A vital part of any business is to protect their assets and that includes data centres or comms rooms. Below we have an example captured by our team. We conduct a 6 monthly clean for our customer and you can clearly see the need for a clean. Often the dangers of a dust contaminated data centre can be seen by the state of the floor. A clean data centre only adds an extra layer of protection against failure or malfunction.

Before

After

Tell us how big your data centre, server room or comms room is, and how often you want it cleaned. We’ll be able you provide you a quote. Email – Request form or call 0800 013 2182

Data Centre Basics for Dummies
Data Centre Cleaning 
8 Reasons why Capital offer the best data centre cleaning service 
What is Hardware Auditing? Hardware Asset Management & Inventory 
Hardware Auditing 
Preventative Maintenance 

The post Before & After Photos: Data Centre Cleaning appeared first on Capital.

We’ve put together a group of photos from a recent data centre clean. For a number of our medium size clients, this type of comms room is a familiar sight. A medium size room that is long overdue a technical clean. It’s clear to see the difference between the before and after images. The authentic nature of the photos portray the quality of a professional and technical clean by Capital. One of our most experienced specialists captured the various stages of the clean. This is just one example of the variety of cleans we conduct on a weekly basis. Each technical room we clean can vary in standards and we are able to adapt accordingly and apply a surface and deep clean to the highest level.

Before

During

After

Tell us how big your data centre, server room or comms room is, and how often you want it cleaned. We’ll be able you provide you a quote. Email – Request form or call 0800 013 2182

Data Centre Basics for Dummies
Data Centre Cleaning 
8 Reasons why Capital offer the best data centre cleaning service 
What is Hardware Auditing? Hardware Asset Management & Inventory 
Hardware Auditing 
Preventative Maintenance 

The post Before & After Photos: Data Centre Cleaning appeared first on Capital.

A company’s data centre is central and pivotal to its business operations. The physical size of the data centre is dependent on the type and size of the company itself and can range from a single rack of equipment right through to a several hundred thousand square feet stand-alone facility.

Data Centre Services

• Data Centre Facility Management Services
• Data Centre Cleaning
• Build Handover Cleans
• Data Wire Cabinet Cleaning

To ensure that this article is as descriptive as possible, the information below typically relates to those data centres that are substantial in size (and not just a single rack).

Flickr – Cisco Pics

What is a data centre?

A data centre is a dedicated facility where computer systems, data storage and associated telecommunications equipment are located as part of the information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure.  This ICT infrastructure is typically located within one or more data halls (sometimes called computer rooms) and is powered by electrical systems and cooled by mechanical systems.  This Mechanical & Electrical (M&E) equipment is located in rooms adjacent or close to the computer room(s).

If you entered a large data centre you may encounter the following main elements:

• • Security throughout the facility with specific focus at the personnel and vehicle entrances
  • Reception area – to confirm staff and visitors’ credentials and belongings
  • ICT Equipment Room(s) – typically called data halls or computer rooms
  • Telecommunications Room(s) – where telecoms carriers’ cables enter the building
  • Electrical Rooms
  • Mechanical Rooms (containing the air conditioning equipment)
  • Battery Room(s) (in case of power failure)
  • Generators (in case of power failure)

• Fire detection and suppression systems
• Operations Control Room

Flickr – Brocade Photos

Data Centre Considerations

Transaction Processing & Storage of Data – The main function of a data centre is to support the day to day computing needs of its business departments and transaction processing when dealing with their customers.  The scale of operation can range from the support of a small retail operation to a major global bank to the storage of messages, pictures and videos of a social media company.

Resilience – Dependent on the criticality of the operations run within a data centre, it is common to find duplications of all types of computer equipment, storage and networking systems.  This would include dual entrances into the building of one or more telecoms carriers.  There are also varying degrees of power and cooling resiliency – the more resilience, the more likely data centre operations will run effectively and provide customers with an uninterrupted service throughout the year.

Security – Two aspects of security exist – software and physical:

• Software; there are many and varied software methods employed to reduce or stop fraudulent access to sensitive and confidential information. These help to combat activities such as malicious intent to defraud, software viruses, hacking and phishing.
• Physical; this element addresses the potential for unauthorised access into premises. Many methods are used including effective design of the site, sufficient lighting, perimeter fencing, doors, windows and strategically placed bollards etc.  In addition, a security lodge at the entrance of the site with trained guards will control specialised gates for personnel and vehicles, electronic access control, CCTV, motion detection and intercom systems all add to the mechanisms to aid security.

