Keysource news

July 2010: CRC: only 13% of companies have registered so far

Just 651 companies have registered as participants for the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme as of 5th July, well below the 5,000 that the Environment Agency is expecting. The scheme raises issues on IT usage, in particular data centres, which can be users of large amounts of power. While the Environment Agency believes that 20,000 large organisations satisfy its criteria, and therefore should register, it only expects 5,000 of these organisations to register as ‘participants’ in the scheme.

In addition to the 651 registered participants, 242 non-corporate information declarers and 2,980 corporate information declarers had so far signed up. However, this means that 16,127 organisations still have to register in some way. Eligible organisations who do not register by 30th September face being fined £5,000, plus an additional £500 per day for each subsequent working day they fail to register up to a maximum of 80 working days. 

Read the full article written by Anh Nguyen and published by Computerworlduk here: http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/green-computing/policy-law/news/index.cfm?newsid=21079

Keysource says: Eligible companies can avoid a costly fine by registering before the deadline and the ongoing measurement process does not have to be the burden that some might anticipate. In fact, effective monitoring of energy consumption can actually offer added benefits by enabling a better understanding of energy performance and the identification of areas of improvement.

Many businesses might not expect computing to offer any potential savings as IT requirements continue to increase, but in fact data centres offer an easy win in the energy savings stakes. They can make up as much as a third of an organisation's power usage, so a relatively small enhancement could result in significant savings and benefits under the CRC scheme. Our Data Centre Audit and energy use assessment services can provide an affordable means of reviewing, monitoring and even changing the energy use of IT facilities to help achieve greater levels of optimisation that will ultimately result in reduced consumption, costs and environmental impact. Talking to Keysource before you make your CRC declaration could make a lot of sense.

June 2010: Keysource ladies compete for charity

Keysource ladies took part in the local Race for Life on 23rd June, completing the 5-kilometre course in good time and raising over £400 for Cancer Research. Race for Life is the UK’s largest women-only fundraising event. The sponsorship money raised helps Cancer Research UK continue its life-saving work.

Several of the team who took part in the Race for Life were also involved in the St Catherine’s Hospice 13 mile Midnight Walk around Horsham on Saturday 19th June. As the name suggests, the walk started at midnight and the team finished around 4.15am, raising over £750 for charity. Well done to all involved!

May 2010: Keysource keeps it cool to clinch local business award

Keysource has won the Green Business category at this year's West Sussex Times Business Awards. The award was presented to our Director, James Cole, at a ceremony at Christ’s Hospital in Horsham that was attended by local business leaders.

Keysource was one of 33 finalists shortlisted for a range of awards to recognise business excellence and innovation within the West Sussex area. Keysource had been shortlisted for the development of it's data centre cooling solution Ecofris, the new approach to data centre cooling that can save more than 45 per cent of the energy requirements of conventional technology.

April 2010: 'Optimised Cooling'

First published in Data Centre Management Magazine - March / April 2010

Yorkshire Water has reduced power consumption at its data centre in Bradford, South Yorkshire, by 25 per cent following an Energy Assessment undertaken by Keysource. Following implementation of key recommendations, Yorkshire Water was able to optimise the cooling processes within the facility and achieve annual cost savings of up to £70,000.

Keysource was appointed by Yorkshire Water to conduct the energy assessment to provide a review of its data centre’s energy use and see how the company could reduce the overall operating costs and environmental impact of the facility. It provided a performance snap shot for the 50-rack computer room and a recommendation report that outlined a number of suggested changes.

Utilising the Green Grid metrics for measurement, Keysource measured the facility’s Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) figure at 2.3, which meant that only 43 per cent of the total facility load was being used to power IT equipment. A second assessment that took place after a 12-month period found that the implementation of the recommendations had resulted in an improved PUE with 59 per cent of the total facility load being used to power IT equipment.

The improvements can be attributed to Keysource undertaking a full Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of Yorkshire Water’s data centre, which helped stakeholders understand airflow issues. As a result Keysource recommended the use of blanking panels, floor grille relocations, deployment of racks in hot and cold aisles to optimise airflow management and the introduction of a third cooling unit to improve efficiency.

