For those keen enough to watch the webcam, you would have seen the guys sealing the datacentre floor area. For those not so keen, here's the picture :-)



The floor gets sealed to prevent concrete dust from contaminating the datacentre area once the facility is operational. This work is preparation for the installation of the floor tiles, which should start next week.

A lot of stuff turned up today - battery cabinets for the UPS's, batteries, cabling, more cable tray, the UPS room air conditioners, and a few other sundry items.



At least one of the UPS room air conditioners is now hanging from the roof (we know this because it's right in front of our webcam - we'll have to move the camera next week).

The datacentre floor area was vacuumed this afternoon in preparation for tomorrow's floor sealing.

Next week will see a flurry of activity as nearly a dozen electricians and a handful of air conditioning installers appear on-site. The builders will be back to install the door frames, the plasterers back to finish off the walls to the new door frames, the painters back to paint the plasterer's new work.

As an aside - our rack manufacturer tells us they're manufacturing our rack doors in their Adelaide facility while their Brisbane facility is busy producing the racks themselves. The first 10 racks are almost ready - just waiting on the floor to be put in place before they're delivered. ...and on the subject of flooring, that should get underway early next week also.

Air conditioning condensers will arrive early next week, ready to have their support frames fitted prior to craning onto the roof.

Day 32 and the fun stuff is starting and a data centre is taking shape.

The latest news folks is that the electrical room floor has been completely sealed which allows us to begin installing the equipment which will be housed in this room.

As shown in the photo below the supply switchboard is on-site, has been levelled in place and is now bolted to the floor.

UPS's and Air Con units are on-site and awaiting their installation.

The second level of tray work is largely complete and the floor mark-out has begun.

Based on the Australian national average household electricity consumption of 1625KWh per quarter, once power is at the planned 75% utilisation of the 3MW of capacity for DC3 when full it will consume as much power as roughly 3000 average households!

Below is a picture of the 11m long switchboard which will distribute this power throughout the facility. It currently sits in storage awaiting installation.

At the end of 2006 PIPE Networks staff were asked by management to put forward suggestions of what areas they thought the company could improve in.

Recognising that PIPE as an operator of 5 data centres in Australia is a significant user of electricity (DC3 will be hooked up with two diverse 1.5MW power feeds), one of the most popular topics discussed was how to become more socially responsible when it comes to the way we impact the environment as an organisation.

And so came PIPE Green. A committee run by staff members to oversee changes which will ensure that PIPE Networks is a company that is as environmentally friendly as possible.

Since its inception less than 6 months ago PIPE Green has arranged the following:

• participation in Business Clean Up Australia Day by the Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne offices
• the move to a total office recycling scheme including small recycling bins under the desk of each staff member
• water removed from all manholes and cable chambers is transported, treated and re-used in a way which benefits the community such as for irrigation at a Melbourne cricket oval
• "Project PIPE Lights" which is a simple strategy to remind staff of the differences they can make in the workplace. This includes the odd poster around the office as a reminder to do things like switch off monitors when you’re away from your desk or turn off the lights if you’re the last to leave at night

PIPE Green is also currently researching the following projects:

• a PIPE solar farm
• a tree planting project with the aim of making the company Carbon neutral
• green power for some or all of PIPE’s power needs (including the data centres)

Further detail on what PIPE Green is up to can be found here:
http://pipenetworksgreen.blogspot.com/