A new building would be too expensive and take too long to realise, but installation in immediate proximity to the offices would be too noisy – the IT management team at HamiltonJet, a supplier to the shipbuilding industry based in Christchurch, New Zealand, spent a lot of time discussing the best location for a new data centre. They needed to replace the old server room and were looking for a secure, high-availability solution which could be sited close to the manufacturing facilities. The final decision was to install the IT infrastructure directly in the dusty production hall. A Micro Data Center from Rittal provides for safe housing of the IT components.
Overview
- Project
- HamiltonJet
- Location
- Christchurch, New Zealand
- Branch
- Maritime-Industry
- Challenge
Reliable, high-availability replacement for the company data centre, with a high protection rating to enable installation close to the production floor
Dusty ambient conditions
- Solution
RiMatrix Micro Data Center with Blue e+ climate control
Protection category IP55
The solution proposed by Rittal immediately ticked all the boxes on our list of re-quirements.
Fork-lift trucks and machines in constant operation, and no shortage of dust in the air – the ambient conditions for the new data centre were a real challenge. The demands to be met were correspondingly high: Protection against the influences of a tough production environment and a climate control solution tailored to IT applications. Furthermore, all components were to be available from stock in New Zealand – at the right price, of course. Dr. John Eichler, whose duties as manufacturing engineer included responsibility for the project, compared several local suppliers of appropriate enclosure solutions. He very quickly came down in favour of Rittal, whose sales team presented the RiMatrix Micro Data Center (MDC) as an ideal solution. The decisive aspects for Dr. Eichler were quality and reliability. “The solution proposed by Rittal immediately ticked all the boxes on our list of requirements.” The 47 U IT rack is accommodated in an enclosure with protection to IP55, which means that dust and other ambient influences are no danger to the installed equipment.
Reliable climate control is also essential
For climate control, a Blue e+ cooling unit is mounted on the rear panel of the Micro Data Center. This solution not only maintains a suitable temperature for the IT equipment, but also does so much more reliably than the air conditioning in the offices. Rittal suggested the additional incorporation of an IoT interface to provide simple access to the internal monitoring functions. The operator can then keep a close eye on the current status of the MDC at all times, even while working from home. Another benefit of the Micro Data Center is not to be underestimated: It is already designed as a complete solution.