Shakil Azam, IT Service Provisions & Data Centre Manager commented: “Keysource’s Energy Assessments and recommendations proved essential for our ongoing commitment to reducing energy consumption from our IT infrastructure. By working closely with Keysource, we have tapped into their extensive data centre knowledge and expertise, to achieve significant performance gains in terms of reduced costs and carbon emissions.”

March 2010: MP visits UK’s most efficient data centre

The Uk's most efficient data centre has received a seal of approval from Philip Hammond, MP for Runnymede and Weybridge and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Speaking at a recent visit to the data centre in Weybridge, Philip Hammond praised the efforts of Keysource and Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) in developing an industry-leading solution that was reducing the impact IT equipment was having on the environment. “It is staggering to find out how much power is required just to cool a data centre, so its hugely reassuring that a facility in Weybridge is leading the way by being truly innovative and using clever technology to dramatically reduce consumption,” he commented.

He went onto say: “Carbon reduction requirements and high energy costs will continue to stimulate demand for energy-efficient technology and the demand for greater transparency in both the private and public sector will eventually change the way organisations consume electricity. What has been achieved here at PGS is truly exciting and innovative technology solutions such as this, could significantly contribute to the reduction in the UK’s overall energy consumption.”

Mike West, Managing Director of Keysource commented: “I am delighted that Philip Hammond has taken such an interest in what we have achieved at PGS. Data centres across Western Europe consumed 56TWh of electricity in 2007 – close to the yearly total electricity consumption of the Czech Republic – and this figure is expected to increase to 104 TWh by 2020, so we are all faced with a massive challenge to reduce the impact we are having on the environment.”

February 2010: Keysource nominated in the Green IT Awards

Keysource have been nominated in ‘Environmental Project of the Year’ category at the 2010 Green IT Awards.

The Green IT Awards reward the outstanding environmental products, suppliers and projects of 2009, as well as highlight companies and teams that have made a significant contribution to improving the IT industry’s environmental performance.

As pressure continues to grow on companies and individuals to act more responsibly with regard to the environment and the Earth’s natural resources, and as increased Government legislation comes into effect, the Green IT Awards set out to become the benchmark by which IT companies are measured for environmental performance.

The winning companies will be announced at the awards ceremony on the April 22nd at London Zoo, Regents Park, London. Further details can be found at Green IT Awards.

January 2010: Keysource creates scalable Ecofris solution

Keysource has extended its award-winning Ecofris approach to data centre cooling with the launch of a solution designed for smaller facilities, colocation centres and multi-roomed sites.

Keysource has developed a new 125kW mechanical cooling system, complementing the existing 600kW module, to satisfy the cooling demands of new and existing data centres of any size. As a result, private and public sector organisations can drive down the energy cost of operating data centres by more than 45 per cent whatever their IT needs.

By creating a scalable solution, Ecofris can now meet the demands of a wider range of data centre requirements. Not only does the new cooling module make it possible to significantly reduce running costs and carbon footprint for lower capacity data centres, it offers greater flexibility for refurbishment projects where space may prevent the use of the larger solution. Furthermore, the system is ideal for colocation centres or public sector multi-roomed sites where a greater number of smaller modules may be required.

Mike West, Managing Director of Keysource commented:“When we devised the Ecofris philosophy to energy efficient data centre cooling, it was always our intention to develop a scalable approach to meet the needs of any type of facility. With a mix of clever thinking and precision engineering we have been able to create a smaller scale unit at the centre of the mechanical cooling system, and we have already secured two new clients from the education and co-lo sectors.”

Ecofris: The intelligent way to cool data centres

 December 2009: Data Centre Dynamics Leaders Awards

PGS’ data centre, designed and built by Keysource won the ‘Innovation in the medium data centre’ category at the Data Centre Dynamics Leaders Awards on 15th December.

PGS fought off three other shortlisted finalists to win the category which recognises the efficient design and operation of 'medium' data centres - between 20 and 500 racks. The category states that the medium data centre brings its own challenges of design, operation and optimisation and whilst market attention has traditionally been focused on very large, flagship projects, the medium data centre represents for many UK organisations their principal IT facility and therefore the core of their mission-critical business.

