How Otomatica supports the IT/OT convergence of DC power management in data centers with ETAP

• It was not possible with existing network architecture to provide full IT compatibility on the corporate cloud while accessing data at a physical location
• Existing OT protocols were not entirely able to ensure verified and secured data collection from the location via a corporate network
• Facility Manager and IT Manager needed a solution within one platform for intelligent power monitoring, event playback, energy accounting, load and capacity management

Through IT convergence and power optimizations, their objective with this case study for one of the biggest data centers in the region was to provide visible, secure, efficient, standardized, and centralized monitoring.  Otomatica designs data centers for operations, and at the time of this case study they had commissioned and were still supporting more than 25 modern data centers, with a combined power demand of over 120 MW IT power. They recognized in ETAP the commitment to be at the forefront of innovation from design tools through operations, with new software offerings, expanded equipment catalogs and API integrations.

Traditionally, local building management and power management installations have been located within the OT layers. This partial integration doesn't provide adequate visibility, security, quality and reliability standards. Providing a building management and power management monitoring system at the onset of operations, and at the corporate cloud level to comply with IT standards is highly recommended by Otomatica. They were looking for a software solution they could recommend and implement at the onset of a new installation to test the mechanical system, which was capable of moving the simulation dataset from their design stage directly into operations within an IT/OT convergence framework.

Keeping in mind that the design and execution phase of a data center lifecycle is one to two years, but operations of these complex facilities may reach 30 to 40 years, there is critical expectations by Data Center Owners to meet growing demands with minimal downtime during the operations stage. During operation, data center operators must perform thousands of planned and unplanned activities on hundreds of different capacities of equipment which are all dependent on one another.  As well, the technology and personnel is constantly changing but the expectations for zero downtime remains. And new demands for energy efficiency and sustainable operations requirements are growing. These operators can benefit greatly by having software tools that help the data center be fault-tolerant, that helps them to predict and prevent events, scale their operations accordingly, and maintain certifications.

ETAP Real-Time Power Management Software - Powerful analytical tools that allows for detection of system behavior in response to operator actions and events via the use of real-time and archived data to determine the appropriate system response to a variety of changes and disturbances by using electrical and physical parameters, loading and generation levels, network topology, and control logics. In addition, the solution can determine the source of potential problems and advise on corrective actions to avoid interruptions.

The unique features of ETAP's model-driven, real-time power management software are effectively leveraged in a corporate environment. Data and applications are hosted in customers' highly secure and expertly managed environments, utilizing electrical networks with topological dependencies. This enables modeling, design, analysis, optimization, monitoring, and control of the data center power systems.
Hüseyin Doğa Emiroğulları, Founder and CEO, Otomatica

Meeting the data-driven power management requirements for data centers

ETAP provided a power management solution that the consultant could customize to their client's requirements using the following functionality:

• Modernized the system's automation level
• Availability of both IT and OT protocols and architecture
• Modeling features including data classification, labeling, and validation features enabled us to manage the big data
• Restful API integration to locate ETAP's model-driven features within the corporate environment 
• IT compatibility to enable the integration of customer's existing IT services and tools
• A model-driven solution that met or exceeded the customer's expectations for an operator friendly tool for power management concerning DC topology
• Highly secure data and applications hosted in customers managed environment
• An electrical network with topological dependencies are implemented to enable modeling design, analysis, monitoring, optimization and control over the data center's power system
  

Otomatica was able to successfully fulfill the expectations of their data center customer through a fully digitalized electromechanical infrastructure. The benefits of this IT/OT convergence provide:

• Visibility: Secure monitoring with corporate devices from anywhere
• Efficiency and Cost Optimization: Shared resources for maintenance, monitoring, asset management, event management and energy efficiency analysis
• Reliability: Experienced Application and Service Owners can maintain PMS at server, application, and database levels
• Features: Customization services and interoperability benefits with applications developed for other departments
• Standards: Cybersecurity and IT standards are applied to OT
• Decision Making: Standardized and correlated data to quickly enable informed decisions

They achieved power management standardization as a part of ITIL SO standards for the customer, including:

• Asset and event management
• Standardized data management
• Standardized and verified billing and energy accounting options
• Infrastructure performance management

The latest technology developments include AI, OPS, and advanced reporting and analytics tools that can generate insights, using electrical data provided by ETAP. Moreover, ETAP can utilize the outputs of these tools to enhance reports and analytics for operations teams.
Hüseyin Doğa Emiroğulları, Founder and CEO, Otomatica