“Microsoft Technology Centres (MTC) help our customers envision, architect, and demonstrate a secure, customised solution based on Microsoft and partner technologies. One of our offerings is the Proof of Concept, a multi-week, in-depth workshop in which our architects work closely with our customers’ technical staff to transfer knowledge and develop proofs for custom solutions. We set up a secure and fully loaded development suite for the customers’ team prior to their arrival. For each engagement, servers, storage, desktops, and networks are custom-configured. 

“With more than 3,000 customers each year and delivering more than 50 Proof of Concept engagements, every day brings a unique combination of customers, hardware requirements, and setup needs, requiring an extremely dynamic environment.

“Without our Server Display Centre, we would be unable to function. Any extended downtime can cost around $5,000 per working minute, so we need a highly flexible system to power, cool, and monitor the environment.

“With the release of Windows Server 2008 and the Hyper-V technology, customers are increasingly focused on virtualisation, consolidation, and maximising their IT assets. At the same time, our server partners are focusing on blade technology. This drives up server environment density, which means we have sections of racks with high demands for power and cooling. Our existing perimeter cooling approach was under strain, and with a single large cooler, outages could shut down the entire server environment.

“We needed a more dynamic and efficient power and cooling capability to allow us to adapt to the changes in technologies over time. And we needed spot cooling rather than area cooling to adapt to daily changes in rack density and usage.

“APC’s InfraStruXure® combination of InRow® cooling units, scalable power protection/distribution, and management is an innovative approach. More effective cooling allows us to virtualise many of our servers and concentrate them into high-density racks. And the ability to monitor and control remotely is key since I live more than 30 miles from our office.

“The solution’s total cost of ownership is lower, since the cost of adding InRow cooling units as needed is much lower than having to add large perimeter cooling units. It also delivers cost savings due to its more efficient environment.

“In this job, the only thing I can predict is that I can’t predict what we will be supporting in another year. But APC gives us the reliability and adaptability we need to respond to changes in hardware and software so that we can help our customers adopt the latest technologies successfully.”