Research Councils UK (RCUK), the main public investor in research in the UK, has begun a process of rationalisation which will involve consolidating its existing five computer rooms in to one main data centre at its Swindon offices. Future-Tech, a designer and maintainer of data centres, has won the contract worth £600,000 in an open tender involving six other companies.
RCUK is a strategic partnership through which the UK's eight Research Councils work together to champion the research, training and innovation they support. The Research Councils are the main public investors in fundamental research in the UK, with interests ranging from bio-medicine and particle physics to the environment, engineering and economic research. RCUK works alongside the Office of Science & Innovation (OSI) to support academic researchers in the UK and to ensure the best investment of public money in research.
Five of the RCUK's eight affiliate councils are co-located at the same site in Swindon and they currently occupy five computer rooms; in an effort to cut costs Future-Tech will refurbish and extend the largest of the data centres. Future-Tech will make use of free-cooling technology to reduce the Research Councils' carbon output and to lower the cost of maintaining its computer room facilities; traditionally made more expensive by the use of power intensive air-conditioning.
Ron Price, Computer Room Manger for the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), the hosting council for IT services comments: "Future-Tech won this contract due to the quality and expertise of their response to the tender. This is a very complex project which will involve major construction work being conducted around an existing computer facility. This is an ambitious approach to the brief but one that will result in large cost savings if successful.
Price continues: "Future-Tech's data centre expertise is evident in their proposal to harness free-cooling technology to account for some of the data centre's cooling requirements. By drawing in cooler air from outside during the winter months to regulate the temperature of the data centre, we can lower our carbon emissions and reduce the amount that would have been spent on traditional cooling methods. Over the life of the new data centre this will inevitably equate to a significant overall cost saving. The staged approach will give a good indication as to the final success of the project and will allow local staff to gain an insight as well as build up expertise on the new facility.