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New Value Together: Transforming a Canteen into an Equipment Room

BrandPost
Sep 22, 20205 mins
Data Center

Huawei Helps INVITE Systems SRL Build a COLO Data Centre

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Credit: Huawei

As evolving technologies in the cloud and at the edge, along with super connectivity that boosts colocation and hosting services, pose disruption, traditional data centres apparently can’t catch up with the trend. Supported by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence plus vast improvements in power and cooling, hardware, and software, enterprises need to transform that data centre’s establishment to avoid falling off the trend.

A Gartner report suggests that an overhaul would be necessary when technology chiefs plan their IT infrastructure and operations. The criteria are simple. First of all, a hybrid IT operation strategy would be useful when developing data management platforms.

Moreover, a full list of infrastructure products, people, processes, and providers across the IT project portfolio will help a smooth beginning of streamlining and standardising the whole process of transformation.

Finally, IT managers would probably need to stay ahead of the trend by selecting or designing an infrastructure resilient to future uncertainties while maintaining consistent business operations.

INVITE Systems SRL

INVITE Systems SRL is one of these enterprises to carefully plan its data centre facility. Founded in 2002, the Romanian network service provider is now one of the tops among its peers in the segment of Virtual Private Network (VPN). It is indeed one of the first network service providers to introduce digital hosting services, making INVITE Systems an industrial leader instead of a mere follower.

No Space Too Small

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a sudden surge in demand for online services in Romania, from gaming and videos to live broadcasts. This has threatened to overwhelm INVITE Systems’ platform capabilities, pushing the company to quickly deploy a new data centre that can support its enterprise customers specializing in games and videos.

Today, the rate of service expansion is way beyond expectations. In the past, the planning and approval process for a new data centre proved extremely time-consuming. It usually involved multiple vendors designing and coordinating work for each subsystem, vastly increasing the complexity and time needed.

Unlike the traditional processes, a highly reliable data centre was deployed, efficiently bringing services online in the span of just a few short months during this important project in this European country.

In a bid to kickstart the project as early as they could, INVITE Systems decided to use its canteen – the only space available at that time. While the structure itself was sufficiently sturdy, space was limited and there were no raised floors. There were typical required in setting up a data centre in a traditional way, with a power density merely between three and five kW per cabinet. This power distribution, unfortunately, could take up half of the equipment room with the conventional set-ups.

equipment room11 Huawei

Apparently, INVITE Systems needed a partner with strong design capabilities, to help transform the space into a modern, highly reliable data centre. Huawei was chosen to complete the project, giving a new mission to the old canteen.

Easier Site Selection, Faster Deployment

Huawei’s intelligent FusionModule2000 solution, which is fully modularized and integrated, enables fast deployment. No raised floors are necessary for this device, making it much simpler in site election, particularly overcoming the physical constraints of the canteen in this case.

“Huawei FusionModule2000 shortened the rollout time of our new data centre by more than two months, from preparation to installation and overall commissioning. Much to my surprise, deployment was completed in just one month, exceeding all our expectations,” said Alexandru Catrin, CIO of INVITE Systems SRL

Coming with cold and hot aisle containment, in-row smart and local cooling, the design of FusionModule2000 vastly improves cooling efficiency and reducing overall power consumption.

Intelligent management methods can predict faults on all power supply and cooling links, further ensuring data centre reliability and lowering the skill requirements of Operations and Maintenance (O&M) personnel. Meanwhile, unified collaboration between the local smart large screen and a remote management platform drives data centre O&M efficiency by up to 35%.

Saving Space with SmartLi UPS

Another cutting-edge solution to help save space is the intelligent lithium battery solution in Huawei SmartLi Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). Powerful enough in the limited space of just 20 square meters, SmartLi has a power density of 50 kVA/3U in each UPS module, bearing an overall footprint of just 0.51 square meters. By using lithium batteries for power backup, the physical footprint is dramatically reduced by 70%, compared to traditional lead-acid alternatives. This made it possible to fit the entire power distribution system of INVITE Systems’ new data centre in the kitchen space, leaving the main area as a modular equipment room and ensuring sufficient space for expansion.

In addition, SmartLi UPS provides a ten-year, maintenance-free lifecycle and supports the mixed use of old and new batteries, boosting value for money and reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

The solutions have impressed INVITE Systems, as Catrin commented: “”By working with Huawei, INVITE Systems SRL was able to keep growing its business at a rapid pace despite the challenges of the pandemic. This provided positive support for the company’s profitability, giving us full confidence in the future of our company.”

Similar solutions that help enterprises advance in the inevitable digital transformation were showcased in the fifth HUAWEI CONNECT that took place in Shanghai between 23 and 26 September. Industrial elites and tech experts, along with Huawei’s partners and clients, have shared their insights of how different industries could benefit amid the changes.

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