When the University of Dammam needed to expand its data centre, its major goal was to boost efficiency in IT operations and maintenance. Given Saudi Arabia’s challenging temperatures, another crucial requirement for the institution was energy efficiency. It turned to Vertiv to supply a new data centre that offered maintainable infrastructure with an expected availability of 99.982%.
As the University of Dammam continues to grow and develop its academic capabilities, its data centre needed to be expanded accordingly. Along with supporting the increased use of data, the university’s key goal was to boost efficiency in IT operations and maintenance.
To address these growing demands, the University of Dammam found Vertiv to be the ideal partner for their new, state-of-the-art data centre. achieving energy efficiency in a hot climate the university of Dammam was looking for a new data centre solution to be able to face the growing IT demand and optimise the numerous computer rooms distributed across its various campuses.
Moreover, the data centre had to serve the University Hospital which was recently expanded to an 11-storey building with a capacity of over 600 beds. Given Saudi Arabia’s challenging temperatures, the institution’s most crucial requirement was energy efficiency. A reduced footprint, rapid deployment, reliability and sustainability were also among the university’s primary needs.
“The main objective of building this data centre is to increase efficiency by utilising resources in smart and innovative ways,” says Dr Saad AlAmri, CIO for the University of Dammam. “Vertiv has a full range of highly advanced solutions and a strong local presence in Saudi Arabia, that helped us achieve our goals.”
The new data centre, provided by Vertiv and certified by the Uptime Institute as a Tier III facility, is powered by six Liebert80-NET UPS units. These are configured to offer up to 1000 kVA of dual power and multiple independent distribution paths to the IT equipment.
The system design provides a concurrently maintainable infrastructure with an expected availability of 99.982%. To be able to face the extreme climate conditions of up to 52°C, the thermal management equipment is meticulously arranged deploying Vertiv SmartAisle containment, coupled with Liebert PDX and Liebert CRV units.
Outfitted with more than a hundred Vertiv Knürr DCM Heavy-Duty Racks and Liebert MPH power distribution units (PDU), the Vertiv SmartAisle containment allows for optimised air flow in a reduced footprint.
Moreover, the Liebert MPH is a flexible rack PDU which offers the industry’s leading operating temperatures by monitoring the receptacle as well as the strip and environmental inputs, i.e, temperature and humidity.
This detail is fundamental in ensuring system availability despite the harsh ambient temperatures. To further minimise data centre energy consumption, six Liebert PDX and four Liebert CRV direct expansion systems are installed.
These ultimate thermal management units, coupled with the Vertiv SmartAisle containment, are able to cool servers while keeping power usage effectiveness (PUE) to a minimum, going beyond customer expectations.
The University of Dammam also highlighted the need for a data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) tool that could control the entire infrastructure. With the Vertiv SiteScan Web monitoring system, the university can now take advantage of having a centralised overview as well as monitor and control any piece of critical support equipment remotely and in real-time, whether it’s located in the next room or in another facility.
Thanks to this new Tier III facility, the University of Dammam is now able to efficiently manage the growing influx of data and provide thousands of users with a highly available and reliable IT service.
Salah ElShekeil, Network and Information Security Manager for the University of Dammam, said:
One of the key parameters in order for this project to succeed, is the power usage effectiveness. Vertiv SmartAisle containment, the Vertiv SiteScan monitoring solution, coupled with all the power, cooling and rack equipment provided, proved to be fundamental in reaching our PUE target.”
Facts and figures on the data centre
- Uptime Institute Tier III certification
- Expected availability of 99.982%
- High ambient temperature up to 52 °C
- 1000 kVA of dual power
- 250 m2 IT room
Vertiv solutions:
- 1 x Vertiv SiteScan Web monitoring system
- 4 x Vertiv SmartAisle containment
- 4 x Liebert CRV direct expansion units
- 4 x Liebert FDC power distribution cabinets
- 6 x Liebert PDX direct expansion units
- 6 x Liebert 80-NET UPS
- 84 x Vertiv Knürr DCM Heavy-Duty Racks
- 168 x Vertiv MPH Rack PDU
About
The University of Dammam is a renowned research-based institution with a student population of over 50,000. Led by its medical and architectural colleges, the university, located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, is comprised of 21 colleges and a University Hospital.
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