As a rule, the more critical and extensive the software and hardware become, the more time and effort are required to provide optimal protection.

Fire Detection and Suppression – As all data centres consist of areas that contain IT equipment, electrical and cooling systems, there is a potential for a fire to break out in any location.  There are a number of methods that are used to detect smoke and, ultimately fire.  With the use of automated alerts and alarms, these can trigger the necessary fire suppression system to minimise and isolate the spread of damage and ensure operations can recommence as soon as possible.

Equipment Maintenance – In certain circumstances, there may be times when customer services are potentially interrupted due to major upgrades or regular maintenance of key equipment housed within the data centre.  During these activities, in-built resilience may be reduced but efforts will always be made to schedule them when there is least impact to the customer service – typically overnight.

Technology Advances – As the dependency of computing power and storage increases year on year, the physical amount of IT equipment needs to increase to accommodate these new requirements.  However, due to technological advances where servers and storage are becoming both faster and physically smaller, this goes someway to meeting these increases whilst still being able to fit into existing data centre buildings.  In certain circumstances, new facilities will indeed need to be built if there is not enough space, power and cooling.

Disaster Recovery – In order to ensure the integrity of user data as it is transacted, processed and stored, it is usual for this to be supported out of two data centres.  Users have access to both of these facilities and their data is also stored in both locations.  A catastrophic failure of one of these data centres should not affect user service as they will be redirected to the alternate site – wherever possible, with no knowledge or impact to the customer.

Ownership – Dependent on the size and internal policies of a company, there are several ways to support their computing needs.

• Self owned – A company builds and runs their own data centre(s).  These can be located within the same building as the business personnel or remotely in a stand-alone building dedicated to the operation of the data centre.
• Colocation – A growing trend – certainly for smaller businesses – is to give the operational activities of running a data centre over to a third party company – only the IT kit itself is owned and operated by their clients.  These (colocation) companies will sub-divide the internal space within the data centre into various usable areas that can accommodate the specific requirements of their clients.
• Cloud – In this option, not only is the facility operated by a third party but all of the IT equipment as well.  This allows a company to concentrate on their business itself and not be concerned with the purchase or operation of servers, storage or networking equipment.  The client takes advantage of the applications installed on the IT equipment running as a ‘service’ and ‘in the cloud’.

What is the structure/design of a data centre?

Data Hall(s) – At the heart of the data centre, there are one or more data halls that house the computers, data storage and networking equipment.  The majority of this equipment is small and is installed in purpose-built cabinets, however, in certain circumstances, the equipment is large enough to stand on its own.  All of this equipment collectively generates a lot of heat into the data hall that needs to be removed in order for the temperature within the data hall to remain within design specifications of the data centre.

Traditionally, all of this equipment is organised into rows of cabinets and placed on a raised floor.  This floor is made up of removable 600mm x 600mm floor tiles, which sit on pedestals at each corner of the tile, and dependent on design and size of room, the height of this under-floor space can typically be from 250mm to 1000mm.  This enables two things; 1) it allows cold air to be blown into the under-floor space from air handling units and distributed across the full floor space and directed through floor grilles (as part of the raised floor).  These grilles are placed at specific points that allow maximum efficiency for cooling the IT equipment in the room.  2) it provides a space for power and data cabling to be run.  The power cables provide electricity to the IT equipment and the data cables interconnect this equipment as required.

The above description is only one of many designs.  These can vary for a number of reasons but include the option to omit the raised floor and locate the equipment directly onto the floor ‘slab’.  Also, overhead cabling is sometimes preferred – this is routed via overhead cable trays to the relevant equipment.

In the data hall, you will also find services that provide lighting, smoke/fire detection and fire suppression, humidity control, access control and CCTV.

Outside of the data hall, there are systems that provide power and cooling to the data halls.

Electrical Infrastructure – Electric cables routed from the public power utility’s sub-station enter the data centre at very high voltage and travels through various transformers, automated and manual switches and distribution units and arrives at every piece of IT equipment cabinet at the correct voltage and capable of supporting all the equipment in that cabinet.

The electrical configuration will also include an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS).  This consists of a bank of batteries and automatic switches and, in case of power failure, the batteries seamlessly take over the load immediately following the power failure.  These batteries will only support the load for a few minutes but during this time, one or more diesel generators will automatically start and once fully running, they will take over the load until such a time when the utility power returns and is stable once again.

