Comprehensive data centre testing.

Cressall is partnering up with its French sister company, Rentaload, to provide the British market with an effective means of load testing data centres. The collaboration comes as a response to the growing popularity of cloud computing and consequently, the need for reliable data storage.

Rentaload provides a range of load banks for a variety of industries - from oil and gas to the health sector. The company specialises in renting innovative rack-mounted load banks for the specialised testing of data centres. Cressall is now the UK contact for businesses seeking to rent load banks from Rentaload.

Traditionally, data centre load testing focussed purely on the data halls and back-up generators. Testing was often carried out on individual systems, even before the final infrastructure - such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) or server racks - were in place. This testing method sometimes meant problems arose because elements of the data centres hadn't been tested together.

To address this issue, Rentaload supplies load banks that emulate servers, rack-mounted to provide an accurate perception of working functionality under normal operating conditions. This means they mimic the actual load on the HVAC system, automatic transfer switches and the electrical system. This allows the client to test the whole system under normal operating conditions.

Single phase rack-mounted load banks are available at 7kW and 11kW loads and free standing 21kW single/three phase mini-tower units.

"It's imperative for companies to test data centres at their full working capacity before servers are switched on," explained Mark Templeman, sales engineer at Cressall and representative for Rentaload. "You don't have to look back too far to see the consequences of downtime in data centres. It is what gave birth to tier certification. "Data centres are awarded different tiers of certification depending on their reliability and levels of redundancy in place. These certifications are awarded by an unbiased advisory organization, Uptime Institute and are categorised from one to four. Tier four recognises the highest level of reliability for a data centre. Using Rentaload's rack-mounted load banks to accurately test working loads on electrical, back-up and HVAC systems is an effective way of proving reliance and achieving tier certifications."