol mix. After that is done we will be ready to fully commission the cooling system.

The 2 chillers can provide well over twice the amount of cooling we will need in the room under normal conditions. This gives us a high level of redundancy during maintenance (or a fault) and lets us run everything at <50% under normal operating parameters. This means that we use less power and the lifetime of all the components is extended.

Inside, the fire suppression system is nearly complete. The gas bottles (Argon / Nitrogen mix) will arrive next week. After that is done, everything will get a full clinical clean and then we can install the cold aisle containment pods ready for the first customers. Might even get done a couple of days before the 1st Sept deadline!

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Posted in Blog, Leeds Data Centre Blog |

Thursday, July 19th, 2012
Author: Rik Williams

DC3 Hall3 Update

A month later and work on hall 3 in DC3 is progressing well. We’ve installed the internal air con CRAC units into the hall and completed all the internal pipework. The internal electrical installation is now complete along with air extract systems for the gas suppression system.

 

Next week we will take delivery of our Chillers and connect these to the 2 water tanks outside the DC. Once this is connected, we can pressure test the system and fill it with water / glycol mix ready for commissioning.

Still to do is the Gas Suppression system (IG55 Argon / Nitrogen) and VESDA and installation of security systems (swipe card access and CCTV cameras). All on track for 1st September opening!

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Posted in Blog, Leeds Data Centre Blog |

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012
Author: Rik Williams

DC3 Phase 2

We have started to fit out the next hall in DC3, our data centre in Leeds / Wakefield. I’ll be posting some images and updates on here as we head towards our Sept 1st launch date.

The new hall will hold 4 cold aisle pods of 32 racks each (128 racks total), based on an average power draw of about 3.75KW per rack

DC3 new hallWe are adding extra power capacity to the Generators and UPS system and installing new chillers and CRAC units for cooling the data hall. In addition, fire suppression systems, security systems, raised access floor all add up to a major investment for Node4. All the equipment being installed is state of the art and is designed to be highly redundant, maintainable and efficient.

At the moment we have the raised access floor complete and are installing the electrical cabling for the data hall and chillers.

Work on the aircon water pipe work will start in a couple of weeks

The chillers and CRAC units will arrive in July and will be connected up during August.

We than have to install some fire suppression, security systems and, of course, some server racks.

For those of you familiar with the existing kit in DC3, we have made the following changes to the equipment specification

  • Chillers and CRAC units are the latest, most efficient Airedale free cooling models and are a slightly larger capacity than before. This lets us run them more efficiently under normal conditions and give us more overhead in maintenance / failure mode
  • Gas suppression will be IG55 (Argon Nitrogen Mix) as used in DC4 Northampton. This is more environmentally friendly than FM200 and helps us keep costs down.
  • Our Rittal TS8 racks are now 1200mm deep (again, like in DC4) to give extra room at the back for power strips and cable management
  • We have extra power busbars available for higher density racks if required
  • We’ve spaced the cold aisle pods out so that we can accommodate caged areas more easily.

I’ll post some more updates in the next few weeks. If you have any questions, please feel free to mail me or contact your Node4 Account manager

Rik Williams

Head of DC Operations

Node4

 

Posted in Leeds Data Centre Blog |

Monday, December 21st, 2009
Author: Paul Bryce

Leeds Data Centre now open!

The Leeds Data Centre, DC3  is now open and welcoming new customers in.

The Mayor of Wakefield, Councillor Heather Hudson cut the ribbon alongside Node4’s MD, Andrew Gilbert, at the official opening event in July which was attended by around 100 invited customers and friends of the company, including special guests from the world of British Superbikes, Chris Walker and his team from Rob Mac Racing.

We are pleased that a substantial amount of the 450 rack capacity has already been sold.

DC3 is the next step in the development of Node4’s vision to be recognised as a leading data centre provider in the UK. The location of DC3 just outside the large city of Leeds helps us to expand our ever-growing customer base into the north of the UK.

The Leeds data centre also allows us to provide a reliable and resilient disaster recovery solution not only to new customers, but also to existing customers at our Derby site to take advantage of the two locations.

DC3 is one of the first in the country to combine 2 of the latest energy saving technologies throughout the site: cold aisle containment and free cooling chillers. By using these methods, we hope to make DC3 one of the most energy efficient data centres in Europe.

Cold aisle containment is still a new but relatively simple idea to get the best efficiency from air conditioning units, ensuring that air at the most optimum temperature flows through the servers. Ultima Compact Freecool air conditioning units from Airedale International have been chosen to ensure that sound and vibrations are kept to a minimum, which in turn maximises the energy efficiency of the units without compromising the capacity.

You can find more details on the facility at http://www.node4.co.uk/products/dc3

If you would like to arrange a tour of the facility please contact the sales team on 0330 008 0000.

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Posted in Leeds Data Centre Blog |

Monday, May 25th, 2009
Author: Rik Williams

Leeds Update

The next 2-3 weeks will see the final commissioning work at our new state of the art datacentre in Leeds. The exterior of the building and the compound are now complete.

We will complete the battery and UPS installation this week and commission the airconditioning shortly after that. We will be kitting out our new NOC and reception area next week.

The building will be cleaned by a team of specialist data centre cleaners to recognised ISO clean-room standards and the initial batch of comms equipment will be installed and configured ready for the first customers to move in

Here are some pictures of the cold aisle pods we have installed in the rooms. We have 2 rooms completed, but we have only installed the pods in one room for now, the other will follow shortly.

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Posted in Leeds Data Centre Blog |

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