Data Center company nets scalable sustainability from new monitoring software

10 May 2021

Interxion Netherlands was seeking a data center monitoring solution for its data centers located in the Amsterdam metro area. Find out more...

Interxion is a Digital Realty Company, founded in the Netherlands. It describes itself as an ‘interconnection hub for the world’s leading businesses’. The company is now part of the global Digital Realty group, with over 275 data centers within 47 metropolitan areas worldwide, serving over 2,000 customers. The company strives for technical excellence in the areas of data center design, deployment, operation, and maintenance.

Interxion Netherlands was seeking a data center monitoring solution for its data centers located in the Amsterdam metro area. They enlisted the help of Perf-IT, [part of ATS Global (https://perf-it.com)], an IT solutions provider headquartered in Hardinxveld-Giessendam, the Netherlands, that creates, distributes, and implements data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software globally. Perf-IT, in turn, suggested the use of GENESIS64™ software from ICONICS (https://iconics.com), a worldwide provider of automation software solutions and distributed by Prodek Automation Products (https://prodek.nl) in the Netherlands.

Perf-IT proceeded to develop a full data center monitoring and control suite for Interxion based on ICONICS GENESIS64, ensuring the new solution could handle any sizing or scalability concerns. For instance, the largest of the data centers integrated with the new software has a power consumption of 36 MWh. As a result, the ICONICS implementation within this one site contains 480,000 tags that can be monitored and managed by 25 users.

ICONICS and Perf-IT ensured that the new DCIM would be as comprehensive as possible for Interxion. And thanks to GENESIS64’s universal connectivity, Interxion’s new DCIM (which they call ‘ATS DCIM’) is a combination of their building management system (BMS), energy management system (EMS), and cooling management and control system (CMS).

ATS DCIM is also integrated with multiple additional systems, including Interxion’s ERP system, providing a real-time connection between power feeds and customer contracts. With the contract information, the company is able to optimize the workflow between the actual contract and invoicing process. The company’s financial system has also been integrated, giving them visibility into energy consumption along with the contract information, which they then put to use for invoice generation.

ATS DCIM integrates with Interxion’s maintenance management system (MMS). All relevant maintenance information is forwarded to an asset library in the MMS, where it can be used to help improve maintenance efficiency. Other systems tied into the new ATS DCIM include those dedicated to fire detection, light controls, Meteo (weather forecast translation), and early smoke detection. Of course, the GENESIS64-based monitoring system also connects to the data center equipment itself including computer room air conditioning (CRAC), chiller, power distribution unit, power/pressure/humidity measurement, and power generation units.

In addition to the extensive functionality, Interxion was pleased with the energy reduction involved with Perf-IT’s and ICONICS’ new DCIM implementation. After installing their new ATS DCIM, Interxion determined they had reduced total energy consumption for the data centers involved in the installation through just optimizing the cooling alone. They also calculated that their improved contract management helped to reduce “lost” energy. Using the system to close the “contract to invoice” loop has reduced the overall time to invoice to one day.

In addition, near real-time data helps provide insight into performance and, therefore, gives Interxion indications they can use to optimize their power usage effectiveness (PUE). The data, collected in ATS DCIM, can be used to further optimize corrective and preventive maintenance tasks, and help toward more savings based on PUE.

Redundancy on uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), chillers, CRACs and other devices is monitored continuously, helping to avoid the risks of unexpected downtime in case of a failure when data center redundancy is lost.

Through their involvement with ICONICS and Perf-IT, Interxion Netherlands were able to realize the data center monitoring solution they sought with additional benefits towards scalability and sustainability.

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