Pimp my datacenter: American Power Conversion

American Power Conversion (APC) played the central role among the vendors in the HIG 319 datacenter project. The company donated a boatload (literally) of APC InfraStruxure gear and no small measure of professional services expertise, but considering the pro bono nature of the project was understandably forced to cut corners, especially regarding the free expertise. We'd recommend engaging APC's professional services arm for a real-life, budgeted build-out. You'll get the same excellent equipment, backed by a full-on, start-to-finish project consultancy that has a few decades of experience managing datacenter infrastructure projects.

Stuffed in the front of APC's 40-foot delivery truck were the two air-cooling condensers, the beating heart of HIG 319's new refrigerant-fueled cooling system. The APC InfraStruXure InRow RP cooling system stands apart from the crowd in its use of variable compressors and truly intelligent cooling. Plus, the InRow's integration with the InfraStruXure Central management system gives real-time control over power, cooling, and security all in a single console. It's a single system that in reality needs only a single IP address, because the management system front ends all the other devices on an isolated control network for command and control. In real life, each InRow RP combined with a condenser costs somewhere around $50,000.

[ Watch the videos: Brian Chee on APC's InRow RP cooling system and the HIG 319 condenser installation, on APC's NetBotz surveillance system, and on NetBotz environmental monitoring. Return to the "Pimp my datacenter" intro for the background on our datacenter makeover, and links to more cool and cutting-edge datacenter gear. Read about our project's hurdles and tips for avoiding them in "Five lessons of a datacenter overhaul." ]

HIG 319 was already equipped with an 80kW InfraStruXure UPS, which had been down-configured to 40kW. Even at 40kW, the system was running at just 30 percent utilization. To handle the heavier load that HIG 319 was soon to bear, APC merely upped the specs and brought along enough new batteries and power modules to increase the capacity from 40kW to the full 80kW. Because each power module adds to the overall capacity in 10kW chunks, this flexible Smart-UPS gives SOEST room for growth, all in a modular package that is very user-serviceable in easy-to-lift modules. Total cost: approximately $60,000. (Note: SOEST liked this system so much that it is considering standardizing on the system for all future projects.)