This award brings Keysource’s award total for 2009 to three after earlier winning entries in the ‘Environmental Project of the Year’ category at the 2009 UK IT Industry Awards   and 'Green IT Innovation of the Year' category at the 2009 Information Age Awards .

December 2009: Keysource win at the Information Age Awards 

 Keysource were successful at the Information Age Innovation Awards, securing the top spot against other industry leaders including Siemens, Digital Realty Trust, TelecityGroup and Bell Microsystems.

Keysource's winning entry for 'Green IT Innovation of the Year' recognises initiatives designed to reduce the carbon footprint of IT.  

“The greatest enabler for efficiency in the data centre is airflow management,” says James Cole, a director Keysource, whose energy-efficient data centre deployment for oil exploration company PGS won it the Green IT Innovation award.

The full Information Age interview with James Cole can be read on Keysource data centre blog and Mike West's orginal submission can be viewed below.

 December 2009: University of Leicester gets off the ground

Keysource has sold its third Ecofris Solution to the University of Leicester.

The University is extending and refurbishing their existing High Performance Computing (HPC) facility located within the university’s Department of Physics. 

Keysource won the contract in October 2009 after a highly competitive tender process. 

The picture, taken by University of Leicester's Stuart Poulton, details the lifting of one of the external Ecofris chillers onto the roof of the Department of Physics building.

The refurbished data centre is due to be commissioned in March 2010 with an Initial IT Load of 150 kW, scalable to 300kW. 

November 2009: ‘Keysource’ cross the finishing line in Progreso

'Keysource', who teamed up with  WWF UK for La Solidaire du Chocolat, sailed into Progreso in the early hours of Friday Morning (20th November).

Keysource’s MD Mike West and Paul Worswick finished 11th out of 24 starters after 32 days, 11 hours, 44 minutes and over 5000 miles at sea.

The full details of Mike’s and Paul’s adventure can be read at the Solidaire chocolat blog. 

November 2009: Keysource win at the UK IT Industry Awards  

Keysource and PGS beat off stiff competition at the UK IT Industry Awards to win  ‘Environmental Project of the Year’ on Thursday 12th November.

PGS and Keysource’s entry – ‘Europe's most efficient data centre’ - detailed PGS new data centre build which has significantly reduced the facility's carbon footprint whilst achieving a 45% saving in energy costs. The installed Keysource Ecofris solution has produced a 15.8 million kWh reduction in annual power consumption and a 6.8 million kg reduction in annual CO2 emissions (at full deployment) with an annualised PUE figure sub 1.2.

The BCS IT Industry Awards and Computing Awards for Excellence created a platform for the entire IT profession to showcase and celebrate best practice, innovation and excellence. Keysource Ecofris solution is currently being rolled out in 3 other UK facilities and is scalable for IT loads above 100kW.  

  October 2009: Keysource team up WWF

Keysource has teamed up with the WWF UK for La Solidaire du Chocolat, the first transatlantic race ever to combine sport, event and charity. The Horsham-based data centre solutions provider is sponsoring a team competing in the race – made up of Mike West of Keysource and Paul Worswick of Budding Entrepreneur – and has selected WWF UK to receive a donation of €25,000 as its charity partner.

The non-stop two-handed transatlantic race, exclusively for Class 40 yachts, will commence on 18 October this year from Nantes in France with the finish line in the Mexican state of Yucatan. Twenty-eight crews made up of eleven different nationalities have registered to take part in the race, which is structured so that each team is associated with its own charitable organisation, in addition to a French primary school.

Mike West, Managing Director of Keysource commented: “We are delighted that that WWF UK has agreed to become our chosen charity for La Solidaire du Chocolat. We wanted to team up with a locally-based charity that shares our environmental aims of reducing the carbon footprint of UK businesses and promoting responsible technological best practice.”

Patrick Laine, Director of Corporate Partnerships at WWF UK said: “A recent studied estimated that global green house gas emissions could be reduced by 15% through smart application of IT technology.   WWF is delighted to cooperate with Keysource in leading transformational change in this critical sector.”

