Consulting-Specifying Engineer - March 2009 - (Page 53) Case Study In a Rush to improve data center efficiency AT A GLANCE At Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, the capacity to handle and process data has increased 20fold over the past 20 years. Erected in 1986, the hospital’s data center manages the critical IT infrastructure in a building adjacent to the hospital. Rush selected the Sinorix fire suppression system from Siemens Building Technologies, Inc. (SBT) to replace the 20-year old, Halon-based system. The Sinorix system protects the data and network systems required to deliver patient information to caregivers. The system operates with Fireprint early warning smoke detection hardware, and a clean agent, HFC-227ea. The data at Rush is maintained by Unix-based servers in tandem with 400 Intel-based blade and nonblade servers. The 11,000sq ft system includes the data center, test center, and data storage vault. The dispensing tanks hold 4,480 lbs of clean agent and rest just off the main floor of the data center, tape vault, and test room. prescriptions, and financial information must be protected. At Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, the capacity to handle and process such data has increased 20-fold over the past 20 years. Erected in 1986, the hospital’s data center manages the critical IT infrastructure in a building adjacent to the hospital. The data center needed an upgraded protection system for its servers, data storage drives, and backup tape system. Wil Raske, director of data center operations at Rush, chose to replace the data center’s outdated, Halon-based fire detection and suppression system with the Sinorix fire suppression system from Siemens Building Technologies, E fficient information technology (IT) has become a necessity at hospitals nationwide. Patient records, diagnostic images, Inc. (SBT), which is designed to protect all of the data and network systems required to deliver patient information to caregivers. The 600-bed hospital and research facility is committed to employing green standards whenever possible. Therefore, the selected equipment had to be environmentally friendly and not create health risks when discharged. The Sinorix system meets the challenge; it suppresses fire and leaves no residue behind. Interacting at the molecular level, the system differentiates the harmful from the harmless, and removes the heat from the fire triangle. The system operates with Fireprint early warning smoke detection hardware, and a clean agent, HFC-227ea, which has zero ozone depletion potential (ODP). The zero-ODP agent makes the environment safer for inhabitants. Used in Above: The Fireprint, cross-zone, early warning smoke detectors analyze the particles in the air and measures them against stored algorithms located in the detector’s software. Left: The Sinorix fire suppression system protects the data and network systems by using the clean agent HFC-227ea Source: Siemens Building Technologies Consulting-Specifying Engineer • MARCH 2009 53
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