" may be good enough for mechanical systems like chillers, but for electronics, you want to have some filtering," Brown said. The first step is for admins to decide on a UPS type, as most infrastructure does not start up immediately without some sort of power - with the exception of a fuel cell system.īut certain fuel cells can have problematic power quality, so it's not a guaranteed connected data center backup power component. "The answer can potentially include life-safety functions such as lighting and HVAC, as well as direct support of IT equipment, and some of those decisions need to be based on local codes," he said.Īt a bare minimum, any system needs enough UPS to support an orderly shutdown that protects data and equipment. Typically, admins should start with a discussion of what infrastructure is critical enough to require backup power. Tier IV is completely fault tolerant the systems can support not only concurrent maintenance, but also autonomously responds to faults or failures at a component or distribution level.ĭata center backup power system selectionĮxactly what kind of systems are adopted to achieve those levels is another question entirely, Brown said.All components are redundant and the power paths are also redundant. Tier III provides for concurrent maintainability.Tier II steps up capabilities and adds at least one more generator.Tier I is a basic data center with just enough features to support its IT load with any kind of on-site power.There are four Tiers for backup power support within the data center: "Every data center must be self-sufficient for some time because utility power can always go away, but at Tier I, there is no further redundancy," said Christopher Brown, CTO at the Uptime Institute. The Uptime Institute also provides effective guidance to build out backup power systems with its Tiers of operational redundancy and support. These include the ANSI/TIA 942 standard, which specifies the minimum requirements for structured cabling work and ANSI/BICSI 002-2019, which covers all aspects of data center design as well as the European EN 50600 standard for assessing power needs for specific purposes. Backup power standards for implementation and operationĪcton recommended that admins reference standards and industry planning documents to develop data center backup power infrastructure. Furthermore, if infrastructure operates close to design limits, this usually shortens the power supply's lifespan. "Look at your utility bill and remember that if you try to draw more power than your backup systems are designed for, they will generally just shut down," Acton said. Organizations typically start out with a smaller amount of power than necessary and then increase it over time as experience dictates and budgets allow. For example, if a data center takes 50 megawatts from a utility, teams should ideally have the same amount of backup power. "You need to start by making sure the amount of backup capacity matches the amount of utility power coming in," he said. If continuous operations are the main goal, organizations can start with appropriately sizing the resources they will need, says Mark Acton, a U.K.-based data center consultant. Researchers noted that the wide adoption of modular, scalable and lithium-ion powered UPSes are a likely trend over coming years. Market share is then split between generators, transfer switches and switchgears, and power distribution units. According to the April Research and Markets report "Data Center Power Market - Global Outlook and Forecast 2020-2025," uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems represent the largest revenue contributor to the growing power backup systems market.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |