Infrastructure

DC 2 FI TIER IV Data Center

Our data center in Florence certificate TIER IV, 100% fault tolerant

DC 2 FI TIER IV
The best data center in Italy for IT services
DC 2 FI TIER IV:The best data center in Italy for IT services
DC 2 FI TIER IV Data center Schema
Opened in 2022, the DC 2 FI TIER IV data center was built to guarantee the highest level of business continuity and to be completely fault tolerant thanks to the redundancy of all its components. This data center combines efficiency and environmental sustainability by using the latest generation of equipment and advanced energy efficiency systems.

Special features are:

TIER IV certification

The TIER IV Certification issued by the Uptime Institute, the global authority for assessing data center reliability and overall performance, gives the data center the highest level of business continuity, that is to say the ability to deal with failures while minimising their impact, in some cases, to zero. This award certifies the ability to detect and isolate a failure, while simultaneously supporting critical load, energy demand, connectivity and cooling of critical areas.

A TIER IV data center can cope with failures without affecting the availability of services and in fact guarantees an uptime of 99.995%, equivalent to approximately 26 minutes of potential downtime per year, which makes it fault tolerant.

The DC 2 FI TIER IV data center is characterised by the redundancy of its components (electrical distribution and cooling system) and by the possibility of performing maintenance automatically (without staff intervention) and without interruption.

In fact, the total redundancy of the systems ensures the availability of the service even in the event of major failures or serious incidents.

TIER IV certification

Server room

The DC 2 FI TIER IV data center has a latest generation server room that can contain thousands of servers. It is characterised by a shelter that thermally isolates it from the structure and is located on a floating floor, which is instrumental in circulating the cooling air and therefore cooling the environment.

The cooling system uses electronically commutated (EC) fans to maximise energy efficiency and reduce noise, and is connected to the monitoring system that provides comprehensive information on the status of the equipment in real time.
The thermal containment system consists of ‘aisles’ to maximise the efficiency of the cooling system.

The server room is equipped with an access control system and video surveillance.

Reliability and business continuity

Reliability and business continuity are essential requirements for companies seeking partners for IT infrastructure services that can meet their needs and that can ensure the highest possible uptime (service availability).

A data center with a very high uptime must be able to provide service even in extreme conditions, for example in the event of a power outage, and must therefore be designed and built according to specific and extremely strict security standards.
This is the case of the DC 2 FI TIER IV data center which, as evidenced by its TIER IV certification, is fully fault tolerant and therefore characterised by the highest degree of reliability and service continuity thanks to the redundancy of all its components. The very high reliability of the data center is therefore guaranteed by several elements that contribute to ensuring service continuity:

Redundancy of the electricity distribution system

The electricity supply from the national grid arrives to the transformation station in medium voltage, which has a double current transformer. In the event of an interruption in the national grid supply, the presence of two engine-generator, both capable of delivering twice the power required at full load, guarantees electrical continuity.

The two independent control rooms, equipped with the latest generation of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), are both able to support the critical load autonomously. All UPS systems use the latest generation of lithium batteries, which minimise dispersion while maximising efficiency.

The software control system also enables the proactive detection of overloads and inefficiencies in the electricity distribution system.

Redundancy of the cooling system

The DC 2 FI TIER IV data center has a dual cooling system with refrigeration units equipped with dual internal circuits and whose pumps are redundant on each of the two hydronic circuits. Both branches, separate and independent, have the capacity to meet the needs of the server farm at full load.

Fire protection system

The fire protection system is automated for both detection and extinction and solves any fire in a short time without any damage to the equipment. The system consists of a set of detection sensors which, if necessary, will trigger the release of inert gas to saturate the affected rooms. Once the event has been resolved, a special ventilation system automatically frees the rooms from the gas.

Monitoring Systems

The monitoring system allows each individual element of the data center to be controlled remotely and provides a complete dashboard on the status of the equipment, essential for anticipating any problems and setting automatic actions in the event of a fault.

Sustainability

The DC 2 FI TIER IV data center stands out for its efficiency and environmental sustainability thanks to targeted choices on systems and equipment, such as:

  • air-conditioning system designed to significantly reduce energy consumption through the use of chilled water at high temperature and the maximisation of the annual hours of indirect free-cooling; free-cooling, in fact, guarantees high energy savings in the cold season and at night, since the cooling system can operate with chilled water at 18 °C;
  • cooling units equipped with electronically switching fans that maximise energy efficiency;
  • aisle containment system to make the cooling system more reliable and increase energy efficiency, while also safeguarding the safety of operators;
  • use of electricity from 100% renewable sources;
  • installation of photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of the data center;
  • the latest generation ultra-high efficiency UPS systems with certified performance of up to 99.4%, using specific lithium-ion batteries that are less bulky, less heavy, longer lasting, more tolerant of operating temperatures, with a high number of charge/discharge cycles and shorter recharge times.

In addition to this, choosing Schneider Electric Green PremiumTM certified products such as UPS, Racks, etc., which combine a high level of performance and environmental sustainability, reduces the use of energy and the carbon footprint, in other words the emission of greenhouse gases.