The full details of Mike’s and Paul’s adventure can be read at the Solidaire chocolat blog

October 2009: Funding available for more efficient data centres

Access to the latest funds released under the Government’s current Salix Funding Scheme will close on 31st December. Keysource can help make an appropriate application for public sector companies. Call Keysource today on 0845 204 3333.
 
Keysource technology installed in the last twelve months has already shown itself capable of cutting an organisation’s data centre carbon footprint by 45% while increasing available computing capacity and cutting running costs by millions of pounds.
 
We will arrange for an experienced Keysource Data Centre Consultant to support you in calculating what type of project might be achievable and be best suited to your needs. In the light of HEFCE carbon reduction demands, your position in the Green League table and the forthcoming requirements of the Carbon Reduction Commitment Legislation improving the efficiency of your data centre can prove to be an easy win.
 
Keysource is currently installing energy-saving technology at several UK higher education institutions and working on Salix Finance schemes with the health service and local government. Even consultancy work can be claimed for on successful schemes.
 
To find out how we can help you call James Levitton on 0845 204 3333 or email james.levitton@keysource.co.uk.

 September 2009: BCS & Computing UK IT Industry Awards 

Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) and Keysource have been named as finalists in the BCS & Computing UK IT Industry Awards. The companies entered the Environmental Project of the Year category, detailing PGS’ recently built efficient data centre, which has used innovative thinking to make an improvement to lowering the environmental impact of the company.

Robin Booth, Publishing Director of Computing comments: “The Awards are a showcase for the very best in the UK IT industry and those who have been announced as finalists can be very proud of their outstanding achievement.  The next stage of judging is going to be very difficult. The variety of entrants emphasises not only the value of IT today, but also the way which it touches so many areas of life.”

The winners will be announced on 12th November.

 August 2009: Keysource short listed for Cooling Awards 

Keysource have been shortlisted for the Installation of the year - Industrial and commercial category of the RAC Cooling Industry Awards 2009.

Keysource’s entry detailed its creation of one of the most energy efficient data centres in Europe as a result of a complete rethink of the concept of data centre cooling.

The project entered into the awards represents a very attractive easy win for many organisations when it comes to linking operational cost savings, energy reduction and huge reductions in carbon footprint. The project was a pioneering installation and no-one has tried this approach before in the data centre and many did not believe it could work. It demonstrates that 'green procurement' can work and it shows that environmental aims need not be in any way incompatible with business objectives.

July 2009: Keysource win Internet Facilitators Limited contract

Internet Facilitators Limited (IFL) are the largest provider of carrier neutral collocation services and rack space in Manchester. Keysource have been appointed as principal contractor for the design and build of a new floor at their existing facility in the Manchester Technopark. Keysource were engaged as a partner in the early stages of the project to provide a detailed design to ensure the facility is designed and built to be highly resilient and secure to meet all IFL customer requirements.

The project will include the construction of a new 2 storey energy centre building to locate HV switchgear, new dedicated transformer, LV Switchgear capable of providing 2N resilience, UPS system to support up to 600kW IT Load and parallel N+1 Generators. The data centre will be split into two Halls capable of supporting up to 150 rack positions at 4kW per rack with cooling provided by down flow perimeter cooling units configured to provide N+1 resilience. The facility will be protected by automatic fire suppression and detection systems, bio-metric entry systems and complete management and monitoring systems controlling environmental conditions and monitoring of all plant status.

The project is due to be complete in the first quarter of 2010.

 July 2009: Francis Maude MP recognises the need for efficiency

Keysource has received a seal of approval from Francis Maude, MP for Horsham and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office.

Speaking at a recent visit to Keysource’s offices in Horsham, Francis Maude commended the company’s efforts in developing industry-leading technology to reduce the impact IT equipment was having on the environment.

“I don’t think many people realise how much power is required just to cool data centres, so using clever technology to reduce consumption dramatically is a great story. Keysource are being truly innovative, using some serious know-how, and I’m thrilled that this is taking place in my constituency,” he said.

