Tender invited for a data center site in Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong

The Government is now invited tenders for a site in Tseung Kwan O designated for the development of a high-tier data center.

A spokesman for the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer said, "Data centers are critical infrastructure supporting Hong Kong's continuous economic development, in particular for the pillar industries such as financial services, trading and logistics, as well as emerging sectors like creative media and contents."

"With advanced telecommunications infrastructure, reliable power supply with comparatively low tariff, and a sound legal system with safeguards for free flow of information and protection of data privacy, Hong Kong is home to many high-tier data centers."

"The Government is committed to fostering Hong Kong's position as the prime location for high-tier data centers in the Asia Pacific region."

The site, Tseung Kwan O Town Lot No. 122 in Area 85, Wan Po Road, has an area of about 10 300 square metres, with a permissible gross floor area of not less than 26 400 square metres and permissible building/structure height not exceeding 60 metres above Hong Kong Principal Datum. It is about 500 metres from the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, where there is a cluster of 12 high-tier data centers and is served by advanced telecommunications networks, two submarine cable landing stations and two power substations supporting the Tseung Kwan O area. It is an ideal location for high-tier data center for end-users, operators as well as cloud service providers.

Details of the tender including the Conditions of Sale are available at the Lands Department's website: www.landsd.gov.hk/en/landsale/coming.htm .

Interested parties should submit the tenders in accordance with the requirements specified in the tender documents no later than noon on October 4, 2013.


Adopted from Hong Kong Government Press Release -
http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201306/28/P201306280202.htm

Singapore continues to drive the demand for data centers

A majority or 78 percent of Singapore’s IT decision makers who participated in a recent survey plan to definitely or probably expand their data centers in 2013, with 82 percent planning for 2014. More than two thirds of the respondents who plan to expand this year prefer to locate their new data centers in Singapore as compared to other countries in the region. The research, conducted by Campos Analysis & Research on behalf of Digital Realty Trust, Inc., indicates that 83 percent will use a partner for design and build or to lease wholesale space, or both.

Of the Singapore-based respondents in the survey, 11 percent cited owning six or more data centers. Approximately 67 percent said they had built a new data centre in the past 24 months. Of those with plans to expand in 2013, 61 percent say they plan to expand in more than one location.

Commenting on the survey results, Kris Kumar, Senior Vice President and Regional Head of Asia Pacific for Digital Realty, said, “It is clear that Singapore’s data centre users are driving their expansion initiatives forward to manage the exponential growth in IT applications and data storage. With the high costs of individual new construction and the limited number of appropriate new sites, IT decision makers see the value of working with a data centre provider such as Digital Realty to fulfill these requirements.”

The average desired space and power requirements for data centre expansion initiatives are 14,000 square feet and 5.4kW per rack respectively. The research also indicates that the respondents’ need to track and manage data center power usage effectiveness (PUE) has increased over the last year. Most companies (80 percent) likely to expand in 2013 are extremely or very confident that they can comply with future energy (86 percent) or carbon emission regulations (82 percent).

“The continued focus on energy efficiency will drive change in the type of requirements customers have for their data centers,” explained Kumar. “This will highlight the capabilities of solution providers, such as Digital Realty, that can deliver data centre designs that are not only resilient, but also extremely efficient.”


Adopted from Networks Asia (www.networksasia.net)

Data Center Risk Index 2013

Three real estate services and engineering consultancy groups, Cushman & Wakefield, Hurleypalmerflatt and Source8 , announce a regional Data Center Risk Index 2013. Based on energy cost, international bandwidth, the ease of doing business, etc., the Data Center Risk Index shows country ranking according to the risks likely to affect successful data center operations.

US and UK are continuously ranked the 1st and the 2nd. Sweden, Germany and Canada are ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th. Hong Kong, with the advanced telecommunications infrastructure and stable political and business environment, is ranked 6th around the world.

