TBC Saves Money while Increasing Floor Space and Efficiency
The Challenge
TBC Corporation (TBC), the nation’s largest integrated marketer for the automotive tire replacement market had been supporting its thousands of retail outlets from an aging data center in Juno Beach, Florida. The data center had become too crowded, ineffecient and too expensive to maintain.
After an initial assessment, TBC decided to build a replacement data center. While TBC knew they would use the architect and engineering firm with whom they've had a long standing relationship, they also wanted to take advantage of deeper expertise specific to data center design, construction and operations. TBC turned to Transitional Data Services.
The TDS Approach
TDS helped define the data center requirements and assisted in the development of a ten-year roadmap for TBD. The new facility was designed to support 150% of the current data center’s capacity, and is expected to meet TBC’s computing needs throughout the expected lifespan of the facility and installed infrastructure.
Transitional Data Services also represented TBC’s interests throughout the construction phase of the project with oversight, owners rep and peer review services. TDS helped ensure that the new data center would meet the established uptime, efficiency, and “green” objectives.
Benefits
By leveraging Transitional Data Services, TBC achieved the following:
- Saved more than 25% on the critical infrastructure costs by establishing a more competitive bid process
- Increased usable floor space capacity by 17% by optimizing the layout
- Increased cooling capacity without increasing cost through efficiency improvements in the implementation of CRAC units, chiller loops and ductwork
- Improved the operational performance and reduced the risk of fire at the site by implementing the new TDS designed fire detection & suppression systems
About TBC Corporation - TBC Corporation, a company of Sumitomo Corporation of America, is the nation's largest vertically integrated marketer of tires for the automotive replacement market. The Company's retail operations include company-operated tire and automotive service centers under the "Tire Kingdom", "Merchant's Tire & Auto Centers" and "National Tire & Battery" brands, and franchised stores under the "Big O Tires" brand. TBC markets on a wholesale basis to regional tire chains and distributors serving independent tire dealers throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Recognized by Network World for Leading Green Design
Challenge
In order to support demand for enterprise grade, Tier-3 class data centers in New Englad, Internap needed to quickly increase its inventory of data center space or lose busines to other data center providers.
TDS Approach
Under the leadership if Karl Robohm of TDS, a new, green data center was brought online just 12 months from getting permits.
This new data center in the Boston area was built from the ground up to be a "state-of-the-shelf", green data center facility. To support a wide range of potential tenants over a long life cycle, this 45,000 SF colocation facility includes the necessary security, fiber access, power and efficiency to minimize operating expense over a wide range of occupancy levels and power densities.
Benefits
The new Internap green data center in Sommerville, MA was recognized by Network World online as a model example of green data center design:
Companies looking for a green data center model should take a look at the new facility Internap built in Somerville, Mass., just outside Boston, which is so environmentally efficient the local power company wrote it a rebate check for $453,000.
"Internap expects that the data center will save another $400,000 every year by using less power than it would have had it not built to green specifications," says Mike Higgins, vice president and general manager of Internap's data center services.
To read the entire story complete with photos, please visit:
What does a real green data center look like?
About Internap's Data Center
The TDS staff has been instrumental in the design, construction and commissioning of the Internap / Sommerville facility. Please click the image below to launch an interactive flash demonstration of the Internap facility.
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Rapid-payback efficiency projects recover 2,800 MW-h per year
Challenge
This 16,000 square foot, Tier 3 class data center in Boston was reaching limits in power and cooling that were making it inefficient to operate, expensive to maintain.
Approach
Under the leadership of Karl Robohm of TDS, Internap was able to reduce annual power requirements by 2,800 Megawatt hours. This was achieved by three infrastructure upgrade projects working in tandem to increase power and cooling efficiency-and resulted in savings of $420,000 per year. (Of course, as power costs go up, future savings will be even greater).
These upgrades included:
- Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) to move air & fluids more efficiently
- Ultrasonic humidification upgrades (elimination of steam)
- High efficiency, harmonic mitigating voltage step-down transformers
Each efficiency improvements was implemented quickly and efficiently with no impact to ongoing operations.
Benefits
Taking into account the power company rebates, these three projects had a combined payback of 8 months, with the high efficiency motors and pumps having a payback of only 3 months.
|
Project: |
Variable Drives (VFDs) |
Ultrasonic Humidification |
Efficient Transformers |
|
Cost: |
$180,000 |
$325,000 |
$184,000 |
|
Rebates: |
$135,000 |
$190,000 |
$82,000 |
|
Net Cost: |
$45,000 |
$135,000 |
$102,000 |
|
Reduction: |
1.3 GW-h |
1.1 GW-h |
.53 GW-h |
|
Savings: |
$185,000/Yr. |
$156,000/Yr. |
$79,000/Yr. |
Note: Savings based on electric power cost of $0.15 per kW-h
In addition to this recurring annual expense reduction, the ultrasonic humidification component reduced cooling requirements by 15% allowing the AC system to run with less load or to cool more IT equipment if necessary.
While the amount of infrastructure needed for most corporate data centers is less than this example, these same approaches to conserve power and related expenses can pay off for facilities as small as 1,000 square feet.
The Challenge
Kayak is a search engine that crawls hundreds of travel sites all over the world to provide its customers with the best options for their travel plans, enabling them to book airline tickets, find cruise destinations and schedules, make hotel reservations, arrange for car rentals, and receive travel news and updates. Kayak has become highly popular because it is easy to use and finds the lowest rates.
