Mining organisation, Assmang, is rolling out a\nground-breaking mobile data centre solution at its Khumani Iron Ore Mine in the Northern Cape province to\nmeet its fast-growing information storage requirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The solution was proposed, designed and deployed by Infrasol, Datacentrix\u2019s infrastructure design and deployment business unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ferdi Kirsten, Manager: Information Technology at\nAssmang Khumani, explains that the mine needed to update and expand its\nprevious server room, which was designed in 2006 prior to Khumani becoming\noperational in 2008. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe original Khumani server room had become far too\nsmall for our needs \u2013 the 4m x 4m room containing six racks meant that there\nwas very little space to manoeuvre and we had experienced some issues with\ncooling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Assmang invited Datacentrix to join the tender for the\nproject, and according to Kirsten, the solution provider submitted the winning\nproposal for a specialised, fire protected mobile unit, which would be the\nfirst of its kind to be installed in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe container features a next-generation Huawei\nFusion Module 2000 modular data centre solution, integrated with cabinets,\npower supply and distribution, cooling and cabling, management,\u201d said Kirsten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Huawei Fusion Module 2000 Containment System\ncomes with the TIER-Ready stamp of approval from Uptime Institute. The\nfact that this technology is located within a protected mobile unit, which is\nalso fitted with vibration pads to protect equipment from vibrations caused by\nnearby mining machinery, is the first implementation of its kind in South\nAfrica.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nimplementation was not without some challenges, clarifies Bennett Naidoo,\nInfrasol Business Development Manager at Datacentrix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur initial plan was to build the entire solution at\nthe mine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHowever, there were certain constraints around the\nstringent health and safety requirements to be approved prior to working on\nsite at the mine. In addition, it was difficult to obtain the correct approvals\nto enter the site over weekends and out of office hours. Therefore, we had to\ncome up with a strategy that could speed up delivery, making the decision to\nconstruct two 3m x 13m modules at the factory. The two sections \u2013 each one 11\ntonnes \u2013 were transported to the mine, lifted over the Khumani administration\nbuilding using a crane, and placed in position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFortunately, Assmang quickly approved our team\u2019s\nrequest to perform work on site, signing off our safety, health and quality\nspecifications without delay. The two sections were successfully lifted and\nrigged into position with no difficulties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The state-of-the-art mobile data centre will provide\nKhumani with greater agility, as the solution can physically be moved as\nneeded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe new data centre was built with an eye on our\nfuture needs,\u201d added Kirsten. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt will serve us well into the future, considering\nthat our previous server room was operational for 11 years, and we foresee the\nnew solution\u2019s life expectancy lasting even longer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additional benefits for Khumani include rigorous\nsecurity measures that were not in place previously, such as access control,\nCCTV and motion detection. The unit can also be monitored and managed remotely,\nwith proactive alerts sent via mobile devices, and includes cold aisle\ncontainment to solve issues related to the heat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe four air conditioner units are configured in N+2\nconfiguration to cater for the extreme heat conditions experienced in Kathu,\nand the uninterruptible power supplies (UPSes) within the unit are configured\nas N+1 for redundancy,\u201d said Naidoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kirsten added: \u201cDatacentrix\u2019 Infrasol team has\noperated in a highly professional manner, right from the pitch to now. The\ncompany\u2019s integrity and ownership of this project has been excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mining organisation, Assmang, is rolling out a ground-breaking mobile data centre solution at its Khumani Iron Ore Mine in the Northern Cape province to meet its fast-growing information storage requirements. The solution was proposed, designed and deployed by Infrasol, Datacentrix\u2019s infrastructure design and deployment business unit. Ferdi Kirsten, Manager: Information Technology at Assmang Khumani, explains […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":28752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,338,46,19,9059,6292,13,262],"tags":[4784,10918,10921,597,10917,10919,10916,4781,4780,7402,453,10920,10922,128],"class_list":["post-28751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-studies","category-case-study-newsletter","category-data-centres","category-regional-news","category-south-africa","category-storage","category-top-stories","category-used","tag-assmang","tag-assmang-khumani","tag-bennett-naidoo","tag-datacentrix","tag-ferdi-kirsten","tag-huawei-fusion-module-2000","tag-infrasol","tag-kathu","tag-khumani-iron-ore-mine","tag-northern-cape","tag-south-africa","tag-tier-ready","tag-upses","tag-uptime-institute"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28751"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28796,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28751\/revisions\/28796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}