Mechanical Infrastructure – The cooling system consists of a number of different elements including external cooling towers or heat exchangers, chillers and air handling units – all interconnected using valves and pipework that either delivers cold water to where it is needed or removes hot water after it has been used to cool the data hall(s) and other necessary rooms.

Both the mechanical (cooling) and electrical systems can be configured to have various components that are not needed under normal operation but these will be used if a similar component develops a fault and has to be shut down.  So, with this built-in redundancy, there is no effect to the operation of the IT equipment and, therefore, no impact to customer service.  There are many various degrees of redundancy and resilience built into the M&E design – this being determined by the criticality of the business operations and processes.

Free Cooling – The power consumption to operate the air conditioning system is considerable, however, this can be reduced substantially by designing the system to take advantage of ‘free cooling’.  By incorporating specialist equipment, this enables the power-hungry chillers to be automatically powered down when the outside air is below a pre-determined temperature whilst the system operates as normal and continues to cool the required areas.

Why do data centres need to be kept cool?

Data centres need to be kept cool as, ‘heat accounts for 55% of electronic failure’ according to Cisco. Servers, data storage and networking equipment run twenty-four-seven every day of the year, generating extraordinary amounts of heat.  As cold air is sucked into the equipment (normally from the front), it passes over all of the electronic components (thereby keeping them from overheating) and is exhausted out from the back or the side of the equipment having increased in temperature considerably.  As an example (only), air at 20degC entering the equipment is exhausted at 40degC. The expelled hot air rises and finds it way to the air conditioning units located around the data hall where it is cooled so that it can be re-circulated through the floor grilles and back into the room at the correct temperature in order to re-enter the equipment again.  In order to protect against failure and slow processing, the equipment needs to be kept at a constant temperature every minute of every day.  As mentioned above, there are many cooling solutions available on the market that cater for a variety of data centres and technical rooms.

Flickr – Shawn Parker – tehgipster

An essential element in maintaining and protecting a data centre is regular cleaning of all technical spaces.  Data centre cleaning is now an essential practice of any room containing electrical equipment. It is a vital component in reducing the risk of critical equipment failure due to dust contamination.  Where there is evidence of debris or dust, due to the continuous movement of cooling air within the data halls and other electrical rooms, this contamination will quickly find its way to the air inlets of the equipment and clog up these areas as well as the fans which are used to pull the air through the kit.  Insufficient cold air travelling through the equipment will lead to overheating and this will result in the processing power of the equipment to be reduced or, in a worst-case scenario, for the kit to fail completely.

Frequency of cleaning can depend on the size of the technical area and the amount of contamination the room is exposed to – the latter happens every time a person enters the room.

During final commissioning of a new-build data centre, it is essential for a thorough builder’s clean to be undertaken as part of the development contract.  However, this is nowhere near the level of cleanliness that is required before IT and electrical equipment can be powered on.  A deep clean is necessary and should be conducted to the level of cleanliness appropriate for the facility in question.

It is impossible to maintain cleanliness to the desired levels due to the amount of human traffic entering the rooms on a daily basis either to maintain or install equipment; therefore, it is also important to carry out specialist cleaning on a regular basis (6 or 12 monthly) to preserve the desired level of cleanliness. The owner of the data centre will decide the level of cleaning they require.

There is more information regarding our data centre cleaning service here.

This extensively updated version has been written/edited by Roy Culligan, a global expert in critical facilities. 

Sources – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4

Tell us how big your data centre, server room or comms room is, and how often you want it cleaned. We’ll be able you provide you a quote. Email – Request form or call 0800 013 2182

Data Centre Cleaning 
8 Reasons why Capital offer the best data centre cleaning service 
What is Hardware Auditing? Hardware Asset Management & Inventory 
Hardware Auditing 
Preventative Maintenance 

The post Data Centre Basics for Dummies appeared first on Capital.

Meet the Team: Brannan – Cardiff

Cwrdd â’r tîm : Brannan o Gaerdydd

Home town: Barry

Yn byw yng: Nghaerdydd

Favourite place around Cardiff: Brannan is fond of the beaches around Southern Wales. Two of his favourite places are Barry Island and Llantwit.

Hoff le yng nghyffiniau Caerdydd: Mae Brannan yn hoff iawn o draethau De Cymru. Dau o’i ffefrynnau yw Ynys y Barri a Llanilltud Fawr.

Favourite team: Brannan prefers rugby over football. Hence his support of the Welsh rugby team. He is also a fan of road cycling.

