Upgrading Server Cabinet Cooling
At Maxi-Cool, customer service, long-term customer relationships, and sustainability are critical to us, and we have been developing these aspects of our business over the last eight years. This article, which is the latest in our case studies series, demonstrates our long-term relationships with customers and our latest efforts to achieve sustainability and improvements in server rack cooling. As with other articles in this series, this case study is anonymous to protect the technical operation of our end users.
This case study is about a business that is a research lab in power generation, aerospace, and processing. Working in a two-story industrial unit in a technology park, it makes and tests products in a high-tech factory setting. It has servers on site that constantly calculate and repeat designs 24/7. Data processing and storage are mission-critical for this precision manufacturing business, and on-site servers are its preferred method of data storage, allowing flexibility, speedy iterations, and security. The servers are powerful, generate significant heat, and must be actively cooled to ensure functionality and efficiency.
Our customer purchased one of the first Maxi-Cool Top Mount units in 2016. They acquired it through an IT support business and we began providing annual services directly to them in 2020. Since then, we’ve built a strong relationship with them through our annual servicing and quick response to their queries. After an annual service in 2023, they made the proactive decision to upgrade from the original 4kW Maxi-Cool to the more powerful 5kW Halo TM5 version. This decision was primarily driven by their need for greater cooling capacity due to increased workload and business growth. Additionally, the typical lifecycle of a Maxi-Cool is five years. Although their cooling system was still operational after eight years, they foresaw potential reliability issues and wanted to ensure the stability of their IT setup.
We retrofitted a TM5 Halo Maxi-Cool cooling system to the existing cabinet, reusing the original covers of the Maxi-Cool. We also retrofitted a door interlock system, now a standard feature on all our units and models. This system sounds an alarm and switches off the cooling system if one of the cabinet doors is left open, preventing any issues for the Maxi-Cool cooling system. The TM5, also known as Halo for its location on the cabinet, is lighter than the original TM4 and is quick to install. We removed the old TM4 and disposed of it within environmental guidelines. The new versions and upgrades of the parts mean the TM5 is more energy-efficient and powerful than the TM4, ensuring a seamless and efficient upgrade process for our customers.
If you have a Maxi-Cool TM4 and would like to retrofit it with the more powerful TM5, please contact us for a quote. We would love to hear from you. Email: info@maxi-cool.co.uk, Telephone: 01733 876262, or Visit the website https://www.maxi-cool.co.uk for more information about our products and services.