How to build, customize and deliver a data room in only 4 weeks
An international energy company found itself in a bit of a hurry. They needed a new data room for disaster recovery in only 4 weeks. Green Mountain undertook the task. They managed to establish a 50m2 data room with infrastructure, redundant fiber, cooling, racks, and sensor automation within the time frame. As a bonus, this also gave the client improved security, more efficient operation, and closer connection to the Cloud providers.
Challenge
This was the case for the client when they suddenly needed at disaster recovery site. Howvere, they found that they lacked capacity in their own on-premise data center. The solution was to turn to colocation. Above all, time was of essence. Could a colocation provider offer a satisfactory solution in only 4 weeks? Importantly, the client needed a secure data room with redundant fiber connection and high reliability. No short-cuts were allowed. “We were uncertain it would be feasible, but trusted Green Mountain with the task. They have a strong reputation for delivery commitment.” the client says.
Solution
The client needed a disaster recovery room of approximately 50m2 which would also give them some space to expand. Furthermore, they needed redundant fiber and a full rack set-up for their servers. In other words, a complete turnkey data room.
“We started immediately to design the disaster recovery solution. In addition, we ordered equipment from Schneider Electric.” says Øyvind Rugland, Service Delivery Manager at Green Mountain. “Because of our good relationships with vendors, we were able to speed up the delivery of critical components. Certainly, his was crucial to the outcome.” Rugland continues.
Normally, we would estimate approximately 3 months to complete a disaster recovery project like this. You must coordinate multiple equipment deliveries, tasks, and personnel to execute the plan. The Green Mountain team planned the delivery meticulously and dedicated resources accordingly. Our long experience combined with our well-defined routines and procedures were critical success factors in this regard.
The project started with an empty room where we had to install everything from fiber, in-row coolers, network racks, server racks, tapoff to PDUs. Furthermore, Green Mountain uses an advanced DCIM system which require installation of numerous sensors in the room. They monitor temperature, energy usage, humidity and so forth. Finally, everything also had to be tested and verified before the room could be handed over to client.
When it comes to connectivity, we installed fiber to two separate meet-me-rooms to secure redundancy. As a carrier-neutral data center, the client could choose their preferred connectivity partner. With Green Mountain being a Megaport enabled data center facility, the client selected Megaport as its connectivity provider. Their Network as a Service capabilities not only allowed the client to deploy the required connections instantly. Moreover, it also provided them with on-demand access to leading cloud service providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud etc.
Progress / Results
The client received access to the room exactly 4 weeks after the contract was signed. After that, they could move in their servers and be operational immediately. We met their expectations on both delivery time and quality. By choosing colocation instead of an on-premise solution they also reaped several benefits. For instance, easier operation, releasing CapEx to OpEx, improved security, transparent reporting tools and guaranteed reliability.
We were uncertain it would be feasible but trusted Green Mountain with the task. They have a strong reputation for delivery commitment.
Client, Energy Company