T4 Group Ltd

The 5,200m² facility includes 1500m² of net usable column-free raised floor, with a repeatable 
modular design and expansion options. 

This provides customers with long-term certainty in managing their future IT needs.  
1500m² raised floor area has capacity for ~800 racks  (500 still available)
26km of mains cables plus sub circuit  
54 tonnes of switchboard  
25 tonnes of copper in the switchboards  
1.4km of air conditioning pipe work. 

An ex-IBM built data centre completed in 2012 and is characterised by energy efficiency, green technologies, 
scalability and the latest power and cooling technologies. 

Specifically, the following standards apply to all 5,200m² of the Highbrook facility:  
Targeted Building green star rating of 4 stars  
Targeted Office green star rating of 5 stars  
Targeted Data Centre Green Grid Level 2  
Maximum annual average Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating of 1.6. 

The Auckland T4 Data Centre is an IBM Reliability Level 3 Data Centre, one of the highest levels 
of reliability available in data centres.  
Located at Highbrook Business Park, the T4 Data Centre is situated on a low risk site 30+ 
metres above sea level, outside the Auckland Volcanic Field and in a low seismic risk area. 
While offering dual site access for power and communications entry points, the T4 Data Centre 
avoids reliance upon Auckland’s mains power supply through the use of a series of generators 
providing a reliable secondary power source. 

Key resiliency features are:  
Electrical - 2 levels of redundancy from mains power, 2 levels of redundancy from UPS 
power and multiple levels of redundancy from generator power  
Mechanical – central chilled water plant, advanced air conditioning, fire services  
Environmental – flood, fire and earthquake protection  
Security - dedicated staging room, CRAC units outside of the RFM.  

Situated on a secured site, the T4 Data Centre building is set back a minimum of 10 metres on 
all boundaries and incorporates controlled access points for visitors, IT support, facilities 
maintenance and deliveries. 
There is a dedicated security control room within the building, resourced 24/7 and supporting T4 
CAS access and monitoring system, which includes:  
Three forms of access into RFM  
IP Based CCTV with storage for 30 days  
Intercom at entry points  
Master key system throughout  
Alarm monitoring  
Vehicle control points. 

Cloud Enablement  
Built to IBM global cloud architecture specifications, the T4 Data Centre is enabled for 
virtualisation, auto provisioning, metering and billing and integrated service management.  
Two diverse communications lead in services  
Dedicated dual MDFs  
Provision for roof top communications systems  
Direct access to MDFs for Telco’s outside of RFM. 
Energy Efficiency Design Components  

Pre Cooling of Air Supply 
As mains water is supplied to site via underground pipes its temperature is usually 16-17 
degrees, the water is then pumped through cooling coils on the Air Handling Units (AHU’s) that 
provide outside air to the utilities rooms and the data hall pressurisation system. The effect is 
‘free water side cooling’ that reduces the load on the chilled water system in summer and 
tempered air heating in winter. 

Centralised Dehumidification / Humidification  
In traditional decentralised systems i.e. each Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) unit 
undertakes its own humidification and dehumidification. This usually results in a significant 
amount of wasted energy as adjacent and opposite CRAC units fight each other. This is normally 
referred to as control hunting. 
At the T4 Data Centre the humidification and dehumidification processes have been centralised 
into the data hall incoming fresh air system, leaving the CRAC units to undertake temperature 
control only. The central plant type air treatment process was able to incorporate two high 
efficiency ultrasonic humidifiers rather than twelve smaller decentralised units. 

Elimination of non IT heat sources  
The data hall has been constructed as a “box within a box” utilising metal encased fire rated 
insulation panels. These provide a high level of tightness, insulation and coupled with the 
extensive building vapour barrier results in a highly efficient building envelope that reduces the 
potential for energy loss and gains. 

