Event Recap
RECAP | ROUNDTABLE | COVID-19 and Data Center Readiness in EMEA
Uptime Institute’s two Inside Track 24 March 2020 roundtables on Covid-19 generated worldwide interest, as data center operators from around the world joined to share information about how they are addressing COVID-19. Uptime Institute conducted these live events in Spanish and English and at different times of day to encourage all its members to participate. Amber Villegas - Williamson, technical consultant, Uptime Institute, moderated both sessions.
A participant from France warned other attendees that failure to take immediate action, as had happened in several European nations, would be catastrophic, and another praised the guidance in Uptime Institute’s COVID-19: Minimizing Critical Facility Risk.
During the sessions, participants described how the pandemic is affecting their operations. Participants described work at home and isolation strategies in effect, with the majority of participants joining the call from home. These strategies make it possible for data centers to limit the number of personnel on-site at any one time. They also have enhanced physical isolation by moving shift handovers to either physically separated meetings or online conference calls. Also
Some participants reported increased IT loads up to 30% above typical levels. The in-creased loads had not yet caused problems.
One participant from Costa Rica reported concern that normal cleaning of washable filters would not kill the virus.
The roundtable discussed the impact of quarantine situations. A participant from the Isle of Man said that maintenance personnel traveling to the island would be subject to a 14-day quarantine due to a new law on mandatory self-isolation for 14 days, (regardless of whether or not they have any symptoms). This quarantine would greatly reduce the availability of vendor personnel in some specialties both on the island and on the mainland.
Juan Orozco, technical consultant, Uptime Institute, asked how sites are handling scheduled maintenance activities, finding out that many participants have rescheduled and pushed back maintenance activities because of personnel schedules. But this could lead to a potentially a cascade of failures said Villegas – Williamson. Vendors are currently postponing routine maintenance and although they are communicating with clients limited information is being shared as any concerns will directly impact the share price of public companies.
Even so, respondents thought that delaying maintenance was the proper course of action, and they remained hopeful that the deferred maintenance could be addressed before causing an outage. They are remaining vigilant and revising their processes daily. Orozco said that the availability of vendor support needs to be considered.
Several participants have begun preparing for even greater disruption, especially in areas where travel restrictions are in place. They have purchased provisions and created rest areas to enable teams of operators to remain fully isolated and onsite for up to 30 days. These participants agreed with Orozco that some staff members might resist these extraordinary steps, saying that such steps would be a last resort. Villegas – Williamson said one member had planned to accommodate families to make the long isolations easier for staff.
During the session wrap up, Villegas – Williamson pointed out that it is imperative to continue to assess the situation in each region on a daily basis, modifying data center operating procedures, vendor support and the status of personnel accordingly.
In addition, there was participant consensus that pandemic would cause significant long-term changes in data center operations, vendor contracts and new build designs.
Uptime Institute has created an Intelligence Collection of all COVID-19 resources here. Inside Track members can follow the resource or sign up to receive alerts by clicking on the relevant links on the collection’s landing page.
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A participant from France warned other attendees that failure to take immediate action, as had happened in several European nations, would be catastrophic, and another praised the guidance in Uptime Institute’s COVID-19: Minimizing Critical Facility Risk.
During the sessions, participants described how the pandemic is affecting their operations. Participants described work at home and isolation strategies in effect, with the majority of participants joining the call from home. These strategies make it possible for data centers to limit the number of personnel on-site at any one time. They also have enhanced physical isolation by moving shift handovers to either physically separated meetings or online conference calls. Also
Juan Orozco, technical consultant, Uptime Institute, asked how sites are handling scheduled maintenance activities, finding out that many participants have rescheduled and pushed back maintenance activities because of personnel schedules. But this could lead to a potentially a cascade of failures said Villegas – Williamson. Vendors are currently postponing routine maintenance and although they are communicating with clients limited information is being shared as any concerns will directly impact the share price of public companies.
Even so, respondents thought that delaying maintenance was the proper course of action, and they remained hopeful that the deferred maintenance could be addressed before causing an outage. They are remaining vigilant and revising their processes daily. Orozco said that the availability of vendor support needs to be considered.
Several participants have begun preparing for even greater disruption, especially in areas where travel restrictions are in place. They have purchased provisions and created rest areas to enable teams of operators to remain fully isolated and onsite for up to 30 days. These participants agreed with Orozco that some staff members might resist these extraordinary steps, saying that such steps would be a last resort. Villegas – Williamson said one member had planned to accommodate families to make the long isolations easier for staff.
During the session wrap up, Villegas – Williamson pointed out that it is imperative to continue to assess the situation in each region on a daily basis, modifying data center operating procedures, vendor support and the status of personnel accordingly.
In addition, there was participant consensus that pandemic would cause significant long-term changes in data center operations, vendor contracts and new build designs.
Uptime Institute has created an Intelligence Collection of all COVID-19 resources here. Inside Track members can follow the resource or sign up to receive alerts by clicking on the relevant links on the collection’s landing page.
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