Overview
Background
The purpose of this project is to increase the resilience and efficiency of the datacentres at both the James Clerk Maxwell building at the King’s Buildings and the one in Appleton Tower, which is in the central area of the University. The plan is to improve both datacentres to a Tier 2 Uptime Institute Performance Standard, or as a minimum to improve operational resilience to an acceptable level which is similar to Tier 2.
This is being done in collaboration with our colleagues in Estates who have engaged an external consultancy to review the datacentres to provide a number of recommendations for improvements. A draft report has been produced and a further comprehensive report will be produced once additional requested information from the University is provided.
Scope
The items designated as in scope for this project are detailed below:
* Review and evaluate against the Uptime Institute Tier ratings at system and facility level
* Linking into the proposed Strategic Review of University of Edinburgh Estate Wide Data Centre Facilities to establish long term aims and benefits
* Data gathering and production of information not available that is required to investigate upgrade of the facilities
* Full electrical, mechanical and physical IT connectivity review for both existing Data Centres
* Production of Data Centre Handbook, including Single Point of Failures and an Issues and Actions log
* Recommendation reports for rectifying issues identified and developing the budget for measures to upgrade to the improved resilience levels required
Out of Scope
* The Advanced Compute Facility at Easter Bush is not managed by ISG and as such is not in scope for this project. This will be done as a separate piece of work.
Changes to Scope will be logged as a Change Request and recorded on the Project Scope Change page of the project website.
Objectives and Deliverables
Project deliverables are as follows:
* Provision from the University (ISG and Estates) of the following information for both Appleton Tower and JMCB Data Centres to AECOM in order for them to provide a comprehensive report of recommendations:
Information Required & Owner
1 Full set of electrical drawings - Estates
2 Full set of mechanical drawings - Estates
3 Accurate rack layouts with kW per Rack or kW per row - IS
4 Rack active equipment's list with ratings - IS
5 Accurate electrical main single line diagram - Estates
6 Equipment rack layouts - IS
7 Generator information - make, size, model, footprint and diesel tank information - Estates
8 UPS information including Make, Size, Model, Battery Information and Footprint - IS
9 The UoE expansion percentage for both data centres in the future - IS
10 Relative Humidity data - Estates
11 Chiller information including Make, Size, Model, Footprint and Performance/Efficiency Info - Estates
12 Cooling units including Make, Size, Model, Footprint, Control Set Points and any water requirements - Estates
13 Air handling units including Make, Size, Model, Footprint, Fan Ratings, Air Flow rates and information on numbers and types of coils, filters etc. - Estates
14 Controls and BMS information - Estates
15 Detail on the installed structured cabling systems within each Data Centre - IS
16 Detailed information on external data connectivity into datacentres - IS
* Comprehensive report from Aecom with recommendations and details for the following:
1. Improved power provision in JCMB and AT
2. Improved cooling efficiency at JCMB and AT
3. Improved lighting efficiency at JCMB and AT
4. Other activities required to achieve Tier 2 (or similar) status
* Production of full electrical, mechanical and physical IT connectivity documents/drawings at both data centres
* Production of a Data Centre handbook detailing Single Points of Failures and an Issues and Actions log
Benefits
The principle benefits that will be derived from this project are:
* Greater resilience for the Datacentres with no single points of failure in both cooling and power which would also allow for continued power resilience during periods of planned maintenance
* Reduction in energy costs
* Improved metering for both power and cooling in both datacentres to allow us to monitor our PUE figures more accurately
* Reduced carbon emissions
* Potential to provide commercial opportunities to host services on behalf of institutions (if Tier 2 status achieved)
Success Criteria
The success criteria will be defined once the report from Aecom has been received and next steps agreed.
Alignment with Strategic Vision
This project will deliver benefits, change and innovations in alignment with the IS Strategic Vision and the University's Strategic Vision for 2025. ** Check the Annual Plan on ITI SharePoint to see how the project's deliverables and benefits have been aligned to Run/Grow/Transform and the Strategic Themes **
Run / Grow / Transform
Which activity does the project contribute to? The project could be one or more of R/G/T.
IS Strategic Vision the main elements of the vision that this projects contributes to are highlighted in bold.
Student Experience |
Commentary |
Student experience and the unique Edinburgh offer | May enhance experience |
Online and distance learning leaders | May enhance experience |
Library national and international leadership | May enhance experience |
Research and Innovation |
|
Research IT and Data Sciences | May enhance experience |
Innovation | May enhance experience |
Collaborative leadership and social responsibility | May enhance experience |
Service Excellence |
|
Process improvement, efficiency, quality and best practice |
A clear improvement will be brought about in this area |
Long‐term IS strategic planning and linked professional services |
A clear improvement will be brought about in this area |
Information Security |
A clear improvement will be brought about in this area |
University's Strategic Vision for 2025 the main elements of the vision that this projects contributes to are highlighted in bold.
A unique Edinburgh offer for all of our students | Commentary |
• all of our undergraduates developed as student/ researchers with clear, supported pathways through to Masters and PhD | No effect |
• all our students offered the opportunity to draw from deep expertise outside their core discipline | No effect |
• a highly satisfied student body with a strong sense of community. | No effect |
Strong and vibrant communities within and beyond the University – making the most of our unique offer of world-leading thinking and learning within one of the world’s most attractive cities | No effect |
A larger, more international, staff who feel valued and supported in a University that is a great and collegial place to work, develop and progress | No effect |
More postgraduate students – underpinned by the best support in the sector to ensure we attract the brightest and best regardless of ability to pay | No effect |
A strong culture of philanthropic support focussed especially on our students and on outstanding research capabilities. | No effect |
Many more students benefiting from the Edinburgh experience (largely or entirely) in their own country – supported by deep international partnerships and world- leading online distance learning | No effect |
Sustained world leading reputation for the breadth, depth and interdisciplinary of our research supported by strong growth in research funding and strong international partnerships – drawing from well-established and less well developed sources |
No effect |
An estate that matches expectations, responds flexibly to changing student and staff needs, and showcases the University |
No effect |
A deeper and earlier collaboration with industry, the public sector and the third sector – in terms of research; knowledge exchange; and in giving our students the best possible set of skills for their future |
No effect |
Digitial Transformation | Commentary |
---|---|
Describe how the changes this project delivers will contribute to the digitial transformation of the Service | No effect |
IS Change Programme - How will this project's Deliverables and Benefits promote the Themes
Indicate if the project deliverables and benefits contribute to the themes with the IS Change Programme.
IS Change Programme Theme | How the project deliverables and benefits contributes to change |
Project Management |
The project manager assigned to the project has been brought in externally for both ISG and Estates |
Working Together |
This is a collaboration between Estates and ISG |
Standards and Technical Leadership |
The project will be executed in line with standard project management practice and Prince2 methodology. |
Staff Learning and Development |
As above |
Service Based Culture | |
Equality and Diversity | |
Innovation | |
Flexible Resourcing |
External consultancy is being used as well as being internal resource |
Communication and Branding |