 

 

About The Blogger

Strategic Media Asia (SMA, www.stmedia-asia.com) is a leading technical training and event organizer for corporations specialized in data center design & build, E&M facilities, telecom, ICT, finance and colocation. Currently, SMA delivers a series of data center trainings and qualification programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

All these events / training seminars are designed to support the leadership needs of senior executives (Chief Information Officers, IT Directors / Managers, Facilities Managers, company decision makers, etc.) and to provide useful and applicable knowledge.

For detail, please visit SMA's Technical Training Seminars & Data Center Qualification Programs.

Investing HK$2.8 Billion to Build a Largest Data Center in Hong Kong

One of the leading owners and operators of wholesale carrier neutral data center space in Europe and Asia-Pacific, Global Switch, has acquired a site on the Tseung Kwan O (TKO) Industrial Estate in Hong Kong to build a Tier III plus data center.

It intends to invest around HK$2.8 billion over the full course of the development, with further investment arising from specific customer requirements. This investment to build Hong Kong's largest data center is in response to strong customer demand, and is consistent with the strategy of expanding in key regional IT and connectivity hubs.

Once built the data center will offer 35,000 sq m (375,000 sq ft) gross space with 45MVA of utility power and have best-in-class environmental credentials targeting a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum Rating. Construction is planned to start in 2013, with the first phase of space becoming operational in Q1 2015.

The hosting services market in Asia Pacific is expected to grow by 10% to 15% CAGR over the next three to five years, on the back of strong economic growth, business expansion in the region, demand for disaster recovery facilities and corporations moving toward adopting cloud services. Hong Kong, as one of the key data center hubs in Asia, is expected to see strong demand in particular from the banking, financial services and insurance and trading and logistics sectors.

How to Upgrade your Data Center and Critical Facilities?

An aging data center may no longer be able to meet the power, cooling and structural demands of advancing technologies, but few businesses have the time or the capital to build new facilities.

Fortunately, organizations can extend the working life of their data center by renovating the facility by making changes that cost little to nothing. Data center upgrades allow a business to adopt new standards and improve existing infrastructures to introduce new technologies with better performance and more efficiency.

There are several data center design changes that can extend the life of your facilities and data center


(1) Elevate your data center temperature



The data center's working temperature has long been a subject of myth and legend, but research and initiatives from industry organizations such as  the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) have found that data centers don't need to be cooled like meat lockers. Modern servers and other computing equipment can operate reliably at elevated temperatures.

A 2008 ASHRAE document recommended a temperature range from 65 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit for Class 1 data center equipment. Recommendations in 2011 broadened the allowable temperature range from 59 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit for enterprise-class servers and 41 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit for appropriately designed servers and other equipment.

In addition, the extended temperature range also makes it possible to adopt alternative or supplemental cooling schemes (at least during certain parts of the day), such as free air or air/water economizers -- cooling technologies that might not have even been considered when your data center was first built.


(2) Upgrade servers and systems for better consolidation and efficiency



Servers consume the majority of energy in a data center -- primarily in the processors and memory components. Organizations can gain significant energy efficiency by upgrading servers to more efficient models during normal technology refresh cycles where capital is already budgeted. The newer server may also provide greater amounts of memory, allowing a virtualized server to provide much higher levels of consolidation than earlier servers.

This means the same amount of computing work can be done with far fewer servers, saving equipment capital and generating only a fraction of the heat for a data center's cooling system to contend with.


(3) Change the system layout and rack layout for power and cooling efficiency


It is a matter of Hot Aisle & Cold Aisle.

Suppose you had a traditional data center where a large computer room air-conditioning unit (CRAC) cooled the room. Now imagine that a server refresh and consolidation project slashed the number of servers by 75%. With just a quarter of the original server count in this example, it may be possible to rearrange the remaining servers in far fewer racks and use containment to enclose the remaining servers. This limits the air volume that must be cooled, significantly reducing the amount of mechanical cooling needed and allowing for alternative cooling technologies.

