The Uptime Institute’s Annual Data Centre Survey has shown that a third of respondents have suffered some form of power-outage in the past year. An alarming 10% of those reported that their most recent significant outage cost their business more than $1 million.
The data centre market is expected to grow by more than 11% in Europe alone over the next 3 years, with strong growth also anticipated in numerous major regions including the Americas, and Southeast Asia.
Healthcare, banking, insurance and e-commerce industries rely heavily on reliable global data storage, with even a short power failure likely to result in the loss of highly valuable and/or irreplaceable data.
Paul Brickman, Sales and Marketing Director at Crestchic, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of load banks which are used in the testing of power supplies, commented, “The figures themselves are cause for concern, but the fact that 60% of respondents opening stated that their data centre’s outage could have been prevented with better management and/or processes is even more shocking.”
“The consequential losses of power failure can be immense from both a personal and a financial point of view. For this very reason, Data Centres have layers of emergency back-up power – but it is vital that backup power is properly tested and ready to kick in immediately in the event of a power cut.”
According to the Crestchic team, it is critical that back up power systems and generators are commissioned accurately and tested in-situ in actual site conditions – and on a regular basis from there on in. While back- up generators are known for being robust, offering durability, reliability and reassurance, they operate like any other internal combustion engine – with lubrication, cooling systems, fuel system and electrics, all of which need to be tested to ensure faultless operation. Robust and proactive maintenance and testing of the power system can minimise the likelihood of power outages, effectively negating the potential risk of costly commercial, reputational and legal issues. A load bank offers an effective solution, creating an electrical load which imitates the operational or ‘real’ load that a generator would use in normal operational conditions.
Paul explains, “Generators and backup power systems are not infallible. Wherever there is standby power, there is also a need to test, support, or protect a critical backup power source and ensure that it is fit for
purpose in the event that it is called upon. A load bank offers users assurance that their system will do as required should the worst happen – an ideal solution for power-hungry applications such as data centres,
where power supplies are critical to business continuity.”
For more information on how to ensure that back-up power systems are fit for purpose when the worst happens, visit www.crestchicloadbanks.com
Northbridge Industrial Services (LON:NBI) has two core activities, Crestchic Loadbanks and Tasman Oil Tools. Crestchic is a specialist electrical equipment business which manufactures, sells and rents loadbanks and transformers from its base in Burton on Trent and has depots in France, Germany, Belgium, UAE and Singapore. Crestchic also has satellite locations in China and the USA.
