A high profile and heavyweight project, the redesign of the IT resilience backbone includes the deployment of a modular datacentre solution. The project has proved 100% successful and the recently received Datacentre Dynamics Award for Innovation that the Modular solution has won is testament to Mavin Powercube’s understanding and capabilities.
THE CLIENT
London City Airport experienced record growth in 2007 with over 2.9 million passengers travelling through the terminal. This figure represents a 23 per cent increase over 2006.
With an increasing focus on East London and the Thames Gateway, especially following the awarding of the 2012 Olympic Games to London, the role of London City Airport as a key regenerator and major employer has strengthened further. London City Airport is only 3 miles from the main Games location in Stratford and by 2010 will have direct, frequent DLR services to the heart of the Olympic village.
London City Airport’s Master Plan sets out our growth and development plans through to 2030. It has been developed in response to the Government’s Aviation White Paper, ‘The Future of Air Transport’, which requires specified airport operators to outline their vision for growth up to 2030. The airport Master Plan demonstrates that we can accommodate 8 million passengers by 2030 to support the growth of London and the continued demand for business travel, whilst also remaining good local neighbours and maintaining an excellent environmental record.
Since the recent acquisition of London City Airport by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP); the focus has very much been centred upon evolving the airports existing operational infrastructure, in a tangible format that will continually deliver an efficient and effective service to all LCY’s customers.
WHY LCA CHOSE MAVIN POWERCUBE
During early 2006 we attended the Business Continuity exhibition, held at Excel in London. It was here that we discovered Mavin Powercube’s bespoke modular data centre and instantly recognised the innovative design as the ideal solution to our requirements.
The decision to implement Mavin Powercube’s CMDC solution was driven by the necessity to partner with a datacentre design and build specialist, who would work proactively throughout the project’s lifecycle; deliver an end-to-end solution, and ensure that the operational result met with the business’ evolving requirements and expectations.
We quickly initiated engagement with Mavin Powercube’s datacentre design and build team, who, along with LCY, qualified the high-level technical parameters and business’ expectations, to enable the initial Board approval and necessary RTT to be released.
The Flexible Approach
From outset until completion and final handover, regular weekly site meetings were held between ourselves, the primary contractor Mavin Powercube and AA Lovegrove our preferred building and electrical contractors. The level project management delivered via Mavin’s Liz Perman was nothing short of exceptional. Liz Permans’ understanding and methodical documentation of all the projects elements assured that all communication was timely and correct, thus everyone involved was able to operate effectively and to the consistent high standard necessary.
Using a mixture of VISIO and CAD software, the detailed design for the modular structure itself, plus the internal power and cooling set-up were determined to ensure optimal use of space and energy-efficient operation. Built entirely from scratch to our exact requirements Initially delivering 60KW of redundant power across a 12 rack in-line format, the module incorporates a 3+1 Eaton Williams redundant cooling set-up, with the familiar hot aisle / cold aisle format. The MDC also has optional hot and cold aisle containment capability which may be brought in to operation at a later date.
All the usual elements you would find in a traditional build datacentre are included:
• VESDA
• Access Control
• Fire Suppressant
• MDC ready for pick-up outside Mavin’s build plant
THE RESULTS
“The project has proved 100% successful and the recently received Datacentre Dynamics Award for Innovation that the Modular solution has won is testament to Mavin’s understanding and capabilities.
With the scalable nature of our MDC we are able to deploy future IT technology quickly and easily. The option to expand the existing modules physical capacity is possible with an additional module. Connection to the on-site generators is imminent. With regard to deploying another Disaster Recovery layer; we are considering preparing a second site with ground plinths, & separate power and network connectivity, to enable the re-positioning of the MDC within a 48 hour period.
The project has proved 100% successful and the recently received Datacentre Dynamics Award for Innovation that the Modular solution has won is testament to Mavin’s understanding and capabilities.”
London City Airport Testimonial
The decision to implement Mavin Powercube’s Modular Datacentre solution was driven by the necessity to partner with a data centre design and build specialist who would work proactively throughout the project’s lifecycle, deliver an end-to-end solution and ensure that the operational result met with the business’ evolving requirements and expectations. The project has proved 100% successful and the recently received Datacentre Dynamics Award for Innovation that the Modular Solution has won is testament to Mavin Powercube’s understanding and capabilities.