Rack brings a new generation of data processing capacity

Compared to other standards in the telecommunications industry such as AdvancedTCA, the company claims that the Schroff ServCite rack has significantly higher data processing and/or storage density.

OCP is an industry-wide initiative for defining the specifications and designs for the most energy efficient and economical data centre possible. There are, however, additional requirements for environmental and mechanical durability in the telecommunications industry that are not covered in the OCP standard. The Schroff ServCite rack is built on the ideas of the OCP standards and also meets the mechanical and thermal requirements of the telecommunications industry.

The ServCite rack can accommodate ToR (Top of Rack) switches, a power supply unit with pluggable PSUs, a rack agent as well as shelves for CPU and memory plug-in units (also known as Compute and Storage sleds). The number of compute and storage sleds in use, and thus the computing power or storage density, can vary depending on the requirement. Seventeen Storage Sleds, with the ability to hold up to 24 hard drives with up to 8TB of storage capacity can be housed in one standard Schroff ServCite rack. If the rack is equipped exclusively with compute sleds, 34 sleds fit into a rack. All Compute sleds can be equipped with two half SSI server main boards, each with two bases. This makes it possible to install up to 136 Xeon processors in the rack.

Heat is dissipated from the components as a result of straight airflow from front to rear and optional backdoor cooling. Conventional 19" systems usually require directed air cooling with at least two changes in direction. The straight airflow in the ServCite rack and the sleds is more efficient and reduces the amount of space needed for redirecting air in the system. That space is then available for additional electronic components.

Furthermore, Pentair's approach with the Schroff ServCite rack follows a new redundancy and reliability concept. While every component requires redundant implementation in conventional systems such as AdvancedTCA, storage and data processing are installed in a Schroff ServCite rack with excess capacity of ten percent. If a hard drive, processor or even a sled fails, the task is simply transferred to another server. Some functions such as the power supply, current conversion and switches still feature 100% redundancy.

Pentair offers a wide range of possibilities for customised designs in the selection and specification of a Schroff ServCite rack. This technology is based on the standard range of highly robust and efficient Schroff Varistar cabinets. The mechanical system of the sleds is based on the modular design of the Schroff Interscale M case with EMC shielding.