BBN (GTE) Suffers another major power problem.

Charles Sprickman spork at inch.com
Fri Aug 8 22:54:15 UTC 1997


On Fri, 8 Aug 1997, Rodney Joffe wrote:

> It's also designed to deal with concrete floors, inefficient
> HVAC, dust, etc.

This is interesting, as we have two colo sites now...  One fits the
description above (somewhat), and one fits the description below...

> It *is* possible to design a facility that is run off an
> inverter permanently, which is connected to a UPS, which is connected to
> utility power, and to a diesel generator, which *is* able to cope with
> extended failures of _utility power_ without affecting the equipment
> (routers, switches, modems, and servers) at all. And I think the modern

The site where we locate our dialup equipment (ACC-Old Slip) is old-school
telco. All 48V, all battery backed-up if you take the DC feed.  It's brand
new, but it does not have a raised floor, just overhead channels for all
the telco wiring...  They thought we were crazy when we asked for AC, but
when told how many amps a USR TCH draws, they happily brought more AC to
us.  We're backed up by a generator, but that's it.  During the time it
takes to crank it up, we're dead.

Now at Telehouse NY, (our cabinet being right across from Genuity, btw)
they tell us that all power is coming from an inverter, and there is
enough battery power to keep the entire facility going until the generator
comes online.  They even invite you to come out and see them
disconnect the utility co. power during their quarterly tests...  This is
primarily a "datacenter" with a much higher count of things that say
"Cisco" on them than those that say "Lucent" or "AT&T".  They also claim
they have 3 days of diesel fuel available...

So I guess the rule here is, put your 48V stuff at a telco colo, and put
the big AC stuff at a modern datacenter...

Charles

~~~~~~~~~					~~~~~~~~~~~
Charles Sprickman 				Internet Channel
INCH System Administration Team			(212)243-5200
spork at inch.com					access at inch.com





More information about the NANOG mailing list