Cooling specialist Airedale International is behind a new £2.25m high density, energy efficient data centre at the University of Portsmouth, UK, which opened at the 
end of 2013.
Working in partnership with Sudlows, the company was selected for its ability to offer a complete solution that allows the university full control of its data centre cooling plant and which is set to bring significant energy savings with a projected PUE level of 1.14 (load dependent).
According to James Holland, Network & Security Services Manager (Information Services) at the University of Portsmouth: “The new data centre is built around cutting-edge design with Airedale’s systems very much at its core. This is an excellent facility that the University can rely upon to deliver world class academic support and research development”.
Airedale’s ACIS web-based control interface is claimed to deliver intelligent, graphical remote management of the data centre and interfaces with multiple protocols to monitor all elements of the site. This includes two 500kW DeltaChill FreeCool chillers, two 34kW SmartCool chilled water precision air conditioning units and thirty-five high density OnRak rear door IT cooling units (up to 25kW load per rack) in addition to external generator, building fresh air supply, battery and build room air conditioning units; UPS room equipment and water leak detection and fire suppression systems.
The company’s ACIS also integrates with the University’s legacy Building Management System (BMS) allowing full visibility of data centre alarms from the main site.
The Airedale solution is said to provide indirect free cooling to the data centre, with direct fresh air free cooling the UPS room, delivering free cooling up to 95 percent of the year depending on ambient temperature. When free cooling is available, chilled water set points are maximised up to 20°C to prolong free cooling.
Airedale