Francis Maude was meeting with Keysource to learn about some of the issues facing the IT sector. This included a demonstration of a new approach to cooling that has led to the most energy efficient data centre of its kind in Europe.

“There is a huge future for green technology as pressure mounts to reduce the world’s consumption of natural resources. There are many companies developing incredibly innovative, environmentally responsible solutions, which we need to be promoting and supporting. What Keysource is achieving is very exciting and can be absolutely transformational,” Mr Maude added.

July 2009: Keysource ladies compete in Race for Life

Keysource ladies took part in the local Race for Life on 24th June, completing the 5-kilometre course in good time and raising £1768 (including gift aid) for Cancer Research.

Gaby Hall (second left) did exceptionally well, completing the course in less than 35 minutes with the rest of team following on shortly behind her. Race for Life is the UK’s largest women-only fundraising event. The sponsorship money raised helps Cancer Research UK continue its life-saving work.

June 2009: Official opening of Royal Holloway's new data centre

Professor Adam Tickell, Vice Principal (Research, Enterprise and Communications) of Royal Holloway, University of London officially opened their brand new data centre by cutting the ribbon on 15th June.

Mark Chisholm, Project Surveyor, Estate Services at Royal Holloway, University of London, says: “Keysource has developed a high-quality data centre solution that significantly increases our computing capability and offers expansion potential to handle future growth. Royal Holloway is an expanding university, so it is essential that it possess the infrastructure to support plans moving forward. Keysource has delivered on its promises and the dedication of its staff has contributed to the overall success of the project”

To read the full case study please click Royal Holloway, University of London's data centre build 

June 2009: 'Data Centre Cooling - It's Not Rocket Science'

By Peter Judge, E Week Europe

'There's no rocket science in cooling data centres, but very efficient ones are still a rarity. So when a record-breaking centre set up in Surrey, we (E Week) were very keen to speak to the man behind it'.

Mike West, Managing Director of Keysource says: "It is not rocket science, I'd like to say there's a lot of intellectual property around in this field, but we're just applying well understood engineering practice, and getting design people to work together to optimise the data centre for efficiency."

To read the original article, published by E Week Europe 8the June 2009, please click here. To discuss the content of the article please visit Keysource's new data centre blog, an inciteful resource for the whole data centre community or contact us now to find out how Keysource can refresh your data centre cooling.

May 2009: Keysource become an Endorser 

Keysource has become an official endorser of European Code of Conduct on Data Centres. The voluntary commitment was launched in November last year and Keysource has been quick to recognise the value of the initiative and commit to the ongoing development of efficient data centre solutions.

Under the guidelines of the European Code of Conduct on Data Centres, Keysource will utilise this scheme in order to develop products, solutions and programmes to enable data centre owners and operators to meet the expectations of the commitment. Furthermore, the company will actively publicise information regarding the Code of Conduct and industry best practise, whilst encouraging data centre operators to become participants in the initiative.

The Code of Conduct provides recommendations and examples of best practice which is hoped will lead to a reduction in energy consumption by data centres in Europe of up to 20 per cent. This would save 4.7 million tonnes of CO2 over the next six years, equating to taking more than a million cars off the road. The key aim is to inform data centre operators and encourage them to reduce energy consumption without hampering the performance of such facilities.

March 2009: Cooling solution achieves energy saving of 45%

Keysource has completed the first facility using its new approach to efficient data centre design that will save at least 45% of the energy requirements of a conventional solution. Leading global oil exploration surveyor Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) is the first organisation to adopt the Ecofris cooling technology, devised by Keysource, for a high performance data centre at the company’s new head office complex in Weybridge, Surrey.

With phase one of the new data centre now operational, initial results have achieved a PUE measurement as low as 1.2. Furthermore, the facility has a DCiE of 80%, where 80% of the total power being consumed by the facility is powering the IT equipment. For PGS the energy savings are expected to be significant. At full IT load and compared to their previous site the Ecofris cooling system design will reduce annual power consumption by 15.8 million kW-h and reduce emissions by 6.8 million kg of CO2 per year (Based on UK grid average).

To find out more about Ecofris cooling please read PGS case study or call Keysource.

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