Data Center Design Consultancy

AST is proud of its enviable record in data centre design and the growing number of projects awarded to it by household-name companies from around the world.  Many projects are still ongoing, a tribute to the quality of design and quality of service provided by AST and its team of 40 highly-qualified data center design engineers.  Between them, more than 350 projects have been completed and the number continues to increase.

Data Centers must be able to grow according to the requirements of the business they support.  Not all applications require same Tier levels – some can benefit from a mix of Tier levels. Data Center needs must align with the strategic plan and goals of the business, the systems architecture they must support and its anticipated growth phases.

AST applies its vast experience in Data Centers to help organizations identify their real long-term objectives.
Data Centers for organizations are a "services unit"; therefore they must offer maximum availability at minimum cost.
Design criteria are based upon International standards (Uptime Institute; TIA 942), Scalability, Modularity and Energy Efficiency.

PUE Meter (Power Usage Efficiency)

The power consumption costs of a Data Center grows at an average of 15% annually. The energy consumption costs for 5 years is equivalent to the total investment of building a complete Data Center.
Without measuring and understanding the current Data Center performance, it is impossible to set goals, define a strategy or measure progress on energy savings. Energy Savings=Cost Savings.  The AST PUE meter is a state-of-the-art unit, which allows the Data Center user to measure the following parameters:

• Power consumption.
• Energy efficiency.
• Effectiveness of measures implemented and direct cost savings.
• CO2 footprint.

Best tool to effectively measure the Data Center performance in terms of energy efficiency, energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
It allows the end user to know the exact values of the Data Center power consumption and real PUE* value. Once these values are known, the actions needed to optimize the Data Center energy costs can be defined.
CO2 emissions reduction is becoming compulsory. The SMART PUEmeter allows any company to calculate its real CO2 emissions of their Data Centers and to measure its performance against any other peer companies.

*PUE=Power Utilization Effectiveness= Total Power Consumption in a Data Center
Power Consumption of IT equipment-only

As per new regulations regarding CO2 emissions for companies and countries, the SMART PUE meter allows the end user to know exactly what are the CO2 emissions of the business. It is an excellent tool to analyze any actions taken to improve the Data Center energy costs and measure their effectiveness.

In 90% of existing Data Centers, the PUE values, CO2 emissions and kW/h consumption are unknown. The SMART PUE meter allows the end user to see the growth of these values and to predict the future energy costs growth and from this data, plan how to reduce the energy costs and the environmental impact.

Data Center Audits – Thermal Efficiency, Energy Efficiency

AST, with an extensive experience of more than 300 Audits and Consulting Services in Data Centers and mission Critical Sites worldwide, presents its "IT Check" service. This service checks the current state of a Data Center, its potential points of failure and areas of improvements. Its performance is measured against various benchmarks:

• Applicable international standards (TIA 942, ISO 17799, …).
• Reliability and availability.
• Best industry practices.
• Tier level vs. real needs of the business.

The goal is to test and measure the parameters that may affect the performance of the Data Center, in order to detect any possible risk. This assessment will serve to:

• Minimize the risk factors that can affect the performance of Data Centers or cause a system breakdown.
• Pro-active prevention of possible problems and risks.
• Centralize the responsibility of the Data Center Maintenance.
• Verify and Control the Data Center conditions, always applying the International Standards.
• Relieve client from the maintenance, management and risks of the Data Center.
• Continuous improvement on the Data Center infrastructure.
• Improvement of:

1. Availability (Data Center breakdown prevention)
2. Reliability (Minimize the risk factors that may affect the optimum performance of the Data Center).

The IT check Service is not limited to collecting data, AST will also identify problems and offer the right SOLUTIONS, in addition give a qualification of the Data Center regarding the compliance of international standards.

Data Center Cleaning

Very frequently the ambient air quality of  Data Centers has a high level of harmful particles above the standard limit (ISO 14644-1). AST provides professional cleaning services of live, operational Data Centers, carried out by qualified staff and with special non-electrically conductive cleaning products to obviate any downtime risk for the installation.
Dust particles accumulate in hardware cooling fans, causing overheating, which may result in accelerated aging hardware and pose a potential fire hazard.
Dust particles can also decrease communication speed up to 40%, as they may accumulate in Fiber optic connectors.

