UCLH Case Study: Data Centre Environmental Monitoring
Project at a Glance
Maintaining stable environmental conditions within a on-premises data centre is critical. For hospitals it is even more important. An outage could come at a high cost. Data centres are affected by many risks such as getting too hot and water damage. UCLH recognised this challenge but did not have the tools to manage the environment efficiently.
UCLH reached out to 101 Data Solutions. We assessed the challenge with UCLH and implemented an environmental monitoring solution. Which has automated alerts and expert remote support, enabling quick management of temperature alerts and reducing the risk of downtime.
Hospitals and Health Care
Hospitals in Central London
150+ Server & Comms Rooms
The Challenge
UCLH had experienced hot temperatures in their data centre during the summer months, which created a risk to critical infrastructure and system availability.
To combat this the staff had to physically go into the data centre room to assess the temperature. This took up valuable time and there was an increaded risk that the tempreture could spike and go unnoticed.
Additionally, the organisation lacked historical environmental data, making it impossible to analyse trends or plan effectively for seasonal cooling requirements.
The Solution
The solution included Shneider Electrics EcoStruxure environmental monitoring. This tracks the temperature across the data centre. The alerts are managed by a remote helpdesk service, which enables a quick response overseen by experts.
Along with this, automated emails and text alerts are notified to key staff whenever environmental thresholds are exceeded. This ensures the right people are informed immediately. To strengthen this solution even further the 101 Data Solutions team logs and tracks incidents to support faster diagnosis and resolutions.
Implementation
The implementation caused minimal disruption to the data centre operations. Environmental sensors were installed throughout the data centre room. These monitor the temperature and conditions. The sensors are integrated with the EcoStruxure environmental monitoring platform. Enabling critical real-time monitoring and gathering data. Automated emails and SMS alerts were set up to notify key staff members when the thresholds were exceeded. This ensures rapid awareness and a quick response.
The system was then connected to the 101 Data Solutions managed help desk, allowing the team to monitor conditions, log incidents, and provide expert support 24×7. This seamless implementation provided the organisation with immediate insight into its data centre environment and the tools needed to manage it proactively.
Key Results
- 100% reduction in critical environmental incidents over a 12-month period.
- Real-time visibility of data centre temperature conditions.
- Immediate alerts sent to stakeholders when environmental thresholds are exceeded.
- Faster response times to potential cooling and temperature issues.
- Access to 24×7 expert support from the 101 Data Solutions managed help desk.
- Improved planning and optimisation of cooling strategies using historical environmental data.
