HuiShang Bank increases 24/7 operational security

Network quality monitoring in a bank data centre

Data centres are not only found in stand-alone form around the world, but are also found in many other sectors. These include banks, insurance companies, industrial enterprises, hospitals, airports, energy suppliers, public authorities, etc. It is not only the enormous energy demand that poses major challenges for data centre operators and energy suppliers. Additional factors that can lead to ad-hoc problems and serious damage are coming more and more into focus.

Investment in more security for 24/7 operation

As listed in this use case, HuiShang Bank Hefei / Anhui Province in China has chosen to invest further in topic of secure 24/7 operations. Additional equipment was used to monitor the electrical power quality.

As with all data centre operators, 24/7 availability is fundamental. Here, contracts are concluded with the energy suppliers and further redundant measures are systematically initiated. These are to ensure uninterrupted supply after Tier 1-4. This includes battery storage as well as generators and redundant supply lines into the data centre.

Electrical quality complementary to quantity (redundancy)

However, in addition to the aspect of quantitative security of supply of the supplied energy, there is also the qualitative aspect. These include, depending on the characteristics with or without IEC standardisation (e.g. according to IEC 61000-4-30, Chapters 5.1 – 5.12, Class A), harmonic voltages, flicker, voltage dips, voltage surges, rapid voltage changes (RVC), etc. The effects on these phenomena can cause lasting damage to the servers and infrastructure (e.g. uncontrolled shutdown of machines, generation of system defects, premature component death, etc.) and must therefore be detected at an early stage.

However, in order to make the phenomena visible in a timely manner, a continuous network quality analysis is required. The reason for this is the constantly changing consumption and feed-in situations. These are caused, for example, by non-linear consumers (e.g. LED lighting, frequency-controlled air-conditioning systems, switching power supply units of the servers, etc.) as well as decentralised energy generators (e.g. PV systems on the roof of the data centre, etc.) and are therefore subject to dynamics.

Data security enhanced by electricity

Those responsible at HuiShang Bank quickly realised that, in addition to data security and energy availability, power quality parameters must also be taken into account. For this purpose, a power quality analyser was installed in each switchgear of the currently installed 52 bases in the medium and low voltage range. The decisive factors for using the SINEAX AM3000 series were the price-performance ratio and the required availability of measurement data.

As a further benefit, it was clear that the use of the convenient and simple parameterisation of the power quality analysers as well as the integration into the overall system via WebGUI represent an essential advantage. The energy of the data centre is sub-distributed via more than 50 switchgear circuits in the medium and low-voltage range. A Camille Bauer AM3000 series SINEAX is installed in each switchgear to monitor the power quality. Here, parameters such as waveform and voltage events are monitored and immediately reported in case of deviations.

Modbus TCP/IP also makes all data and information visible on the web GUI interface without additional software. This obviously radically saves additional effort and costs.

Final quote from the project manager

“Due to the sustained consideration of the waveform as well as the power quality events, HuiShang Bank engineers directly increase the system stability. In doing so, they explicitly mitigate the risk of failure of the deployed resources.” This is how the responsible project manager Ms. Hu explains and clearly describes the goal.