Leading Edge Design Group

In 2011 we completed several renovation projects in live data centers, meaning that the construction was going on within active data center space and while IT equipment remained operational.  These active renovations always prove to be equally challenging and rewarding.  An unfortunate requirement associated with many active renovations is the need for a data center shutdown at some point during the construction process.  A shutdown may be required for a variety of reasons and can impact some or all systems in the data center.  Simple examples are:

• In an expansion or reconfiguration, an IT equipment shutdown may occur in order to relocate racks and IT equipment into new expansion areas, or into different row or density configurations. An example is a new high density “zone” with updated power, cooling, and telecommunications infrastructure could be created to support virtualized loads.  Once the “zone” is commissioned, IT equipment needs to be relocated, which may require a shutdown.
• A chiller plant shutdown may occur to increase capacity, whether in total tons, pipe sizing, etc
• An electrical shutdown may be necessary to make final connections to the main building switchgear.

Given the implications of a shutdown, most customers choose to schedule these events during the least impactful times possible, and for many organizations this happens to be the week between Christmas and New Years.  For those in the data center industry, “holiday” season is many times synonymous with “shutdown” season. 

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Over the past year we have seen over a 30% increase in the number of customers expressing interest in obtaining a LEED Certification for their new data center build out or renovation.  This change is illustrative of the continued integration of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability into data center design requirements, but moreover presents a new challenge for owners undertaking the site selection process.

While traditional priorities in a site selection process – power redundancy, natural disaster protection, cheap energy costs, etc – will never change, the impact of sustainability has been steadily increasing.  For example, organizations like The Green Grid publish ‘free cooling’ maps, helping owners understand which geographic regions will allow them to maximize economizer usage throughout the year.  In addition, organizations that have set LEED certification goals must take into consideration how proposed sites will impact their overall LEED scorecard. 

Under the LEED 2009 Commercial Interiors rating system, a project must successfully obtain a minimum of 50 points (out of a total 110 total available points) to achieve a LEED Silver designation.  While a target of less than 50% of the total available points may seem marginal, anyone who has completed the LEED process knows and understands how challenging it can be to earn 50 points, how every point becomes critical, and why site selection is an integral part of achieving LEED certifications. 

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If you attended the Uptime Institute Symposium in Santa Clara, CA last week, you may have left wondering what the term ‘modular data center’ really means.  The idea of modularity was hailed during countless presentations as a requirement for any organization looking to build a new data center and the best way to ensure energy efficiency.  Unfortunately, none of these presentations defined what exactly a ‘modular data center’ is and instead used the term to describe a number of different applications.  I heard a ‘modular data center’ described as:

• A data center “POD” - prefabricated and shipped to your site ready to deploy
• A methodology whereby you create “building blocks,” or pre-defined increments of growth.  For example, if you have 5,000 square feet of data center space with 500kW of IT load capacity, you could build 5 (five) individual 1,000 square foot, 100kW modules at a time.
• A container holding infrastructure components like chillers, switchgear, and UPS systems that you “plug in.” 
• A framework for a cloud-ready data center that integrates processes and personnel to rapidly scale to meet growing XaaS demands.

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In the current cash-strapped economic environment, most organizations burdened with old data center infrastructures understand the inefficiencies in their daily operations but lack the capital to pursue efficiency upgrades.  When done correctly, an efficiency upgrade to your data center not only reduces operating costs, but moreover can increase reliability, capacity to support high density, manageability and more. 

After attending the “Mass Save” 2011 Open House, I believe the utility companies in Massachusetts resoundingly answered your proverbial cries through the rollout of a new financing program for energy efficiency upgrades.  And not just any financing program of course… zero percent financing.

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Building a data center is a unique construction process.  The systems are complex, the value of the equipment being protected is significant, and as density increases, we are required to fit more infrastructures into limited spaces.  Moreover, there are a diverse set of stakeholders involved; customer representatives from IT, facilities, security, safety, finance (and more) are engaged with a general contractor, numerous subcontractors, architects, engineers, consultants, and testing agencies.

It may sound trivial to establish a clear line of communication between the owner and the contractor.  However, as it relates to the construction of the data center, we find that both establishing and following this line of communication is both a critical and often disregarded process.  When overlooked, it leads to confusion and increased costs; it also potentially jeopardizes the relationships between all stakeholders involved.