In other cases, under-floor cooling may be more effective by reworking the electrical cabling, network cabling and water lines that cross below the floor.

A poorly designed and haphazard layout can obstruct cooling air distribution, making more work for the mechanical cooling unit. In addition, any water distribution increases the potential for damage to electrical and network wiring, so many organizations opt to route electrical and network wiring overhead -- leaving water lines under-floor -- and may even upgrade network cabling to allow for future bandwidth improvements.

Don't overlook the rack space itself. For example, fully populating racks can concentrate more equipment in less space, making any containment -- and associated cooling -- more effective. And some racks may not be deep enough to accommodate new generations of computing equipment. This can lead to wiring congestion and airflow problems.


(4) Consider supplemental or alternative cooling schemes



Mechanical heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are a staple of the modern data center, but they are also costly, energy-hungry and a potential single-point of failure in data center availability. If the cooling system fails, a data center can overheat in a matter of minutes.

Data center renovations often focus on ways to supplement or replace traditional mechanical cooling with alternative equipment or methods that are enabled by higher operating temperatures, better containment and less equipment.

Popular alternative cooling approaches include chilled water heat exchangers (water economizers), evaporation cooling and even free air cooling (air economizers).

These methods, however, require affordable environmental resources that are suited to the task and available for much of the day. For example, using cold lake water to drive a water economizer requires a nearby lake. In many cases, these alternative methods are added to supplement traditional HVAC, lowering run times and power needs.

Organizations that must continue using HVAC are taking a fresh look at the cooling system's capacity and efficiency. The potential problem is that a large, aging HVAC system runs even less efficiently if it is used infrequently; easing the cooling load on your legacy HVAC system might actually cost more and be harder on the mechanical system.

This means that raising operating temperatures and reducing the amount of computing equipment may justify a smaller cooling system.

(5) Consider availability and reliability issues in power distribution

Upgrading the uninterrupted power supply (UPS) systems to a newer model can improve UPS energy efficiency and provide more intelligent power monitoring/measurement capabilities that complement a data center infrastructure management scheme.

When a UPS is replaced, it is hopefully with a higher efficiency system, and may also become a redundant [N+1] configuration and possibly even a modular or incremental capacity solution. Power equipment upgrades may spawn broader wiring and distribution upgrades in older buildings.

It is also a common practice to upgrade in-rack power distribution units (PDUs) to add intelligent power management, along with rack temperature and humidity monitoring. With UPS and PDU upgrades together, an organization can gather energy use data and make more informed decisions about power costs in the data center.

(6) Finally, consider the availability of data center power

Organizations with aging, unreliable or overtaxed power grids may consider local co-generation options to ensure uninterrupted power. Traditional diesel generators are quickly giving way to more efficient and environmentally friendly alternatives, including solid oxide fuel cells such as Bloom Energy Servers or solar arrays to produce some amount of local electricity. If it's not possible to install local co-generation on-site, it may be possible to contract with regional co-generation providers for supplemental electricity.

About The Blogger

Strategic Media Asia (SMA, www.stmedia-asia.com) is a leading technical training and event organizer for corporations specialized in data center design & build, E&M facilities, telecom, ICT, finance and colocation. Currently, SMA delivers a series of data center trainings and qualification programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

All these events / training seminars are designed to support the leadership needs of senior executives (Chief Information Officers, IT Directors / Managers, Facilities Managers, company decision makers, etc.) and to provide useful and applicable knowledge.

For detail, please visit SMA's Technical Training Seminars & Data Center Qualification Programs.

The 2nd IDC Safari Hong Kong 2013

IDC Safari is a one-day business promotion and experience/knowledge sharing event for the IDC Industry. It aims to create an interactive environment for service providers, colocation providers, solution providers, consultants, agents, and end-users of Data Center services to meet and exchange information through exhibitions, conferences, and to generate new business.

