Communications Building (Facilities) Projects

Home Core Technologies Core Technologies Projects Communications Building (Facilities) Projects

Communications Building (ITS Facilities) Contacts:
Jackie Davis 459-1660

Astrophysics Provisioning - The UCSC Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics recently received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant of $1,100,000 to acquire a Beowulf cluster and create a center for computational astrophysics. In order to accommodate the Astrophysics installation, the Core Technologies Operations Group will be required to provision the Data Center with;

• UPS battery back-up
• Rack space
• Power to systems
• Network connectivity
• System security
• Seismic Isolation

Cooling for Room's 6 & 8 - Rooms 6 and 8 in the Communications Building host the telecommunications equipment for the campus. There are no cooling systems in these two rooms which presents a potentially serious problem in the event of a loss of building power.

To mitigate this risk, we are requesting Physical Planning & Construction to provide us with a proposal for planning, design and cost to construct two ductless DX split system air conditioners using a single roof mounted condenser connected to the Communications Building standby generator as per the estimate prepared by Physical Planning and Construction by the Spring of 2007.

Fire Suppression - The ITS Data Center currently employs a "wet pipe" sprinkler system which means that the fire suppression sprinkler pipes contain water. This implementation poses a potential catastrophic risk in the event of an earthquake without a fire, or a ladder knocking a pipe loose during construction.

To mitigate this risk, we are requesting Physical Planning & Construction to provide us with a proposal for planning, design and cost to configure and install a pre-action dry pipe fire suppression system in the ITS Data Center.

Operater Work Area Upgrade - The operater work area ventilation system is only operational for 8 hours/day so in the evenings the ventilation is automatically turned off.

As the data center is staffed 24 x 7 x 365, we have requested Physical Planning & Construction to provide us with a proposal for planning, design and cost to remedy this situation.

Room 42 Acoustics Correction - The recent data center cooling upgrade involved the installation of new CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioning) units one of which was installed adjacent to the office known as Room 42. The office has glass panes set in steel frames which are now resonating to the hum of the new CRAC unit.

To mitigate the noise level from the CRAC unit, we are requesting Physical Planning & Construction to provide us with a proposal for planning, design and cost to make the office usable again.

Room 49 (Dispatch) Space Planning - Dispatch will be moving to a new facility possibly by Summer of 2007. We are in the process of obtaining preliminary cost estimates to re-furbish this space for Core Tech use.