Riello were on hand when OpenHosting had to move its data centre.

When OpenHosting was forced to move its operations away from London’s Docklands by landlords increasing the rent by 600%, it had just two months to build a new data centre facility in Cobra Court, Manchester. This entailed converting a modern office building into a data centre and offices, which also included installation of three 100kVA N+1 Riello UPS uninterruptible power supplies and a 550kVA SDMO generator.

OpenHosting’s 8,000 customers rely on delivery of maximum uptime and high standards of service at a minimum price. The company does this by maintaining service levels and lowering costs.

Riello UPS was engaged by specialist data and power solutions company INS Sudlows to provide power protection for the new facility, whilst it took care of the rest. 30 server cabinets were dismantled, flat-packed, placed in a container (alongside 500 servers) and hauled 200 miles to the new premises whilst construction was underway.

Darren Taylor, project manager, INS Sudlows, takes up the story: “It’s an obvious thing to say but we are used to working to tight deadlines. In our business, every job requires intense project planning and implementation to ensure structured progress is maintained. You can’t prioritize – everything is a priority but you can schedule individual work disciplines to minimise potential holds ups.”

OpenHosting has been smart in turning what could have been a disastrous situation into a positive move. Not only has it been able to lower overheads by moving away from London; installation of the latest energy efficient Riello UPS technology is set to achieve a 20% reduction in energy use. The company has only been given 50% of the 2MV energy supply it requested from United Utilities, so energy saving is crucial.

Cost implications are also significant: on a bill of £61,000/month, it equates to a saving of almost £450,000 over a three-year period. Byrd is keen to emphasize that this will be passed on to customers by maintaining competitive pricing.

OpenHosting has also exploited the opportunity to expand and upgrade its network infrastructure (which it operates through a subsidiary, OHTele.com). The network is a multiple 10G resilient ring, linking key data centres to Manchester, London and several other European cities.

“We had to install an additional 20,000Mbps from Manchester to London, which entailed laying 30km of fibre – a costly but worthwhile move as it means we have full access to Manchester’s network POP (points of presence) and we can deliver a full range of network services at all sites.” Explains Chris Byrd, co-founder of OpenHosting.

Power Protection
OpenHosting operates an N+1 uptime policy, which requires redundant and resilient power protection. In this case, the three 100kVA UPS are Riello’s latest energy efficient Master Plus designs and this represents the first level of power protection for the company. The second comes from a 550kVA SDMO diesel generator with several days of on-site fuel storage in a stand-alone, 48hr, bunded tank. This ensures the business continuity of the site is not compromised by a long-term power outage. A third line comes from a 1MVA on-site sub-station provided by United Utilities.

The N+1 parallel redundant configuration that the three Riello Master Plus 100kVAs operate in means there is continuous power supply to the loads - even if one UPS develops a fault condition or is taken off-line for maintenance. In normal operating conditions, all three units share the load equally.

New, energy efficient UPS like Master Plus lower power consumption – and this is where Byrd is aiming to achieve the greatest benefits in terms of energy efficiency.
“We are currently achieving 95.6% efficiency from the UPS – and that’s operating at one-third capacity. Once we are at full capacity that figure will increase. 98% is what we’re aiming for,” he explained.

Newer designs of energy efficient UPS also occupy less floor space, which means it can be maximized for revenue-earning server racks.

The Future
There are currently 30 cabinets in situ in Cobra Court. The implementation is intentionally ‘scalable’. Phase II will see another 100 or so cabinets installed, a further three 100kVA Riello Master Plus UPS will expand the current N+1 configuration to 600kVA N+1, and an additional two 550kVA SDMO generators will maintain redundancy. Best of all, through intelligent power protection, OpenHosting has ensured continued expansion alongside reduced operating costs and higher than ever service levels.