After many years of operations and serious environmental concerns, a New Jersey organization (“The Group”) concluded that their data center needed to be relocated and upgraded. After experiencing several DR events due to water threats while researching their options, The Group determined that environmental protection and scalability were major factors their search for a solution.
iFortress™ evaluated the requirements and provided options that included both indoor and outdoor freestanding structures with two different configurations based on utilizing the iFortress™ scalable methodology based on its structural, panelized system, the iFortress MCF Series iFortress™, for each of the two sites. The solution optimized a 600 sq. ft. assembly to be deployed within the building.
On-time. On-budget. Zero Change Orders.
After the project was awarded, the iFortress™ team installed the shell and support infrastructure for the data center, on-time, on budget and with no change orders.
The project was ready to accept the technology upgrade well in advance of its physical arrival. The iFortress™ project was successfully concluded weeks before the September 2009 “go live” date.
Environmental Success.
“In addition, we noticed that we no longer needed to have any portable cooling fans to move air within the facility, the ambient temperature was set higher and we noticed that we actually did have hot and cold aisles as designed. When the alarms went off to change the filters, the filters appeared to be in brand new condition…there was no dust.” – Director of Operations
Immediate Test of Structural Security™.
iFortress is disaster prevention and this scenario was immediately put to the test shortly after the data center went live; a major water pipe burst directly above the data center and the impact on the data center was “zero”. The data center maintained uninterrupted operations while the maintenance crews repaired the pipe above and cleaned up the water that covered the floor all around the iFortress Assembly.
FLEXIBILITY, MODULARITY AND PROTECTION: THE PRIMARY DRIVERS
In the decision making process, the IT team considered several locations within the facility. The basement, parking garage, a new freestanding structure and two floors within the complex were all considered as possible locations.
The major challenge was finding a cost effective solution while upgrading the existing infrastructure to mitigate risk. In addition, the need to find a solution flexible enough to meet future IT requirements was vital. iFortress™ provided a solution.
After evaluating numerous proposals from building contractors and technology providers, the iFortress™ solution was deemed best for the combination of flexibility, scalability and the level of protection. Upon full assessment, the IT group determined that building a traditional data center was simply not for the client due to it’s greater expense, time required and lack of Structural Security™.
CASE STUDY 1 SPECS:
• Installation: 6 Days • Project: On Time/On Budget
• Zero Change Orders/Project Delays • 600 Sq Ft
• 30’ W x 20’ D x 10’ 4” H
• Interior, 9th Floor Assembly/Installation • (1) Door
• Primary Data Center • Manufacturing: 10 weeks
• Zero Warranty Claims
”“iFortress™ provided the leadership and experience to help us to accomplish all of our goals…We could not have achieved this with any other vendor we considered.”
Article by Jerry Lyons
Principal Founder
CEO/President