Networks Europe Sept-Oct 2018 | Page 13

A NEW GENERATION OF ELECTRONIC ACCESS CONTROL and also the Middle East where the main power grid is less reliable than in the UK, and frequent power problems are more commonplace. In these instances, the UPS and battery systems are required to be cycled several times per day. This greater adoption is primarily due to the higher cycling life of Li-ion; typically, 2,500 power-up and down cycles compared with around 300 for VRLA technology. In the UK and Europe, different drivers including the continued rising cost of real estate will influence the adoption of Li-ion technology far more. Li-ion batteries are approximately less than half of the size, and less than a quarter of the weight of VRLA batteries. Floor Installation above ground can require structural strengthening of the building simply to house the required batteries. Logistically, moving many tonnes of equipment in and out of an upstairs coms room, when batteries need replacing, can also present challenges. It’s also an important consideration for data centres looking to increase their power density within the same footprint. Added advantages of Li-ion The cost of Li-ion is falling rapidly – approximately 80% since 2010 – and as a result, cost models and ROI are starting to look increasingly favourable. In fact, we know a small number of European facilities now incorporating small Li-ion systems in their UPS, including one branded search engine. A further advantage of Li-ion is that it can work at a higher temperature, therefore requiring less-expensive cooling and reducing the amount of overall energy consumed in the coms room. By contrast: an industry standard estimate is that for every 10° degrees above 200°C the operating life of a VRLA battery is halved. As well as being much lighter and being able to work at a higher temperature, Li-ion has a significantly longer design life (around 15-17 years) compared with VRLA which normally needs replacing every 7-8 years for a 10-year design life battery. The critical power protection industry tends to be particularly risk-averse; the first moves to Li-ion batteries in the UPS industry will be by innovators. How soon they’ll be adopted by the mainstream will likely depend on the experience of these first installations. Over time there will be a move towards Li-ion batteries as cost reductions, driven by developments in the automotive industry, flow through to the standby power sectors. Incorporating Li-ion batteries will inevitably reduce the size and weight of UPS systems and the longer useful working life of Li-ion will mean fewer costly replacements. All of which will benefit customers with reductions in both CAPEX and OPEX, and make Li-ion batteries a winning solution for UPS applications requiring compact, innovative protection. The UPS systems of the future will need to be designed with Li-ion in mind. In our ever-evolving world, future-proofing systems is one of the greatest challenges faced by system designers today. n RACK-SEC has been formed with the coming together of engineers from Security Data Centre, Network systems and software disciplines. With over 120 years combined experience we are well placed to provide UK manufactured and supported rack security systems. After 18 months of exhaustive bench and site testing we are confident our RACK-SEC system is the most cost effective and feature rich rack access system in the market today. Each system and the components are comprehensively tested before leaving our workshops. We are constantly developing our system with 20% of our profits utilized for R&D, 90% of our components are sourced from the UK. We write our own code, writing our own bespoke code allows us to adapt to most customers alarm and reporting requirements. We will survey your requirement, put together the complete kit, install on site, offer a remote diagnostic and ongoing site support service, and keep your system firmware on our database, when you order more units they will be delivered with the same firmware to be compatible with your system. No more end of life or incompatible components. With the comfort of having a company that can offer a complete end to end solution and unique support you are safe in our hands. USP’s • MANUFACTURED, CONFIGURED AND SUPPORTED IN THE UK • NO NEED FOR AN SQL DATABASE STORED ON CLIENT’S SERVER • NO LICENCES REQUIRED • OUR OWN INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE TEAMS, SLA’S AVAILABLE. • GDPR/DSS/PCI COMPLIANT, PHYSICAL AND AUDITABLE RACK CONTROL • UPTO 100 RACKS CONTROLLED FROM 1 MASTER UNIT • COMPLETE SYSTEM TEST BEFORE LEAVING OUR WORKSHOP • TEMP/HUMIDITY AND POWER DASHBOARD (MINI DCIM) • IDEAL FOR EDGE COMPUTING • WALL MOUNTED RACK SYSTEM AVAILABLE [email protected] | 0800 009 8100 | www.rack-sec.com DESIGNED, MANUFACTURED AND SUPPORTED BY A UK COMPANY