Computer Room Air Conditioners (CRACs)  
Large capacity high efficiency CRAC units have been utilised to obtain optimum system 
efficiency. The CRAC unit fan boxes - incorporating EC variable speed fans - are located in the 
floor void beneath each CRAC unit. In conjunction with this, perforated plate barriers have been 
installed to eliminate potential velocity pressure issues at the data hall floor grilles. Computational 
Fluid Dynamic (CFD) modelling has been undertaken to achieve the optimum outcome.  
All CRAC units in the data hall, including allowance for redundancy (N+25%), operate 
simultaneously with the load spread across all units to achieve the highest operating efficiency. 
The CRAC unit fans will automatically speed up to compensate for loss of floor void pressure of if 
a CRAC unit stops operating due to a critical fault condition. 
The air flow is managed via the perforated floor tiles which are also fitted with dampers to close 
off air supply to areas either not in use or not requiring cooling. The dampers also have the ability 
to reduce the volume of air flow to suit the rack cooling requirements and eliminated wastage of 
cool air.  
Energy efficiency analysis did not just look at the power but also the latent heat a CRAC 
produces, the selection required CRAC manufacturers to provide coils that match our chilled 
water temperatures and provided the highest sensible to total cooling ratios in order to minimise 
the wasteful latent cooling load. 

Battery Room Temperature Control  
As battery rooms are required to be maintained at a consistent temperature all year round, the 
rooms are well insulated to reduce solar heat gains / losses and reduce energy costs. Hot air 
from the UPS room is used to provide free heating. 

Data Hall Lighting  
The data hall lighting system is fully automated to only turn on those rows where required. Rows 
or lights are switched on automatically and remain on while movement is detected but rather then 
turn on all lights only the row where activity is sensed plus one row either side is activated. Thus 
the data hall remains a lights out environment for the majority of the time reducing the area to 
being lit Thus saving energy and improving the life of fittings. 

Data Hall Return Air  
A common problem with most data halls is the return air path and the mixing of air to spread the 
load evenly over the CRACs. At the T4 Data Centre our return air is drawn back to the CRACs 
into mixing chambers on either side of the hall turning the air twice through 90 degrees before 
dumping the air into the Mechanical services passageway and back to the CRACs. 
This removes the possibility of one or more CRACs receiving a disproportionate amount of the 
hot air from high heat sources. Thus CRACs working together share the load, rather than one 
unit running at 100% and other at 10% thus reducing any wasted energy from CRACs with none 
or little load. 

Rain Water Harvesting  
While not a new concept, rain water harvesting usually means installing tanks at high capital 
cost. However we have reduced the capital cost by over-sizing the underground pipework 
collection system, into which the roof rainwater down pipes discharge, and using this as the 
storage system in lieu of a tank. 
The rainwater is used as a first priority water supply for the Cooling tower make-up. 

Water Side Economiser  
Water side economisers are normally found only in colder climate locations. At Auckland Data 
Centre we have engineered a water side economiser, based on higher chilled water flow and 
return temperatures that is able to leverage the wider range of temperatures experienced locally. 
Monitoring the outside air conditions chilled water can be diverted through plate exchangers 
connected to each cooling tower to provide total free cooling for the entire site or partial free 
cooling in tandem with mechanical Chillers. This type of operation is known as ‘extended mode’ 
free cooling and is able to provide free cooling at higher outside air temperatures. This 
significantly increases the number of hours per year when free cooling can be utilised. 

Variable Speed Drive units (VSDs)  
All pumps and fans are controlled via VSDs to minimise the energy consumption during start up 
and at operating speeds. Operating speeds are regulated to ensure the output is always at the 
required power eliminating excess energy consumption. 
Support and Office Areas  
Not even the small load areas have escaped the energy revolution. A holistic view of the site 
support and office area energy efficiency ensured there are best of breed engineered solutions 
throughout from solar hot water to double glazed exteriors and wide over hanging awnings to 
prevent thermal gain from the sun. Office lights are automatically controlled in 100sqm zones 
(there are no light switches.) 

Monitoring and Metering  
To design energy efficient systems is only the first step. Monitoring, measuring and reporting 
their performance enables the FM team to maintain the design intent and the performance. 
The T4 Data Centre’s Building Monitoring and Control System (BMCS) is the most 
comprehensive, centralised data analyser in the NZ data centre industry.  
The BMCS has been integrated into all services from measuring the power input at the supply 
authority to the consumption of power at the circuits supplying the racks; the water onto the site 
through to the discharge into the sewer; fuel delivered to site and used by the generators. All 
energy is measured and metered 24/7 in real time.  
The BMCS trends the performance and history allowing the Facilities Manager to identify when a 
system is no longer performing correctly and or efficiently. The energy efficiency of a site is only 
as good as the team maintaining the design, monitoring the performance, making the 
adjustments and ensuring the plant is well maintained.

T4 Highbrook DC

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