SMART Electrical Solutions
Martin Electric has delivered multiple mission-critical projects for owners in both the public and private sectors over its history but none quite as unique as converting an old Ames Plaza mall into a call center with a Tier III mission- critical data processing and storage center for Computer Science Corporation (CSC). The converted 128,000 sqft facility would be home to 500 employees responsible for supporting both public and private projects including processing claims and payments for the state’s Medicaid system in addition to a state-of-the-art data storage facility.
Services Provided:
Preconstruction, Continuity Planning, Disaster Recovery, Utility Coordination, Power & Distribution, Emergency Power, Lighting, Fire Alarm, Security, Lightning Protection, Maintenance
The key objective of this project was to deliver a redundant electrical infrastructure to support the demands and standards of a data center classified for the storing and supporting of Federal and State processing contracts. With a strong focus on avoiding hefty liquidated damages from the State and Federal governments per second of down time, the design of the facility and infrastructure focused on complete redundancy, as well as a continuity plan for failure of any aspect of the system.
Martin Electric was tasked with completing a fully engineered analysis to ensure there is no single point of failure in the electrical or mechanical infrastructure system, referred to as N+1. To achieve our customer’s goal of ensuring redundancy, Martin Electric’s infrastructure design and installation began with two separate, 4,000-amp main feed services to the facility, which are backed up by two, 2.25-megawatt generators. Additionally, four - 750 kva UPS systems were incorporated to ensure uninterrupted as well as clean power to sensitive server equipment. Redundancy from the UPSs straight down to the server room bus duct was maintained to allow for all equipment to be redundantly fed as well as backed up by emergency generator power.
Just as important to a data center as quality power, is maintaining a conditioned environment to protect the integrity of the equipment. Martin Electric installed two independent 2,000-amp panels to serve the chiller units with redundant power, as well as provisions for additional backup power, and hookups for temporary chillers in the event a chiller failed.
As a full-service provider, Martin Electric continues to support the data center through preventative maintenance as well as emergency response service which provides manpower and a dedicated standby generator at the ready 24/7. CSC is a global leader providing technology-enabled solutions and services through three primary lines of business: Business Solutions & Services, Global Outsourcing Services, and the North American Public Sector.