Date : 9 May 2013 ( Thursday)
Time : 9:00 a.m – 5:00 p.m (Registration begin at 8:30 a.m)
Venue : Silverbox Ballroom, 1/F, Hotel ICON
Address : No. 17 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong


For detail, please visit - http://events.hkcolo.net/event/14/online_main.php?eventid=14


Target Audience

• Cloud Computing Companies
• Cabling and Network Solution Providers
• C-Level Executives
• (Chief Executive Officer / Chief Information Officer / Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer / Chief Technology Officer)
• Data Centre Operators
• Data Centre Solution Providers and Vendors
• Data Center Facilities Managers and Engineers
• Data Centre Managers and Directors
• Data Centre Project Managers
• Data Centre Consultants
• Data Network Cabling Companies
• Finance Directors and Managers, Business Analysts
• IT Directors, Project Managers, and Consultants
• Information Technology and Infrastructure Personnel
• ISPs / ICPs
• MEP Professionals, Design Build Consultants, and Architects
• Mechanical and Electrical Consulting Engineers
• Network, Cabling and Communication Engineers and Integrators
• NOC, SOC and DOC Personnel
• Power Management and Power Distribution Companies
• Server, Storage and Application Administrators
• Software, Systems and Applications Providers
• System Integrators
• VM Ware Service Providers

Designing a Structured Cabling System for your Data Center

Choosing the right cabling and cable management system is one of the most important aspects of data center design. Reliability, in combination with extreme density, should guide your choice of products. Data center longevity is also a consideration, an example is when it upgrades to 40G and 100G Ethernet.


Tight Buffer Cable

Cabling infrastructure is the backbone of your data center. The rugged characteristics of tight buffer cabling reduce risk of downtime caused by cable failure. With increasing density and the subsequent increased risk of strain on your cabling system, reliability is essential when evaluating cabling needs. As fiber becomes the prominent transport medium in the data center, it’s important to research and select the latest in data center products and technologies. Choose companies with experience in developing and supplying cable products perfected for the most critical communications applications.


Preterminated Fiber and Copper Cabling Systems

The sheer number of connections in the data center has increased dramatically and will continue to do so with the advent of the 40G and 100Gbit/s Ethernet standards. These new standards require increased fiber counts for a single data connection beyond the conventional duplex configuration. Look for the highest density of connectivity. There are currently products on the market that will support upward of 144 LCs for fiber optic installs and 48 ports of Cat6A copper in one rack unit. In order to accommodate this, preterminated copper and fiber cables are the preferred choice for several reasons.


First, the operator is less of a factor in the termination process required for either fiber optic or copper cables since no special skill set is required for termination or testing of preterminated cables. This eliminates the on-site polishing and termination for high count fiber optic links on the optical side, as well as the concern of alien crosstalk testing on the copper side. No external contractors are needed, saving your company both time and money.


Secondly, preterminated cables eliminate excess loops, as they are cut to specified lengths. Preterminated copper or fiber optic cables can be customized to your specific needs for easy, perfectly cabled installation, eliminating the problem of excessive slack storage.


10G Copper Cat 6A PoE Ready Preterminated Cabling System

If your data center supports PoE enabled devices, such as cameras for surveillance and security or IP telephony, then copper cabling may be an appropriate choice for your facility. Choose products that allow you to build a foundation that will support both high-speed data and provide device power simultaneously. The migration to fiber in the effort to eliminate concerns of attenuation on long cabling runs and alien crosstalk effects for high density applications leaves the need for infrastructure supporting high bandwidth PoE devices somewhat out in the cold. Preterminated Cat6A panels and cabling systems offer the foundation you are looking for to support current and future PoE devices.


Integrated Cable Management

Cable management is the key for accessibility and a clean visual appearance of any data center. In recent years, this has become even more pressing as the value of rack space has driven densities for both copper and fiber applications. Combined with the high data counts for the 40G and 100GBit/s Ethernet standards, cable management has seen an unprecedented level of interest to accommodate the densities of today and anticipated densities of tomorrow. Ideally, choose products that ensure accessibility of all ports, have horizontal and vertical management mechanisms on the front of the panel, and smooth coupling mechanisms between the cassettes and the panel chassis.


