Reliability in the data center is a critical factor for businesses wherever large amounts of data are processed around the clock. It means that customers can rely on processes running smoothly. That is why the WUND Group depends on autonomous edge data centers and standardisation for their spa facilities throughout Germany. With the spas open for 17 hours a day, 365 days a year, everything from cashless payment to keeping the palm trees watered has to work smoothly. Behind this backdrop is a sophisticated and highly efficient Rittal IT infrastructure.
Rittal provided us with very extensive, in-depth advice. We always had the impression that they understood the challenges of a thermal spa operation of this size and with a variety of locations. The fact that we have been as flexible as possible in setting up and expanding the IT, despite the high degree of standardization, only serves to underline our decision.
High availability in continuous operation
No less than 500 genuine palms and 1,200 orchids contribute to the holiday feeling at the spa, as do water temperatures between 24 and 33°C. There are over 3,000 IP addresses for pumps and control elements in total – including the 500 palms that are no longer watered by hand but connected to an automated irrigation system. This all adds up to immense amounts of data that are processed and kept available in the local data center. If the systems did not run smoothly and securely at all times, the result would be losses for the operator in terms of both image and earnings. This is why the high availability of data was an important factor in the decision in favour of the Rittal IT infrastructure. A separate technical room is available for the modular, redundant UPS system and the electrical distributors. The Rittal Liquid Cooling Packages (LCPs) and a cold aisle containment system ensure cooling in the server room on a rack-suite basis. The cold air is generated by indirect, free cooling.
The WUND Group wanted to manage the monitoring and fault messages across all the sites, enjoy especially high-quality system technology, standardise the IT infrastructure ‘to the max’ and access a nationwide service network.” Since high availability in 365-day operation could only be guaranteed with low latency times, the WUND Group opted to have an edge system at every site.
Future-proof, thanks to maximum standardization
The high availability called for autonomous data centers at the Group’s locations. Highly standardized and therefore almost identical data centers are a great relief for the team, enabling them to intervene quickly at any time should problems arise. Although the individual systems do work independently of each other, the expandable IT infrastructure and the associated processes simplify operation considerably and they were ultimately crucial for the cooperation with Rittal. In addition, new locations can be easily integrated into the existing IT landscape and existing data centers can be expanded.
Exhaustive monitoring ensures safety
Today, four out of five of the spa and sauna centers currently employ Rittal products such as standardised TS IT racks and/or climate control solutions. The Rittal Computer Multi Control III (CMC III) monitoring system uses sensors in the server racks to check that every function is running smoothly on site. To this end, data centers gather data on temperature, humidity, air speed and much more besides. The data are consolidated and processed in a central unit. Then they are integrated into the Rittal RiZone data center management system via the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). This Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software is located at another data center. From there, it continuously monitors the data it receives from the individual locations and – if necessary – triggers an alarm. Because if something does not work, the seamless alarm system must guarantee that remedial action can be taken immediately. Today, the hardware in the WUND Group works perfectly. Downtimes and malfunctions are now a thing of the past. Nevertheless, the two partners are already planning their next steps, such as expanding the IT due to the increasing digitisation. A visitor to the spa will remain quite unaware of all this, while they dream of the South Seas, stretched out under one of the 500 palm trees that each have their own IP address.
Overview
- Project
- WUND Unternehmensgruppe
- Location
- Friedrichshafen, Germany
- Branch
- IT-infrastructure
- Challenge
Highly efficient and fail-proof IT infrastructure with a maximum standardization
High availability of the data and access via a supraregional service network- Solution
Autarkic EDGE DC at four sites, modular and redundant UPS for high reliability, Liquid Cooling Package (LCP), Cold Aisle Containment, monitoring system CMC III, DCIM software RiZone