Emergency back-up devices may keep the computers on, but the operations may still collapse because few companies have backed up the air conditioning essential to prevent their computers from overheating, says Mike Sewell, the outsourcing executive for Business Connexion.

During lengthy blackouts last month, companies that smugly saw their back-up power switch on still had to shut down the computers when their data centres began to sweat.

Eskom warned consumers to cut consumption or expect more power failures. Although it plans to spend R97bn to augment its generating power, much of that will not take effect until next year.

“People think at worst the power will be off for 15 to 20 minutes, so they have a back-up power supply to run the computers for a while,” said Sewell. But during the blackouts last month computer rooms started overheating and critical systems had to be shut down because there was insufficient emergency power to run the air conditioners.

The massive amount of heat they generate is shown clearly by a supercomputer at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria. Every centimetre of that computer’s case puts out as much heat as a steam iron.

“We are facing a very tenuous power supply, and that brings a new dimension to what companies have to think about,” said Sewell, who also predicts a shortage of diesel as companies stock up on liquid fuel to run their generators.

Last year, Business Connexion invested R140m in two data centres in Midrand, where the generators run the cooling systems as well as the computers, to support the technology infrastructure of companies including AngloGold Ashanti, Edcon and Santam.

Comments