Upgradability

A solid technical roadmap is key to installing infrastructure that is suitable for your current needs, as well as accommodating both anticipated and unanticipated needs for the future. Spend some time now researching the marketplace and choose products designed specifically with this in mind. Choose fiber cassettes that are upgradable from 10G Ethernet to either 40G or 100G, and panels suitable for all technologies. Preterminated trunk cables used for 10G today can be leveraged into 40 or 100G tomorrow, simply by installing the respective new technology cassettes that suit your bandwidth needs.



Other Factors that you should consider




Airflow in and around cabling

While not typically considered green IT, cabling can impact airflow and, in turn, data center cooling costs. A well-designed cable conveyance system enables easy access for maintenance while allowing cool air to efficiently circulate where needed. Improved airflow means air conditioning doesn’t have to work as hard, which reduces power consumption and energy costs.


Don’t create problems by cost-cutting

In the quest to reduce costs, there can be a temptation to cut corners with lower quality cable and connectors. This can cause problems. For example, consolidating too much onto a single resource or cable can create a single point of failure. Invest in quality cabling to reduce total cost of ownership.Without cable and associated management, servers, storage and network devices aren’t able to communicate with each other, access the power they need or be monitored. Proper cable management can help maximize the return on your investment in technology.

Data Center Design & Critical Facilities - Join the Training Seminar & Event Series

Half Day Event on IT & Critical Infrastructure

ICT technology is widely used in a city’s infrastructure development, such as large scale data centres, building and architectural modelling, optimal electric power generation and distribution and supervisory control and data acquisition of railway and transportation systems. There are more and more stakeholders such as researchers, developers, providers, and applications/users involved in the corresponding technology development.

The half day event aims to provide a forum for government officials, university researchers, and key industry professionals to share with other fellow colleagues the latest ICT technology development and applications, as well as its potential for local ICT industry.

Date: 12 April 2013
Venue: The Hong Kong Productivity Council Building
Organizer: ICT Section of IET Hong Kong and OGCIO, the HKSAR Government

Event Detail: http://www.theiet.org/events/local/175263.cfm

Training Seminars on Data Center Facilities & HVAC Design
Bundled with Data Center Technical Visit on 28 March 2013

Further to the half day event, we introduce critical infrastructure systems that support a typical data center and prepare individuals to fully understand the main components that facilitate data center design & build by exploring the standards of TIA-942 and Uptime Tier levels.

The training seminars explain key challenges and consider different criteria, from design, testing, commissioning, sustainability and efficiency, of HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) system in a data center.

Part I – Data Center Facilities Design and Infrastructure Engineering
Date: 18 – 19 July 2013 (Wednesday - Thursday, 2-day)

Part II – HVAC Design and Cooling Specialist for Data Center
Date: To be announced very soon

Target Audience:
Data Center Operators, Consultants, Facilities Managers, E&M Engineers, IT Management, etc.

Time: 10:00 – 17:30
Venue: 1st Floor, Innocentre, 72 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
Special Rate: 10% Discount on Registration Fee

Speakers:

C.K. Chan, CEng, MIET, MHKIE, CSME, REW H0 C0
Edmond Fok, CEng, IntPE, MCIBSE, MIFireE, REW H0 C0
Herman Poon, CEng, Eur. Ing., CITP, MBCS, MHKIE
Joe Tang, CEng, MIET, MCIBSE, MASHRAE

Worldwide Accredited Data Center Qualification
Jointly Organised with CNet Training, UK

Certified Data Center Management Professional (CDCMP)
Core Unit (3-day) + Advanced Professional Unit (4-day)
Accredited by BTEC, Edexcel and BICSI

Commencing Date: 19 June 2013

Instructors from UK will lead the whole program:
http://www.cnet-training.com/delivered-by-expert-instructors/

Enrolment & Registration Details

Please refer to our website (www.stmedia-asia.com/trainings.html) or a registration form attached. A data center technical visit (sponsored by KDDI Hong Kong Limited) will be arranged. For detail, please visit www.stmedia-asia.com/data-center-tour.html

Data Center CFD Modeling becomes user-friendly

Over the past several years, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling has proven to be a reliable method for optimizing the energy efficiency of the data center as well as accurately predicting the failure-mode conditions associated with cooling system failure.

