Severraum container incl. Equipment for SONNENTOR
An energy-efficient server room – in the middle of the Waldviertel – surrounded by green meadows and forests can now be found at the company SONNENTOR in Sprögnitz. Well protected and equipped with state-of-the-art IT infrastructure, the mobile data center ensures maximum availability and security at the BIO pioneer. Our colleague Stefanie met SONNENTOR IT managers Thomas Koppensteiner and Gregor Floh for a joint discussion with project and sales manager Peter Reisinger from EPS at the SONNENTOR Gasthaus Leibspeis.
Can you please briefly introduce yourselves for our readers?
Thomas: I’ll take care of it for both: My name is Thomas Koppensteiner and I’ve been with SONNENTOR for 11 years and together with my colleague Gregor Floh we are responsible for IT ICT. We are both from the Waldviertel and live virtually around the corner – which is of course not a disadvantage in IT.
What exactly does SONNENTOR stand for?
Thomas: SONNENTOR is known for organically grown herbal teas, spices and coffee. We are an organic farm by trade, where sustainability and good contracts with our farmers are very important.
How did you come up with your own container server room solution?
Gregor: Due to the company’s growth, SONNENTOR’s IT department also had to follow suit. We were looking for a suitable place for our IT infrastructure for a long time – unfortunately, we couldn’t find a suitable room in our halls.
Thomas: The former server room was absolutely not sustainable in terms of security and construction. Therefore, we had to look for another solution, which could also be moved if necessary. We then came up with EPS through recommendations.
Gregor, what aspects were important to you in the server room?
Gregor: First, our hardware must be well protected in the data center container . Secondly, the practical aspect: EPS server cabinets offer us a lot of space to work. Thirdly, we are well protected against a power failure with a UPS system . For automated monitoring and reporting of threshold values or alarms, a higher-level monitoring system was installed. This reports to us, for example. Temperature, humidity or climate values.
What was decisive in the selection of the provider?
Thomas: Long-term solutions and the personalities we work with. In addition, regionality is our top priority – so EPS was a good fit for us.
Peter – you implemented this server room project together with our technicians. Where is the energy efficiency reflected in this server room solution?
Peter: On the one hand, through the efficient data center cooling via the IT raised floor, through which the cooled air flows directly into our RCS racks. And on the other hand, in the modern climate chambers, which reduce operating costs through energy-efficient operation. With our adjustable RCS racks, the cooled air can be adjusted to each rack as needed.
What are the advantages of a container solution over other server room concepts?
Peter: With the Data Center Container, SONNENTOR has opted for a full-fledged data center infrastructure in a protected security container. The container is modular – the customer can flexibly expand and move it – it grows with the company. The premises in a company building are usually not suitable for server room applications. With the Data Center Container, no complex conversion is necessary. This means that the space gained in the building can be used for other areas.
Our data center containers can also be rented. To whom do you recommend this variant?
Peter: Companies that have to relocate their data center at short notice, but still don’t want to do without high availability. Reasons are usually limited parking space or a temporary solution due to extensions. A rental container is also useful for events. In principle, the customer rents a full-fledged container from us, including power supply and distribution, UPS system, IT climate, early fire detection with fire prevention, fire extinguishing, data cabling, etc. For a self-sufficient power supply, we also offer mobile or permanently installed emergency power generators.
What aspects need to be considered in the container solution?
Peter: The prerequisites for the installation are a solid floor slab or strip foundations made of concrete including system earthing as well as the connection of the power and data cables.
Your final words about the project?
Thomas: To be honest, we ourselves had a lot of respect for the server room project. But with EPS, everything worked great – from the first appointment to commissioning. From Tuesday to Friday everything was ready.
Gregor: Thanks to your team and especially a big compliment to the great guys who installed our container – they are really great.
Peter: Thank you for your trust in us – it was a lot of fun. I wish SONNENTOR continued success and am happy that we were able to do this server room project with you.
