Wrexham Hospital receives data centre 'transplant'

The new data centre has been designed to provide the level of resilience expected from a primary data centre in an NHS setting, with multiple independent infrastructure paths, redundant cooling and dual power sources.  Maintenance and component upgrades can also take place in the live environment through the use of infrastructure pathways and other redundant hardware.  Secure I.T. Environments will be providing full maintenance and support services to the new data centre, which has an internal footprint of 12x10 metres, for the next three years.

Working in partnership with the hospital’s construction contractor, one of the most challenging aspects of the project was the location of the data centre, which is at the heart of one of the business parts of the hospital site.  Despite this placing limitations on construction traffic, deliveries and access, the project was completed by Secure I.T. Environments both on time and in budget.

Sion Jones, Head of Information & Communication Technology for the Health Board, said of the project, “Our data centres play a critical role in the running of our hospitals, supporting our wide-ranging clinical and business activities. It is strategically essential that we maintain fit-for-purpose data centre facilities to host the many and varied systems that exist in a modern NHS ICT infrastructure. SITE has worked with the board on several projects and consistently proven to be an excellent partner, delivering to the very high standards and specification we expect in just 12 weeks.”

The room comprises 16 x 19” cabinets (providing 672 U spaces), raised access flooring, cold aisle containment, overhead power supply system, Novec fire suppression and VESDA detection system, DCiM environmental monitoring of the room and infrastructure, access control and CCTV.  The new data centre has been designed to meet the Class 2 requirements defined in BSEN 50600, parts one and two.  The installation also provides a connection into the existing building management systems.

UPS systems and batteries were installed within the new data centre, derived from separate A&B power supply streams, to ensure the resilience and redundancy necessary in hospital environments, where systems must be always available, to ensure patients are not put at risk.

Chris Wellfair, Projects Director at Secure I.T. Environments, added, “Through decades of experience we have learnt what it takes to deliver the highest standards of design, resilience security, and energy efficiency that are needed in hospital settings.  The new data centre will be at the heart of the daily running of the hospital, helping staff and clinicians continue to deliver the highest standards of care.”