Hoff dîm: Mae’n well gan Brannan rygbi na phêl-droed gan gefnogi tîm cenedlaethol Cymru. Mae’n hoff o feicio ffordd hefyd.

Favourite food: Brannan loves a Hyderabadi curry. He’s traveled far and wide, and this curry is his favourite.

Hoff fwyd: Mae Brannan wrth ei fodd â chyri Hyderabadi. Mae wedi teithio ledled y byd a’r cyri hwn yw ei ffefryn.

Favourite music: Brannan wanted us to mention a particular song despite liking all types of music. Rossini – Semiramide, Overture is a song that he finds soothing.

Hoff gerddoriaeth: Roedd Brannan am i ni grybwyll un gân neilltuol er ei fod yn hoff o bob math o gerddoriaeth Rossini – Agorawd Semiramide yw’r un sy’n mynd â’i fryd.

Hobbies: Brannan has variety of hobbies of which gardening is his favourite. When indoors he is a fan of computers and technology. Further more Brannan can play the piano, guitar and Jewish harp.

Diddordebau: Mae gan Brannan amryw o ddiddordebau a garddio yw’r ffefryn. Pan na fydd allan yn yr awyr agored mae’n mwynhau cyfrifiaduron a thechnoleg. Gall Brannan chwarae’r piano, gitâr a’r delyn Iddewig.

Services (Gwasanaethau)

Brannan covers computer cleaning, data centre cleaning, hardware auditing and preventative maintenance in Cardiff.

Mae Brannan yn ymdrin â glanhau a chlirio cyfrifiaduron, clirio canolfan ddata, archwilio caledwedd a gwaith cynnal ataliol yng Nghaerdydd.

Locations (Lleoliadau)

Capital cover all the surrounding areas and counties of Cardiff. Swansea, Newport, Glamorgan, Llanelli, Pontypridd, Abergavenny,  Gloucester, Cheltenham, Bristol and many more.

Mae Capital yn gweithio yn holl ardaloedd Caerdydd, Abertawe, Casnewydd, Morgannwg, Llanelli, Pontypridd, Y Fenni, Caerloyw, Cheltenham a Bryste a sawl dinas ac ardal arall.

Clients (Cleientiaid)

Client include small and large businesses, schools, colleges and government buildings.

Mae ein cleientiaid yn cynnwys busnesau mawr, ysgolion, colegau ac adeiladau’r llywodraeth.

Let us know what you want cleaning and get a free no-obligation quote now. Call 0800 013 2182 or request a quote online here.

Gadewch i ni wybod a oes gennych chi unrhyw beth sydd angen ei lanhau a rhoddwn ddyfynbris i chi yn ddi-rwym. Ffoniwch 0800 013 2182 neu gwnewch gais am bris ar-lein yma.

More informative and entertaining posts on our blog

Rhagor o wybodaeth difyr a diddorol ar ein blog.

The post Meet the Team: Brannan in Cardiff – Computer Cleaning Specialist appeared first on Capital.

The purpose of IT Cleaning in Universities is explained with examples connecting the past and present. We have used Cambridge, Manchester and Bath as examples.

Cambridge 1931

Educating a future great

Alan Turing considered by many to be the father of modern computing enters King’s College Cambridge as a Mathematics undergraduate.Turing’s concept that any single same machine could follow the same set of instructions to produce exactly the same result gives rise to the computer program. Turing would go on to be a primary driving force behind breaking the German naval signal codes at Bletchley Park during WWII. Latter work at Manchester looked at using computers to study Morphogenesis the biological theory of growth and form.

The physical side of computing like the hardware poses the eternal questions what do I need and when do I need to replace? Even extending the operational life by a year or two can save thousands. Regular cleaning extends the life of your IT Equipment.

Manchester 1957

State of the art computing

We’ve come a long way since this picture was taken of the ‘Baby’ at Manchester University in 1957 but the need to clean and maintain your systems remains. Manchester was at the forefront of technological innovation in the fifties and British Universities continue to cultivate the brightest of minds and technologies.

Today you will have made substantial financial investments by running multi-location, high availability IT Service Departments with the aim of providing your students with the technological environment for them to succeed. In our information driven society can you afford downtime for the sake of something as simple as regular cleaning?

Early Collaboration 1979

South Western Universities Regional Computer Centre – housed at Bath Campus

ICL 2980 network linking the computers at Bath, Bristol and Exeter Universities, University College Cardiff and the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. Total cost £2.5mio, around half of the go-it-alone route for individual Universities. The network had 12 disc stores of 20 million characters each. Collaboration is a recurring theme in the educational sector but businesses are resistant because they perceive a risk in losing proprietary information.

