The NIH Data Center Upgrades its Power Source

Efficient data center electrical power management is a key component of the greening goals established for the NIH Data Center. Having reliable, redundant, stable, and secure power that can adjust to evolving needs allows the NIH Data Center to maintain and grow its operations while reducing both the environmental footprint and the rising costs of energy use.

In an effort to advance greening goals, CIT, in conjunction with the NIH's Office of Research Facilities (ORF), is in the process of upgrading the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) emergency power system in the NIH Data Center from a diesel generator/battery and rotary system to a totally new rotary-based UPS/Continuous Power System (CPS). This rotary-based system is much more cost effective and power efficient, and will meet the immediate goals required by our CIT customers.

Photo 1: Initial delivery of one of the new CPS Rotary Emergency UPS Power Units by crane

The current power system, which was designed, constructed, and implemented in cooperation with NIH's OD and ORF, is based on 1990 power requirements, and is near end-of-life and becoming increasingly unreliable and costly to maintain and operate. The new UPS/CPS will give the NIH Data Center greater power redundancy and will allow required power system maintenance to be performed without adversely affecting Data Center operations and electrical loads. Once the rotary-based UPS/CPS is in place and thoroughly tested, CIT will begin migrating Data Center equipment to the new power system in mid to late July 2011.

Benefits of the new UPS/CPS

In addition to increased reliability, power redundancy, and less downtime for required maintenance, the new UPS/CPS is built to accommodate the power requirements of newer and more powerful computing equipment such as Cloud, Cluster, and Blade type servers. With the new power system, the NIH Data Center will be better able to adapt as IT technologies evolve, ensuring that customers have a stable and efficient power source for their cutting-edge equipment.

Upgrading our power system is also an important part of CIT's greening goals, in line with NIH, HHS, EPA, and OMB Greening Initiative and Environmental Policy. The new rotary system fulfills the requirements of our efficient energy management plan because it requires 112 KVA less commercial power to deliver the same amount of protected power, with 100% redundancy, something the old UPS could not provide.

Furthermore, the old power system required cooling to maintain tolerable temperatures; the new rotary system does not need this cooling and therefore returns even further load savings. In general, the new rotary system requires approximately 175 KVA (112 KVA+ 63 KVA) less power than the old UPS, while providing redundancy to the 1200 KVA load.

Photo 2: Installation of the first two of the four new CPS Rotary Emergency UPS Power Units

Migrating to the new power system

CIT will begin to migrate servers, data storage devices, and equipment housed at the NIH Data Center located in building 12 on the NIH Main Campus, to the new UPS/CPS in phases during nonpeak usage periods. Migrations are currently scheduled to take place during the following months:

• July 2011 through September 2011


• Break for end of federal fiscal year processing


• Mid-October 2011 through January 2012

To make transitions as smooth and seamless as possible, CIT will work with customers and data center power specialists to verify the electrical connectivity of customer equipment. Additionally, CIT will send email reminders and updates to customers as we near the implementation date and as the migration progresses.

Questions?

CIT will send email updates to affected customers as we near the implementation date and as the migration progresses. If you have questions or concerns about the NIH Data Center power system migration, please contact the CIT DCSS Service Management Office at the following email address: CITDCSSSLMCustomerCoordinationTeam@mail.nih.gov.

Photo 3: Two of the four new CPS Rotary Emergency UPS Power Units installed.

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