For the past 30 years, CFD has been heavily used in industries such as aerospace and F1 racing, as the systems are complex, exotic and expensive. But things are beginning to change. Using advanced graphical user interfaces (GUIs) combined with a “SaaS” (software as a service) methods of application delivery, data center designers and facility managers are able to use the same technology to design data centers that the Ferrari F1 team uses to design its race cars, and at a much lower cost of entry. This approach greatly broadens access to this technology, which has been well proven in optimizing energy efficiency, reducing hot spots and accurately predicting cooling failure.

 

Benefits of CFD Monitoring

 

PUE Prediction

 

The energy to power a data center is composed of the power to drive the servers plus the power to cool the servers and any other ancillary devices such as PDUs, pumps and lighting. A common method for measuring the energy efficiency of a data center is PUE (power utilization effectiveness). The PUE of a data center is expressed in the relationship shown in Figure 1. A “good” data center is represented by a PUE of 1.2 or lower, suggesting that an additional 20% of the total power to operate the data center is powering non-IT equipment.

 

 

When reviewing the items that constitute the non-IT components of the calculations, the dominant parameters are related to the power required to drive the cooling systems. The role of CFD modeling in any of these designs is to insure that the cool air coming from the ducts, tiles or CRAH outlet reaches all the servers uniformly. This process of modeling the airflow and the resulting convective heat transfer is essential to the overall design and operation of a data center, particularly as it relates to failure-mode studies.

 

Cooling Failure Prediction

 

Failure model prediction is a key benefit that CFD modeling can provide. All cooling units need to be serviced periodically, and they completely fail occasionally. Predicting the thermal condition of the room ahead of the failure is vitally important to the data center operator. Knowing which servers will need to be shut down, or which cooling units are the most critical to the room, can be accurately and precisely predicted well in advance, and procedures can then be developed to follow in those cases.

 

 

What to Look for in a CFD Model

 

Here are some key factors to consider when seeking a CFD model:

 

• User friendly: The last thing you need is another complex system—be sure to choose a model that is easy to use, is easy to understand and can be easy displayed to others (such as the C-Suite) who may not be as tech savvy.

• Scalability: Be sure to choose a solution that will scale with you as new components (files, CRACs, racks, tiles, servers and so on) are added.

• Cloud-Based: The cloud enables lower upfront investment, as it doesn’t require a dedicated server in your data center.

• Flexible and Extensible: Be sure the system is flexible and extensible for integration with either upstream or downstream applications. For example, data from other DCIM applications can be fed directly into the system to speed model preparation.

• Maximum Output: Look for a system that has options for output reports to ensure variety in how the information can be presented (graphs, charts, etc.). Every organization has its own methods, and this feature will benefit the usefulness of the data—it is meaningless unless it can convey the message to decision makers.

Adopted from http://www.datacenterjournal.com

Worldwide Data Center Qualifications are going launch in Hong Kong with CNet Training, UK

Strategic Media Asia (SMA) believes each professional is different. This is a reason we provide more choices of training seminars and worldwide accredited courses in data center. Any of the seminars or courses will be bundled with a Data Center Technical Visit in Hong Kong every month.

• Certified Data Center Management Professional (CDCMP)
• Certified Data Center Design Professional (CDCDP)

 

Strategic Media Asia (SMA) is an authorised regional agent of CNet Training, UK (www.cnet-training.com) in Hong Kong, Macau and Great China.

 

For detail, please visit the official website of CNet Training http://www.cnet-training.com/course-locations/hong-kong/