It was publicly launched in early 2005 and immediately began growing quickly in a highly competitive market. In August 2005, Kayak realized that its New Jersey data center that had served it well from its start-up would have to be enlarged and moved closer to headquarters near Boston.
Kayak’s business is data. Any interruption in data processing would immediately and adversely impact operations, the user experience and revenues. Therefore, it was crucial not only that the new data center would accommodate the firm’s growth, but also that the transition from the old to the new would be seamless and flawless. Kayak turned to TDS for help.
The TDS Approach
TDS managed the entire data center relocation process end-to-end.
- Identified the right location, the best data center and bandwidth providers.
- Reviewed and advised on contracts, warranties and lease agreements.
- Designed the data center and the networks, and built the new facility.
- Designed a robust, scalable technology architecture to protect against potential network downtime and provide a cost effective growth path.
Benefits
TDS helped Kayak achieve a zero-downtime transition, relocating an operational site from the old data center to the new one, handling all the strategy, planning and execution for the hardware, data and network.
After the relocation, Kayak retained TDS as its data center technical operations team, responsible for all the physical equipment, the servers, switches, routers, load balancers and firewalls. TDS implemented multi-point monitoring of all the networks, switches, servers and data center monitors so that we can track, anticipate and quickly solve any infrastructure issues that arise to keep the Kayak website up and running 24/7.
Over 1,000 devices relocated with no unplanned outages
Challenge
The 15 year old data center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was suffering from inefficiency and insufficient cooling capacity. The existing infrastructure was incapable of providing the operational sustainability that this nationally recognized hospital required, and the facility’s PUE reflected its age. The hospital knew it needed a new facility and turned to TDS for help with relocation planning and execution.
Because the data center supports critical hospital operations (many of which directly affect patient wellbeing), any unplanned system outages during the relocation was not acceptable. And any planned downtime needed to be minimized needed to be confined to very narrow time windows. The IT department was also in the midst of a server virtualization project leaving very few internal resources available to plan and execute the critical move project.
TDS Approach
TDS provided planning oversight and relocation execution services for Cedars Sinai. The relocation included approximately 1,000 devices, and was accomplished in 15 phases. The diligence that TDS applied to the physical on-site validation of the run book and relocation plans prior to each move event was a major contributor to the overall success of the project. TDS was able to identify and avert issues prior to move day.
Benefits
There were no unplanned disruptions throughout the entire relocation. Cedars achieved a worry free move with core day to day operations continuing unaffected by the major changes taking place.
Because TDS are experts in data center facilities, relocations and IT operations, Cedars used TDS for other services to improve operations. TDS assisted Cedars-Sinai with the rack layout and server elevation planning for the new data center. TDS also helped Cedars-Sinai evaluate CMDB solutions.
About Cedars-Sinai – Composed of more than 2,000 physicians and 10,000 employees, Cedars-Sinai is a nationally recognized teaching and research hospital located in the Los Angeles area. They have tended to the medical needs of thousands of people, including a number of celebrities, since their inception in 1902.
Relocated 6,000 devices in under 60 days - Avoided $500K penalty
Challenge
A major service provider based in Virginia faced a deadline to move out of a leased data center. Once the company decided on their data center strategy, they needed to relocate to a new facility on a compressed schedule or face a $500K penalty in addition to operations charges if they missed the deadline.
The company turned to TDS because the size, scope, complexity and risk of the project demanded an expert organization with the process, tools and people to get the job done right.
TDS Approach
This relocation project included about 6,000 devices representing over 80 different hardware manufacturers. A significant portion of the devices were sizeable, high-dollar network devices. All of the devices needed to be un-racked, cleaned, packed, transported, unpacked, re-racked, restarted and verified that full IT services had been restored.
In addition to the relocation oversight and execution services, TDS also managed the necessary vendor recertification for all of the devices. TDS also provided insurance to cover lost or damaged equipment from the time the equipment was handled until the time it was released back to the client.
Transition Manager
This project showcased Transition Manager, a TDS purpose built system of tools that facilitates relocation planning, improves communications, and simplifies the complexity of move-day logistics. TranMan is indispensible especially for multi-location moves/consolidations, as well as for multiple move bundle events.
With the Transition Manager system, each device is labeled with barcodes. Using barcode scanning handhelds, the move engineers scan and track the status of each individual device through as many as 30 pre-defined tasks depending on device type. The handhelds vigilantly enforce task orders and dependencies and instantly alert the user if they attempt an out-of-sequence task. Device statuses are updated in real time to a web based dashboard where all authorized parties can instantly view activities.
With Transition Manager, relocation project managers can review workloads, recognize bottlenecks, and direct teams as needed without the delays of typical manual updates. The client team can oversee the progress on their dashboard and view when a system is placed in its intended location and passed initial QA. The client team can continue to use Transition Manager to track the progress of client application tasks such as the startup and availability.
Benefits
This relocation project including 6,000 devices and over 80 different hardware manufacturers was achieved on time, on budget and allowed the client to avoid the $500,000 penatly moving out of the prior facility late.
The entire relocation project was completed in 9 phases over just 53 days. By carefully managing the move process with TDS methodology and best practices, there were only two minor hardware issues during the move - both were quickly resolved without service disruption.
This 99.97% success rate greatly exceeded client expectations and is the example of what can be achieved when a data center relocation is performed with the right people, process and tools to get the job done right.