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Emmanuel Assié, CEO Webaxys: "Eaton’s team helped us at each stage ... even after deployment Eaton continued to support us. "
April 2012 by Marc Jacob
Webaxys a Normandy-based SME, founded in 2003 in Sotteville near Rouen, has recently invested 500,000 € to build the first Green Data Center in Normandy.
Located in a classified industrial zone, this data center features high-performance facilities matching those found at larger sites, see www.webaxys.fr .
The Webaxys data center is in fact fairly compact. The server room will eventually cover just 100 m², with additional technical areas. It carries an initial load of 60 kVA, which can be easily expanded to 240 kVA as supply needs grow, and should eventually scale up to 500 kVA.
Green Data Center
The data center is green-by-design and local weather conditions were factored in; for example it is free cooling, so whenever the temperature reaches 9°C the compressors no longer need to operate.
Energy consumption has also been a major concern. Webaxys has been buying green Kilowatts (wind, tidal, hydro-power) for its premises since 2004.
The aim is to attain the lowest possible PUE. To achieve this all equipment, including power supply, UPS and the servers, is optimised for maximise energy efficiency.
Webaxys will be Tier 3 by the end of the year, as soon as its energy provider will have implemented the necessary upgrade.
Complete facilities
Chain protection, using Eaton cabinets with removable hot-swap drawers, allows component replacement without service interruption.
EATON UPS BladeUPS , delivering over 98% efficiency, produce up to 60 kVA back-up energy in a redundant single 42U rack, including internal batteries.
The Eaton IPM (Intelligent Power Manager) monitoring tool, compatible with VMware hypervisors, manages the UPS systems, the PDUs, humidity, temperature, door openings.
A generator, with power production up-and-running in 12 to 15 seconds, provides up to 72 hours autonomy at full load.
Eaton Hot Sync paralleling UPS technology
BladeUPS uses modular Eaton Hot Sync technology to configure parallel UPS systems, which are scalable to the required power and redundancy .
WebAxys was able to deploy just the number of BladeUPS it needed for its current installed load of 60kVA and will be able to add modules on site to scale up to the initial target of 240 kVA.
The system self-configures on connection, including redundancy management.
The choice of Eaton
WebAxys chose Eaton for the quality of its products, which can be found in most large data centers.
The choice was underwritten by the trouble-free experience WebAxys already had using Eaton small power systems for some of their customers.
Emmanuel Assié notes, "Our choice was backed-up by the standard of help we received from Eaton’s teams.
They provided us with all the necessary know-how, treating us just like we were a very large operator. They were really able to adapt to our size, they took our project seriously and never shied away from coming to the region.
Also Eaton’s after-sales department is based in Le Havre, which is less than an hour from our premises, so we effectively have local support. I can vouch that Eaton’s customer service is top-rate. "
OUTCOME
Emmanuel Assié CEO Webaxys, sums up: "There is a market for regional DCs in France. They should be adapted to small and medium sized enterprises looking for high performance, a superior level of service and local support. Thanks to Eaton we have achieved the same level of performance as we would have in a large DC in the Paris region. We want to preserve our company’s family spirit so that we can continue to provide top-quality service and that’s just what we get with Eaton. "
Eaton
Secteur Electrique
ZAC des Delâches - Rue Thuillère
Gometz le Châtel
CS 41077
9_ 1978 VILLEBON COURTABOEUF
www.eaton.fr
onduleurfrance@eaton.com
