Providing 99.9999% availability, TCN Data Hotels runs two data centres in the north of the Netherlands, each with a capacity of approximately 50MW. However, the company also shares its knowledge and experience by developing facilities for third parties, ranging from 1MW to more than 100MW. The data centre operator sets itself apart through low costs, economies of scale, energy efficiency, high availability, a secure and dedicated environment and good physical and virtual accessibility, anywhere, anytime.
For 18 years, TCN Data Hotels has used Vertiv UPS systems to provide its uninterruptible power supply.This has helped the operator to raise the bar for uptime, achieving six-nines availability. Although the UPS had never let TCN Data Hotels down, after almost two decades, the company wanted to upgrade to the latest developments in technology.
The solution
TCN Data Hotels opened a tender to replace its UPS systems and invited various suppliers to submit bids. Kees Loer, who is responsible for engineering at TCN Data Hotels, explains: “Reliability, excellent service and support, knowledge of what we do and energy efficiency were important criteria for us. In principle, these factors were more important than the cost. Reliability is essentially our core business because that’s what we deliver to our customers. All our equipment must, therefore, be of the highest quality so that we can guarantee the best availability for our clients.”
After thorough market research, TCN Data Hotels chose Vertiv Liebert EXL S1 systems. These UPS stood out for their transformer-free topology with up to 97% efficiency in double conversion mode. They are extremely compact and also offer reduced installation costs. Lower cooling requirements and a variety of other factors allow clients to optimise the PUE of their data centres by using these systems.
“We were convinced of the quality and reliability of these systems because we saw how they performed during stress tests at the Customer Experience Centre in Bologna, Italy. Moreover, they are incredibly efficient even at partial load, which is the most common situation in a data centre. Energy efficiency is important for us as, after all, every kilowatt counts,” comments Loer.
The compact size of the UPS was also identified as an advantage, as the new system is smaller than the old one. There has been no need to make any major changes to the data centre, therefore, while additional floor space is now available. TCN Data Hotels teams are working closely with Vertiv to completely replace the system without any downtime.
The results
Loer expects that the new UPS system will allow TCN Data Hotels to further improve energy efficiency. “We’ve been working on this for several years, and we will continue to do so. We’re now well-prepared for the future as the new systems offer state-of-the-art technology, which is beneficial for reliability and availability.”
