The layout design includes areas separated by solid cement walls for the Data Centre area where customer equipments are hosted, Staging area where new systems are setup until they reach a stable state, Network Operations Centre where the entire monitoring of systems are undertaken, Communication Room where the Internet Service Provider’s equipments are setup, Electrical Room where all the electrical panels and switching equipments are installed, UPS Room where the heavy duty Stabilizer and the UPS along with battery banks are setup. The Data Centre area is completely isolated and secure.

The design of the Data Centre has been driven by the philosophy that the least human intervention in the DC will provide the highest uptime and security. This basically means that humans do not need to enter the Data Centre area until and unless a break-fix task has to be accomplished that requires human intervention, which in turn means less human errors and hence low disruptions.

The design includes a Data Centre that can accommodate up to 24 Server Racks with each rack consuming up to a maximum of 6 Kilo Watts of power. Each rack has been provided with two vertical power distribution units that can be used to power IT equipments that have dual power supplies. Each of the vertical power distribution unit is connected to an independent distribution panel that is setup in the electrical room.

The distribution panels are connected to a common bus which in-turn is connected to synchronized output of multiple UPS systems. All electrical panels in the electrical room have been designed to accommodate by-pass panels wherever necessary for the purpose of maintenance of equipment.

Multiple UPS systems are connected in parallel using a computerized synchronization system to ensure that there is un-interrupted power supply to the IT equipment even in the event of a UPS failing or a UPS being switched off for maintenance purpose. This ensures that parallel electrical cabling is eliminated up to the racks and at the same time ensures there is no downtime to the IT systems.

The UPS systems are fed with dual power inputs, one from the central power grid and the other from the dual mechanical generators that have been setup as part of the infrastructure. Multiple generators have been used to ensure there is power availability even if one generator is down or has been switched off for maintenance purpose.

Three generators have been installed at the Data Centre, one with 82.5 KVA capacity and the other with 125 and 160 KVA capacity. The configuration has been done in such a way that the generator will start automatically within 6 seconds when the grid power supply stops. If first generator fails to start the second generator can be selected to power on quickly and same for the third generator. All generators are equipment with auto starters. The input and output cables are oversized by 25% to ensure that the cables can handle the required capacities without any overload.

The auto change over between the generator and the grid power is handled at the Electrical Room where the cables are terminated.

Multiple Precision air conditioners have been setup to provide the required cooling for the Server Racks. These air conditioners have been chosen over the conventional comfort air conditioners as the humidity can also be controlled along with temperature. The brand used is a world renowned one to ensure better performance and lower maintenance downtimes.

The entire Data Centre area has been provided with a raised floor so the area under the raised floor can be used for cooling the IT Racks as well as for electrical cabling purpose. The electrical cables have been placed in a metal raceway under the floor to ensure zero clutter and higher safety during the event of a fire.

The Data Centre area is covered by 16 CCTV cameras for 24 x 7 x 365 security monitoring. More cameras have been installed in other areas that are part of the DC. All these cameras are connected to a Digital Video Recorder for recording the events so the same can be accessed for audit purpose at a later time. The recording happens only when there is activity so we do not waste valuable recording media space. All the cameras are IP enabled so they can be monitored over the IP network. The CCTV system has a monitor that is placed on the reception table so the security person who is present can keep monitoring the entire area seated at one place..

Multiple Precision air conditioners have been setup to provide the required cooling for the Server Racks. These air conditioners have been chosen over the conventional comfort air conditioners as the humidity can also be controlled along with temperature. The brand used is a world renowned one to ensure better performance and lower maintenance downtimes.

The Data Centre is carrier neutral and has multiple internet service providers, client can choose one or more depending upon their choice. These service providers has redundant fiber links to our site. Each of the fiber links have entered the Data Centre premises through separate routes to ensure that both the fiber links do not go down at the same time. Each Service Provider has also provided a backup link to ensure last mile redundancy for their respective services. The Service Providers who have been chosen are the best in their field with redundant fiber paths back to their respective central POP’s. So far we have 4 major ISP’s of Nepal for your convenience.

class="themecolor"The network components installed for communication purposes in the Data Centre have been configured with multiple redundant paths to ensure that the network connectivity does not go down even if a component fails as the redundant component takes over. Extensive tests have been conducted to check the failover of services from one component to the other. All network components used are from Cisco who is the leading manufacturer of reliable network components in the world.

ISO and ITIL based processes and procedures are being followed within the Data Centre to ensure the required process along with a good level of documentation is maintained. For instance, Change Management process is followed strictly to ensure that no changes are made to equipment configurations without proper change documents along with the required authorization. This is to ensure that changes can be tracked and undone if necessary at a later point in time. The staff has been well trained both in soft skills and technical skills to ensure that they follow the required standards in managing the Data Center.

A dedicated infrastructure management person has been hired to ensure preventive maintenance work related to the infrastructure is handled on site rather than to depend on external entities. This will also ensure that small break-fix tasks are performed on-site rather than waiting for the respective maintenance crew to arrive.

Well known industry standard monitoring applications that can remotely monitor various equipment and infrastructure components like the UPS, PAC, Electrical Systems etc have been installed in the Data Centre infrastructure monitoring purposes.