Bridgwater College Select Workspace

Technology to Provide an Engineered

Pre-Fabricated Modular Data Centre as

an Integral Feature of their Digital

Services Upgrade

Bridgewater College Select Workspace Technology to

provide an Engineered Pre-Fabricated Data Centre as an

integral feature of their Digital Services Upgrade

Located in the heart of Somerset, Bridgwater College has gained a

reputation for being a successful provider of education and

training both regionally and nationally.

As one of the leading educational establishments in the South

West, the college continuously endeavours in inspiring people to

achieve success by providing vast opportunities for learning and

skill development within a welcoming and supportive

environment.

With over £30 million invested in Bridgwater College’s facilities in

recent years, including a state-of-the-art Energy Skill Centre, this

innovative college continues to upgrade and improve its campus

to provide the superb resources required for its students and staff

to achieve and excel.

Client Situation

As part of a campus wide digital services upgrade,

Bridgwater College identified their legacy data

centre as the primary location required for an

essential refresh and enhancement.

The college’s progressive approach in the

modernisation of their IT infrastructure had strict

and defined objectives with solutions having to

meet all the below criteria:

The solution must be energy efficient,

The solution has to be economical to deploy,

The solution must provide continuous and

predictable power to all mission critical

systems,

The solution must have a real-time monitoring

capability,

The solution must be scalable to allow for

future growth.

Design Overview

Following a strict tender process, Bridgwater

College selected data centre specialist Workspace

Technology to undertake the design and

installation of their desired IT infrastructure

solution.

Bridgewater College Summary Requirements:

Upgrade and replace legacy data centre

infrastructure,

Increase data centre compute capacity,

Improve data centre power infrastructure

resilience,

Design and install a full data centre monitoring

system

The end result being the provision of an energy

efficient IT infrastructure platform that Bridgwater

College can operate effectively and that can grow

over time to match any future increasing compute

demands.

Workspace Technology deployed their

EcoDesign™ Energy Efficiency Strategy to design

the required Data Centre Infrastructure upgrade.

Creating the Solution

Workspace Technology scheduled a number of meetings with the college’s

IT Department to fully understand their requirements in preparation for

the design phase of the project. As a result Workspace Technology

provided several design solutions detailing the benefits and costs for each,

and after careful consideration Bridgwater College selected Workspace

Technology’s Pre-Fabricated Modular Data Centre Design as the best suited

solution.

Why was the Pre-Fabricated Modular Data Centre Solution

the ideal System for Bridgwater College?

The college’s IT Department highlighted that the key requirements for their

solution needed to be ‘Economical and Quick to Deploy’, ‘Highly Energy

Efficient’ and have the ability to be ‘Easily Scalable’ allowing their IT

Infrastructure to grow in line with the future compute demands and

scheduled annual budgets.

Workspace Technology Ltd.’s Pre-Fabricated modular data centre provided

the college with the perfect solution, providing significant reduction in both

cost and time to deploy, compared to a traditional build.

Benefits of Workspace Technology’s Proposed Modular Data Centre

Solution for the College included:

Reduced Capital Outlay

Rapid System Deployment

Scalable ‘Pay As You Grow’ Infrastructure

Pre-Engineered Technology

Environmentally Responsible & Energy Efficient Infrastructure

Agile Future Proofed Design to Meet the Increasing Compute

Demands

Pre-Fabricated Modular Data Centre (MDC) Configuration

The Pre-Fabricated Data Centre is a diverse modular self-contained system

delivered to site complete with cabinets, cooling and power distribution.

Based on Workspace Technology’s ‘EcoDesign’ strategy, the MDC is

designed to reduce carbon emissions through design and technology.

Workspace Technology’s Pre-Fabricated Modular Data Centre architecture

allows the MDC pods to be pre-engineered, tested and commissioned prior

to delivery with final infrastructure commissioning on site.

All that was required from Bridgwater College was the:

Number of Cabinets Required ■ Rack Densities of Each Cabinet

Required Redundancy Level ■ Energy Efficiency Target

Bridgwater College opted for a 6x Cabinet N+1 Modular Configuration

with excellent energy efficiency levels.

Typically a Modular Data Centre will reduce overall capital

expenditure compared to a tradition large scale data centre by

over 40%.

Project Delivery

Workspace Technology’s Pre-Fabricated Modular Data Centre (MDC)

solution was delivered to the College ‘Server Ready’ – pre-engineered,

wired and ready for instant deployment of servers.

The Pre-Fabricated Modular Data Centre system was delivered complete

with:

APC NetShelter SX High Performance Cabinets

APC Intelligent Metered Rack PDUs

Schneider Electric Switchgear

Mitsubishi Ceiling Mounted Cooling

Netbotz Environmental Monitoring Systems

StruxureWare Data Centre Expert and Data Centre Infrastructure

Management (DCIM) Software

As the Pre-Fabricated MDC was built off site and delivered ‘server ready’,

the deployment time from initial order to delivery took only weeks,

accelerating the deployment of the college’s IT initiatives and minimises

disruption to operation.

Project Team Success

A strict design review and agreement regime was implemented by

Workspace Technology to ensure that the delivery team were able to

engineer absolute levels of accuracy, which paid back many times over by

ensuring first time success resulting in the project being completed in time

and within budget.

The implementation of risk analysis to every potential failure scenario

enabled the team to eliminate the loss of customer service through

engineering excellence and innovation.

The project team left no stone unturned by implementing ‘what if’ analysis

strategy as part of the design phase, and by applying a ‘getting back to

basics’ method, Workspace Technology ensured electrical and cooling

design principles were correctly applied with appropriate discrimination

and safety margins to deliver a robust data centre design.

Complete Integration & Support Services

Bridgwater College is supported by Workspace Technology’s Engineering &

Support Services Division via a comprehensive maintenance contract,

which includes 24/7 planned preventative maintenance (PPM) and

emergency callout services, as well as continuous optimisation services.

Workspace Technology’s Engineering & Support Services will ensure that

the College’s mission critical infrastructure remains fully operational and

performs at its optimum ability throughout its lifetime.

About Workspace Technology Workspace Technology’s Data Centre Solutions division is dedicated to

delivering industry-leading service, support & optimisation for our

customers across the UK. By engaging you and taking the time to

understand the business and performance related issues Workspace

Technology is able to effectively address the demands of your business.

Workspace Technology welcomes this opportunity to connect with you as a valued

customer. We would like to share our vision and expertise through a partnership

approach. Our ability to deliver integrated, scalable, energy efficient solutions has

made us the preferred choice for many public sector and commercial businesses

today.

Operating throughout the UK, Workspace Technology offers clients an enthusiastic

and refreshing approach, combined with teamwork that takes performance and

service to new levels of excellence.

Further details of Workspace Technology’s products and services can be found at

www.workspace-technology.com

Technology House, 5 Emmanuel Court, Reddicroft, Sutton Coldfield,

West Midlands, B72 1TJ

Tel: 0121 354 4894 Fax: 0121 354 6447

email: sales@workspace-technology.com

www.workspace-technology.com