With the initial phase of a new data center project, redundancy with growth potential was key. Read how OTI achieved this from edge controllers to enterprise energy management.

Buildings: One data center retrofit

Location: Ashburn, Virginia

Size: 10,000 sq. ft. for phase 1

Start date: 2016

Status: Project complete, partnership ongoing

Infomart Data Center Ashburn

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Founded in 2006, Infomart Data Centers (formerly Fortune Data Centers) is an award-winning industry leader in building, owning and operating highly efficient, cost-effective wholesale data centers. Each of its national facilities meet or exceed the highest industry standards for data centers in all operational categories of availability, security, connectivity and physical resilience.

Infomart Data Centers offers wholesale and colocation facilities in four markets throughout the United States: San Jose, Ca.; Hillsboro, Or.; Dallas; and Ashburn, Va.

 

The project

Infomart Data Centers continue their expansion into key markets across the country. In Ashburn, Virginia, an old AOL data center is being transformed into a state-of-the-art wholesale space with 15 MW of premium capacity, 2N+1 redundancy and more.

 

Solution

OTI has been working with Infomart Data Centers for more than 10 years. With Phase 1 of Infomart Ashburn complete, OTI has connected 12,000 points from control systems in the first 10,000-square-foot data hall plus office space and chiller plant. Each point transmits data to the enterprise command center developed by OTI and the backup history servers on 5 minute intervals. Critical points transmit on 1 minute intervals.

 

Ashburn

As with most OTI projects, controls are integrated at Infomart Ashburn through an operational technology backbone made

of fiber connected through Optigo Connect switches and splitters. At the system edge, OTI opted for Phoenix Contact ILC controllers because they are:

  • IP based.
  • Easily expanded with I/O modules.
  • Able to support multiple communications protocols.
  • Based in the Sedona programming language.
  • Embedded with Niagara framework.

 

Phoenix Contact, an international automation specialist, can provide most of the components in the control cabinet.

 

Results

Because Ashburn is a fully 2N+1 redundant data center, OTI’s integrations in power and cooling systems is also redundant. For example, a primary ILC controller is in constant communication with a redundant ILC controller. If an ILC has any interruption, the whole system is smart enough to switch to the redundant system with zero downtime. The secondary controller continues controlling the system and collecting critical data with no interruption.

 

All OTI's Infomart energy management dashboard can be configured to provide hierarchical access to any property or tenant space. For example, executives can easily get a high-level overview of each property, while building engineers can access data from the building they control. Infomart tenants also get access to energy usage reports and near-real-time views into their server rack space to aid in their data management strategies.

 

OTI has been retained for the full Ashburn project, which will be completed in four phases.