NETWORK TIMES - JANUARY 2003
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The campus
Dimension Data's new head office in Bryanston is equipped with the latest
state-of-the-art environmental monitoring system. In conjunction with RT
Systems a system was developed to offer an appropriate solution including
temperature monitoring, moisture detection, maintenance of the
airconditioning, UPS conditions, standby generator status and fire
suppression. |
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Although
popular belief is that all monitoring should be fully integrated with
existing management systems, the system designed for this application is
100% independent: Independent of the network, mains power and standby
power, and independent in its communication to the outside world. The
reason for this is simple. A monitoring system cannot be dependent for its
functionality on any of the infrastructure that it monitors.
The conventional approach would have been to include the environmental
monitoring into the building management system. However, time has proven
that air-conditioning, security and environmental monitoring are three
totally different disciplines that require different philosophies in
design, implementation and response.
Derek Rule from Dimension Data Advanced Infrastructure (DDAI) made it
clear: "Business continuity and uptime. These are just a few key
factors that are dependent on the reliability and integrity of the IT
infrastructure. Failures of the IT infrastructure usually lead to the
total collapse of the network with all its consequences. Our application
required a system that would not only inform us that there was a crisis
but we also wanted to get a much as possible information of a pending
crisis." |
Derek Rule |
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System
architecture
All sensors, data acquisition modules and transmitters are standalone,
fail-safe and power independent. The entire system is modular and should a
technical fault occur or maintenance be required in a section of the
system there will be no effect on the remainder. The transmitters have
self-test programs built in and report in on a 24-hour basis.
All alarms and reports are gathered and stored on a central database with
a remote redundancy unit. If there is an alarm, the type of fault and the
exact location will be transmitted to the central database that will then
generate alarms over IP and SMS using the external GSM Network.
The database will flag that a crisis or potential situation exists and
give an audible alarm.
Remote monitoring
To ensure continuous monitoring, even if a site experiences a total
blackout, RT Systems has set up a central control room in Auckland Park
(Johannesburg) from which a wide range of infrastructures are monitored on
a 24/7 basis. The control room went on-line in October 2001 with one site,
and today has over a hundred sites, including 29 sites outside South
Africa.
RT Systems
Richard van der Heijden, Managing Director of RT Systems, says he is
delighted to be part of the team that worked on the Dimension Data Campus.
"We spent a lot of time preparing and talking to the various parties
that had an interest in our product and developed, in our opinion, the
best solution for the application.
"The 'what if' factor plays a tremendous role in our business.
Everything needs to be covered, from Murphy's Law to a 9-11 type crisis;
from power failures to an Eskom over-voltage; from a leaking
air-conditioner to a burst main water pipe. The more people get involved
the more scenarios are discussed and the more interesting the solutions
and the better the end product. |
Richard van der Heijden |
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"From our
company's point of view our dream has always been to monitor 'from Cape to
Cairo'. Cape town was easy and there we have a number of sites, but Cairo to
date is still a dream. Our remotest site is Lagos (Nigeria) where our
product and solutions have been implemented at four sites.
"The end result has been very satisfactory, with a healthy combination
of practical solutions, the right economics and the best technology."
RT Systems, (011) 482 9982 |
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