A majority of construction projects, especially those that involve the bid process, utilize the AIA A201 contract as part of the specifications package, which defines the “General Conditions of the Contract for Construction.”  The A201 contract includes a specific protocol by which the owner will “designate in writing a representative who shall have express authority to bind the Owner with respect to all matters requiring the Owner’s approval or authorization.”  Whether this designated representative is an employee or a hired consultant, as the owner’s representative he or she is the person responsible for dictating all owner decisions. 

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Many of our customers today are struggling to find ways to extend the lifecycle of their existing data centers through reconfiguration and energy savings.  As potential ways to save energy are reviewed, the more “glamorous” strategies of improving data center efficiency traditionally get all the attention –  containment, economizers, in row cooling, etc.  While all of these strategies can yield significant energy savings, they also cause data center operators to overlook a simple tactic that is cost effective and relatively simple to implement: improving humidification controls.

Most existing (over 3 years old) data centers today are cooling with large CRAC units that are run independently and rarely customized beyond the default manufacturer settings.  The data center also relies on these CRAC units to control relative humidity, which means each individual CRAC unit can do four things:
 
1. Cool (if air is too hot)
2. Humidify (if humidity is too low)
3. Heat (if air is too cold)
4. Dehumidify (if humidity is too high)

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Virtualization technologies today are allowing customers to consolidate servers at ratios of 15:1, 20:1, and possibly more, helping IT teams increase operational efficiency and decrease rack footprint requirements inside their data center.  In addition, organizations are leveraging virtualization for the energy improvements it provides them, as the total decrease in energy realized by consolidating multiple legacy “volume” servers far outweighs the energy consumed by one more high-powered blade center. 

To encourage these efficient practices in the data center, we are starting to see utility companies provide incentives for virtualization/consolidation projects.  Although not universally offered, we have seen existing prescriptive programs where utilities are offering incentives of $100, $200, and even $250 per server removed or consolidated.  By making these programs prescriptive, utilities are essentially equating the replacement of a volume server with a virtual server (through consolidation) to the replacement of a T12 lighting fixture with a HPT8.  In other words, virtualize your servers and you are automatically more efficient. 

Or are you?

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Enfield, NH – July 7th, 2010 – Leading Edge Design Group, a leading provider of energy optimization services, today announced the addition of Bill Crane to the organization.  Bill will serve as a Project Manager and will oversee critical projects from requirements collection to final delivery. 

Bill, a LEED AP, has managed multi-million dollar projects in both the public and private sector, and brings a diverse skill set to the Project Management role.  “We feel extremely fortunate to add an individual like Bill to our team who has extensive experience and expertise in the Project Management role,” said Todd Boucher, Principal at Leading Edge Design Group.  “Bill’s skill set and proven dedication to customer-centric project delivery will help our entire organization continue to grow, operate efficiently, and to exceed the expectations of our clients.”

Bill has  officially joined Leading Edge  Design Group as of June 30th and will begin actively managing projects immediately.

Enfield, NH – July 2, 2010 – Leading Edge Design Group, a leading provider of energy optimization services, is working closely with the University of New Hampshire to redesign the Research Computing Center, which supports sponsored research and critical projects at the University. 

One of these critical projects includes supporting mapping systems that are tracking the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  The program, developed by UNH in the Research Computing Center, tracks “dozens of layers of information,  ranging from the location of bird’s nests and oyster beds to wind speeds and ocean currents.”

Leading Edge Design Group will be tasked with keeping this high profile project, and the remainder of the data center, online throughout the entire construction process for the Research Computing Center upgrade, as efforts in the Gulf Coast are ongoing. 

Read more about the mapping system here, and view the interactive map of the Oil Spill here.

Durham, NH – June 18, 2010 – Leading Edge Design Group, a leading provider of Energy Optimization Services, announced today that they have been awarded the design for the Research Computing Center (RCC) Data Center at the University of New Hampshire.  The existing data center will be completely reconfigured, creating next-generation data center space to support the University’s research operations.

The University of New Hampshire’s Research Computing Center, located in Morse Hall, is a data center that supports sponsored research on the University Campus.  The RCC was constructed in 1986 and still operates with much of the original infrastructure.  “There are several critical programs and projects that are running in the Research Computing Center,” said Patrick Messer, Director of the Research Computing Center.  “The aging electrical and mechanical equipment presents a significant risk to our operations.” 

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