Networks Europe Sept-Oct 2016 | Page 8

08 NEWS IN BRIEF Benning UK launches new modular UPS System for data centres Benning UK has recently announced the launch of the Enertronic Modular SE, a new, modular three-phase UPS system for datacentres. It's specifically designed to meet the most demanding data centre requirements, with increased efficiency delivered through its unique user selectable ‘sleep mode’, which intelligently deactivates modules when the supported load falls below selected levels. The Enertronic Modular SE – a truly modular, highly flexible three-phase UPS system. The Enertronic SE combines class leading availability and highest power quality with no single point of failure and the lowest running costs due to the system’s high operating efficiency and ‘pay as you grow’ scalability. Another unique characteristic is that the system is intelligent enough to only use modules required for the user selected N+n redundancy mode. If the load falls below the selected limit the system automatically right-sizes its capacity, sending modules which aren’t needed into a standby mode. This leads to increased savings for data centre operators in the long-term, while they don’t need to compromise on the system’s availability. As each UPS module is a highly efficient double conversion, serial on-line UPS utilising decentralised parallel architecture, the Enertronic Modular SE system has no single point of failure. UPS modules can be paralleled together for vertical scalability, as well as paralleled horizontally in multiple cabinets to achieve up to 1,000kW power capacity. This flexibility provides customers with the lowest achievable ‘total cost of ownership’ as the power protection system can be right-sized to the current size of the load, with additional protection delivered through various redundancy configurations, as and when required. The (up to) 40kW modules can be rapidly ‘hot-swapped’, ensuring very low mean time to repair (MTTR) which, when coupled with Benning’s industrial grade reliability, enables an unprecedented ‘six nines’ availability for a UPS built to an industrial grade specification. If highest operating efficiency is more important to the user than highest power quality the Enertronic Modular SE has a user selectable ‘Super Efficiency’ mode, which can achieve an operating efficiency of 99%. n The continued growth of cloud fails to undermine importance of data centres It’s estimated that more than $1 trillion USD in IT spending will be directly or indirectly impacted by the transition to cloud computing by 2020, according to Gartner. This decision to migrate to the cloud is likely to be fuelled by growing data demands. According to Greg McCulloch, CEO of Aegis Data, this is likely to put a greater reliance on colocation providers to ensure that the necessary hardware and connectivity is in place to support this transition. As IT spend steadily shifts from traditional IT offerings through to the cloud, a process described by Gartner as the ‘cloud shift’, the rate at which enterprise level organisations move into the cloud is expected to increase year-on-year. Evidence to support this also comes from the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF), which now has more than 78% of organisations adopting at least one cloud technology. According t o McCulloch, growing data demands combined with the fallout from the EU referendum are likely to ensure cloud adoption and migration remains consistent for the foreseeable future. The role of the colocation industry will be critical to this: “Data centres and cloud are commonly misunderstood as competing services at opposite ends of the scale – this is simply not true at all. Increasingly, the rise of cloud services is affording colocation facilities like us greater opportunities to enhance our proposition and our customer network. The recent findings from Gartner predicting that cloud computing will impact $1 trillion USD of IT spending decisions only emphasises this further, and this in turn strengthens our position.” McCulloch also states that the UK’s decision to leave the European Union could also have a significant bearing when it comes to increasing cloud adoption: “Cloud spending is also likely to feel the force of Brexit and arguably this might push further adoption. Post-Brexit economic uncertainty is making companies tighten capital expense (CAPEX) budgets and trim expensive maintenance agreements. “The fallout from this is pushing companies to revert to an operational expenditure (OPEX) model. This is resulting in more and more businesses looking to do away with the traditional headaches associated with managing their own IT infrastructure, and instead outsourcing to the cloud. As we look to the future, we’ll likely see greater alliances formed across cloud providers and colocation facilities. Neither should be seen as separate entities but instead as a cohesive effort." n www.networkseuropemagazine.com