One thing really stands out to me in this photo…imagine having to clean those tiles. This is the main problem with the do-it-yourself method, most University IT staff don’t want to do the cleaning. You can provide them with all the materials but over time it tends not to get done. General cleaning will cover floors, desks and windows but they don’t touch the IT equipment. The Capital service ensures that your IT cleaning gets done thoroughly and regularly our reputation depends on it.

1980’s

Tape Deck Data Centre

A piece of nostalgia for those of us old enough to remember having to leave the tape recorder load and save programs in your bedroom during the early 80’s. Today you will be using petabytes of data storage facilities linked to multiple mirrored sites and some solid state physical on site memory. The exponential growth rate in storing and managing your data will be a major consideration in all future architecture and hardware decisions.

Thankfully we don’t have to rely on magnetic tape any more. How are you saving and backing up your information? Data centres are unique places, secret bunkers, old converted warehouses and modern, purpose-built facilities. Getting in can be a challenge, keeping them clean is essential for optimal operation. We are specialist data centre and computer room cleaners for nearly 30 years.

5 reasons why universities need IT cleaning and hardware auditing
7 Common ways germs are spread
7 Tips: How To Keep A Clean And Germ Free Office
Who has flu in your office?
10 Reasons why IT cleaning is better than office cleaning
What is Freshers’ Flu? Causes, symptoms and prevention
Dirty Keyboards and Smartphones contain more germs than toilet seats
Do you have a Seasonal Allergy? Hay Fever, Allergies, Rhinitis & Pollen
How many dirty keyboards produce this much dirt?

To find out more about Capital’s computer cleaning services, contact us on 0800 013 2182 or contact us here

The post University IT Services: Past and Present appeared first on Capital.

With nearly 3 decades of experience, we’ve worked in pretty much every sector imaginable. One of the most challenging and fulfilling is that of retail. The retail sector is challenging as working in-hours whilst the shop is open can compromise customer service and brand image of the store. Visible cleaning can get in the way and threaten the experience of the customer. It is about finding the balance to fulfill the needs of the organisation and customer.

Location and size can vary depending on the organisation. Retail environments range from large department stores to a small group of shops located nationwide. This means that each solution needs to be bespoke.

Furthermore each organisation has bespoke EPOS systems, IT equipment, technical rooms and facilities. This means a bespoke solution is the only option. With our experience we are able to offer solution we know that work.

We work closely with customers to learn of specific details and issues.  Once items and locations have been finalised, we need to agree where the equipment will be cleaned. Cleaning out-of-hours means equipment can remain on the shop floor. However whilst the shop is open, a safe and a hygienic space is required to conduct our specialist cleaning.

Size, location, type of equipment and logistics are our most common concerns when conducting cleaning in the retail sector. It must be stated that general cleaners are not professionally trained to clean IT equipment or technical facilities.

Reasons to conduct cleaning

Reducing the risk of equipment malfucntion and failure – Computer and data centre cleaning
Dirty Keyboards and Smartphones contain more germs than toilet seats
7 Common ways germs are spread
Research: How quickly do germs spread? Germs & Sanitisation

Example

One client we cannot mention due to contractual agreements requires us to clean till points across 200 sites nationwide. This 6-monthly clean requires the cleaning to be completed in time for Winter and Summer sales. Many of the challenges mentioned above had to be solved in order to provide an efficient clean. The main problem was the build-up of dust on till drivers which caused overheating leading failure or malfunction. Subsequently an engineer call-out-charge costs £1000 per visit. The best solution for us was to provide a regular clean on a 6 monthly basis. We conducted an initial clean in one store in order to plan for nationwide coverage. As a result driver malfunction has significantly reduced.

Examples of what can be cleaned

• Tills/ EPOS  – Touchscreen, till drivers, keyboard
• IT Hardware
• Store rooms
• Server and data rooms
• Technical rooms and facilities

Retail can cover

• Department stores
• Shopping centres
• Supermarkets
• Small shops
• Nationwide store coverage

Services for retail

• Computer cleaning
• Data centre cleaning
• Hardware auditing
• Preventative maintenance

Let us know what you want cleaning and get a free no-obligation quote now. Call 0800 013 2182 or request a quote online here.

More informative and entertaining posts on our blog

The post Retail: IT & Facilities Cleaning Service appeared first on Capital.