New IT Services data centres will meet University demands for computing power and data storage capacity
In early 2016, the IT Services Leadership team approved plans to build two new data centres in order to meet University demands for computing power and data storage capacity. The new facilities will also provide the space required to migrate existing IT hardware out of our aging Elms Road facility, with a view to significantly modernising and refurbishing it. This important and complex project will ensure we are ready for future IT challenges, and supports the University’s vision to become a leading global university.
The next few years are likely to see some major sea-changes, with the emergence of new IT solutions and supporting technologies. These new facilities will give us significant additional capacity and flexibility, taking us a long way towards meeting those future challenges.
Stuart Atkins, University Data Centre Manager
Each data centre will have a very different remit. One will provide a secondary site for the Colleges and Professional Services, and the other will focus on research computing — dedicated to high performance computing and research-led initiatives.
The new research computing data centre will be used to number-crunch large amounts of complex data-sets, such as those coming from genomics, and environmental and climate modelling. Processing huge amounts of data requires immense power, and generates a lot of waste heat. However, by using water-cooling technologies for our servers, we are well prepared.
Birmingham became the first HE institution in the country to embrace the type of water cooling technology we have here, when we commissioned our first Lenovo water-cooled cluster. By investing in more of this technology and having access to our own large estate of this kind of kit, it will put the University in a very advantageous position in the coming years. Using our cutting-edge water-cooled servers means processors can be run harder and more efficiently for longer, enabling the handling and computation of incredibly complex calculations from immense data-sets, with some of these processes running for several weeks at a time!
Stuart Atkins, University Data Centre Manager
A significant amount of hard work and planning has already taken place since the project began, involving collaboration between Core Infrastructure, Research Support, and Estates – in partnership with Couch Perry-Wilkes. This has led to the development of a robust set of designs based around the University’s current and future needs, and the appointment of construction and specialist fit-out partners to help successfully deliver what will be a significant capital expenditure project. At present, the project team is confident that both data centres will be ready by the spring of 2018.
You will be hearing more about this project over the coming months, so be sure to keep an eye on the IT Services news blog for updates!
Questions?
If you have a question about the data centre project, please contact Stuart Atkins, University Data Centre Manager, IT Services.