Tool box opens up range of test options

3rd May 2016

Microlease Ltd

Mick Elliott

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A new Datacentre Tool Box from Microlease has been introduced to equip data centre engineering teams and their subcontractors with the varied instrumentation support that they need to complete installation, upgrades and routine maintenance projects in a single package. It provides a customisable rental package of instruments and equipment for electrical power test, thermal imaging, cabling and optical transmission test – all to the latest standards.

The tool box can be delivered to any site world-wide, ready-calibrated and fully tested for immediate use.

It is aimed at modern data centres that need to provide their customers with high availability to exacting performance standards.

The Microlease tool box provides customers with all the different items of equipment needed. It presents ample scope to mix and match an extensive range of options direct from stock.

The rental approach offers flexibility in that items can be returned when no longer required or swapped for other models if different test parameters have to be addressed.

The Microlease Datacentre Tool Box encompasses the following elements:

* Electrical energy loggers including the Fluke 1735; instruments to measure electrical power disturbance over time, for example the Dranetz HDPQ Power XPlorer; and high-end, realtime power quality analysers like the Newtons4th PPA5500 series.

* Infrared imaging systems such as Fluke Thermovision and Keysight TrueIR cameras help to identify cooling issues or systems and cabling at risk of overheating. These instruments can, for example, diagnose out-of-balance three-phase systems that draw excessive current on the zero line.

* Cable testing for both copper and fibre installation and renewal is enabled through devices like the Fluke DSX-5000 or the Viavi Certifier 40G.

* A choice of easy-to-use return loss testers or more sophisticated optical time-domain reflectometers for single-mode or multimode fibre. Fluke Certifibers or the Viavi SmartOTDR fall in the first category, whilst the Viavi MTS-2000, Exfo MAX-720 and Fluke OptiFiber cater for the higher-end requirements. All instruments can be supplied with fibre inspection probes to make sure connectors are clean.

* The Fluke MultiFiber Pro offers an easy to use loss-test set for systems using multifibre push-on (MPO) connectors, diagnosing bad connections, sharp bends and the like.

* Available instrumentation for the growing range of transmission protocols used in data centres - from legacy SDH to 1-100 Gbps Ethernet through all rates of fibre channel - includes Exfo FTB-880 and FTB-8830, Viavi MTS-5822 and new CSAM - 100Gig Ethernet testers. There are also testers for high speed (100Gig) interfaces for CFP-1, CFP-2, CFP-4 and QSFP, so that all different interfaces are supported.

* Custom tool box functions can be augmented to facilitate additional functions such as electrical safety and earth resistance test, cable location, and vibration testing to avoid mechanical damage.