Efficiency is key: During the two-day conference, there was a lot of talk about efficiency in the data center sector. Many of our customers and prospects want to do testing promptly, making rental turnaround a key driver in selecting a provider. 

Labour shortages are an ongoing issue: Many data centres do not have the right labour pool to execute daily operations, let alone testing. This means that having access to trained technicians is an important factor when selecting a solution provider. 

Heat load testing is as important as genset testing: Most facilities managers and data center operators are aware of the need to test generators to keep backup power running efficiently. Speaking to customers and prospects, it would seem that there is an increased interest in using load bank solutions to heat load test server halls at the commissioning phase. 

Backup power lead times are long: In some cases, lead times for generators are up to two years. This means that data centers must invest in backup power solutions early in the planning and commissioning phase. To avoid this, some data centers rent generators. While this is a temporary solution, rental generators are often older, making it vital that load testing is completed frequently. 

De-risking data centers is high on the agenda: From my many conversations with customers, I heard them speak about de-risking their data center. Some load banked their data centers monthly; others only did it when their generator services company scheduled it. The overwhelming sentiment was that they want to test more often and efficiently to avoid the risk of outages. 

To find out more about how Crestchic can help to address these issues, speak to our rental team here. 

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At the end of November, the Crestchic depot in Texas (USA) fulfilled a large customer order in record time, helping to ensure that the customer in question could fulfil business critical power testing obligations. The speedy fulfilment of the job saw the customer return for a further eight units just a few days later. 

Steven Bacon, Business Development Manager for Crestchic USA, explains “The customer called us looking for an extremely fast turnaround. It was 2pm and they needed 17, 100kW load banks by close of business the same day. It’s a short turnaround time for any major equipment supplier, but our processes and the team’s can-do attitude meant that we fulfilled the order and the mission-critical testing was able to go ahead as planned.” 

Working with a major player in the data centre industry, the customer had scheduled mission-critical tests to take place the next day. A hiccup in their existing supply chain meant that they didn’t have the specialist load banks equipment required to complete the testing. 

In just two hours, the Crestchic team had sorted out all of the paperwork, processed payments, and arranged for customer collection of 17 units, including cabling and peripherals. 

Customer service and fast response time 

In an unforeseen turn of events, the trailer that the customer had ordered to collect the load banks from the Crestchic depot broke down on the way. With customer service at the forefront of the Texas operation, the Crestchic team waited out-of-hours for the trailer to arrive, before helping the driver to secure the load ready for the onward journey. 

Steven continued, “Our internal systems and processes meant that we were able to complete an incredibly fast turnaround on this urgent order. It was great to see the team spring into action and make it happen. This particular customer has a fleet of data centres in the US and beyond, used to power a number of global apps and services. For them, having their system go down due to a power outage is just not an option. The load banks supplied will be used to check their backup power systems and ensure they will power up effectively in the event of an emergency.”

Data centre industry sees costs of downtime rise

Findings from the Uptime Institute’s 2022 Global Datacentre Survey highlight the fact that downtime in the data centre industry is becoming increasingly expensive, with the main cause identified as power failures. Further research also identifies the biggest causes of power-related outages to be uninterruptible power supply failures, followed by transfer switch (generator / grid) and generator failures. Loadbank testing allows data centre operators to fully test their systems – mitigating the costly and devastating impact of a power outage. 

Second order placed with a week

Steven concludes, “The customer was extremely grateful and their director said that he would never forget how fast we worked and that he would return to us for any future load bank /power testing requirements. True to his word, the customer called for another 8 units just a few days later.” 

Founded in 1983, Crestchic is one of the world’s leading specialist manufacturers of load banks which are used in the testing of power supplies in the most demanding climactic and environmental conditions across seven continents. Operating from locations in the UK, North America, Singapore, Belgium, France, Germany, China and the UAE, the company is at the forefront of innovation and design, with thriving sales and rental operations and a loyal and growing customer base worldwide.

For more information about the role of load bank testing in data centre power resilience strategies, speak to our team.  

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The report, which was sponsored by energy supplier, E.ON, suggests that high-bandwidth 5G networking will drive the demand for data, increasing the energy consumed by German data centres by 3.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year. The report suggests that this rise is equivalent to the amount of electricity consumed by 2.5 million people.

Paul commented, “The report relates to Germany, which is only a slice of the market, yet the growth in demand is fierce. Add to this the fact that growth has been forecast in the APAC, North America and Western Europe regions – plus reports of some of the internet’s best-known names investing in data centres – and it is clear that demand for data in on the up. Really, it’s no great surprise, with the IoT increasingly prevalent in industrial settings, demand for smart-home devices growing and a surge in streaming movies, our thirst for data seems to be unquenchable.”

To meet this increased need, suppliers are doing all they can to provide energy sustainably, as well as harnessing the heat generated by these power-hungry centres. However, while sustainability is key, data centre owners and operators also need to ensure that they have the infrastructure to provide continuous uptime – and a disaster recovery plan if systems fail.

Paul continues, “Reliability is absolutely crucial for data centres. Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS) are universally accepted as a piece of critical business infrastructure. Acting as a bridge between the data centre and the backup generator, they provide instantaneous power in the event of a mains failure. However, when power is mission-critical, testing back-up power systems can make all the difference to whether they operate effectively when called upon. We’re seeing an increase in demand for load banks from all over the world – a significant proportion is from data centres which need to regularly test their back-up power to ensure that there is no downtime if a power outage occurs.”

According to US research body, the Ponemon Institute, power outages in data centres cost an average of close to £600,000. Taking into consideration the impact of outages in the hyper-scale data centres, financial services and airline markets, the cost could be closer to millions. Yet, despite reports of outages being extremely costly and often business-critical, data from the Uptime Institute in 2019 indicated that one-third of all data centres suffered from downtime. Staggeringly, the main cause (33%) of data centre downtime was power outages.

“Clearly,” concludes Paul, “the world’s reliance on data is set to increase. While the impact on energy consumption will also rise, our tolerance for downtime will decrease. The expectation of a secure, continuous “always-on” experience is already placing demand on suppliers to deliver and – with data centre downtime costing thousands of dollars per minute and potentially resulting in critical data breaches – operators must ensure that they have back-up plans in place.”

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