IT Care and IT Check; Data Center maintenance – Proactive and Reactive

AST provides the support and expertise of  its engineering team in order to provide a complete Global Maintenance Service for our customer’s Data Center.
The main objectives and benefits of this Service are:

• Preventive and corrective maintenance plans, design and implementation.
• Maximize the Data Center performance (infrastructure) to guarantee levels of maximum reliability.
• AST undertakes the whole Data Center infrastructure maintenance:Power (AC Network, grounding system, UPS, generators, etc).

1. - Electromagnetic fields (interferences that may affect the computer based systems).
2. - Environmental Quality (air conditioning system, air purifier, etc...).
3. - Security (DC access, fire, flooding, human errors, etc...).
4. - Provide a complete Monitoring System.

• Hotline 24/7 for immediate attention.
• Continuous improvements to optimize reliability and optimize costs and energy consumption.
• Monthly reports of preventive and corrective actions.
• Emergency Service 24/7/365 at national scale with corrective actions in less than 4 hours (depending on equipment-type and location).
• Benefits of a single point of contact (AST) to handle all maintenance responsibilities. Seamlessly coordinating all the preventive actions and corrective repairs in the Data Center, simplifying operations for the customer.

AST, with an extensive experience of more than 300 Audits and Consulting Services in Data Centers and mission Critical Sites worldwide, presents its "IT Check" service. This service checks the current state of a Data Center, its potential points of failure and areas of improvements. Its performance is measured against various benchmarks:

• Applicable international standards (TIA 942, ISO 17799, …).
• Reliability and availability.
• Best industry practices.
• Tier level vs. real needs of the business.

The goal is to test and measure the parameters that may affect the performance of the Data Center, in order to detect any possible risk. This assessment will serve to:

• Minimize the risk factors that can affect the performance of Data Centers or cause a system breakdown.
• Pro-active prevention of possible problems and risks.
• Centralize the responsibility of the Data Center Maintenance.
• Verify and Control the Data Center conditions, always applying the International Standards.
• Relieve client from the maintenance, management and risks of the Data Center.
• Continuous improvement on the Data Center infrastructure.
• Improvement of:

1. - Availability (Data Center breakdown prevention)
2. - Reliability (Minimize the risk factors that may affect the optimum performance of the Data Center).

The IT check Service is not limited to collecting data, AST will also identify problems and offer the right SOLUTIONS, in addition give a qualification of the Data Center regarding the compliance of international standards.
ECOptimisation

AST, with extensive experience with more than 300 Audits and Consulting Services in Data Centers and mission Critical Sites worldwide will analyze the current state of your Data Power Consumption and Cooling System, according to:

• Applicable international standards (TIA 942, ISO 17799, etc.).
• Real needs of the room to guarantee redundancy and continuity.
• Best industry practices.

The goal is to verify the optimum approach of the Data Center configuration Cooling and Power Systems, in order to minimize Power Consumptions in the Data Center.

Why ECOptimization in Data Centers?

A Data Center is an evolving working facility during its entire operational life whole year. This means a continuous and non-stop power consumption of all IT equipment, air conditioning machines, ligthing, etc, so any improvement implemented on power savings will generate money savings.

Using specialized measuring equipment, AST will identify all weak points in your data Center and recommend actions that will improve your Data Center´s resiliency and decrease energy.

HELPING TO MAKE YOUR DATA CENTER GREENER….HOW?

AST will measure and analyze all systems that can be optimized from your data center:

• IT Room /Architectural (Room location and conditions, Thermal insulation, etc).
• Cooling system (A/C technology used, Temp.& R.H, air flow measurements, thermal and airflow distribution, raised floor cables organization, Thermal and Humidity distribution map design, etc).
• Power and UPS Efficiency (electrical consumption, energy quality analysis, UPS efficiency, etc).