Stellium Datacentres selects Schneider Electric Galaxy VM UPS

Stellium Datacentres has partnered with Schneider Electric™, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, to help it drive data centre resilience and efficiency. Stellium selected Schneider Electric’s Galaxy™ VM uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries to provide energy efficient, resilient, and sustainable power protection at its data centre in Newcastle.

Stellium’s location in Newcastle has emerged as a major UK connectivity hub, and the meeting place for high frequency data-transfer across local, national and international borders. CBRE, for example, recently cited its 80MW (scalable to 180MW) colocation facility, as the largest in the North of England region - offering hyperscalers and enterprises a viable, alternative wholesale location compared to operators in London and the South of England. Powered by REGO certified 100% renewable energy, Stellium provides Tier 3+ mission-critical infrastructure and diverse connectivity services for a multitude of businesses including fintech and high frequency trading, energy, healthcare and pharmaceutical research and public sector. The company also positions itself as the new Data Meridian – where East meets West in data transfer – being the UK’s only data centre landing station for the Altibox/NO-UK Nordic subsea cables and Aqua Comms North Sea Connect cable, as well as the home of the UK’s newest Internet Exchange Point NCL-IX.

An international gateway One of Stellium’s key clients is Aqua Comms, a provider of international undersea fibre connectivity, which provides major connectivity linking the USA with Ireland, the UK and the Nordics. The America Europe Connect 2 (AEC-2) project is a dual diverse trans-Atlantic fibre connection comprising two legs; one directly from the US to Denmark and the other passing through Ireland, the Isle of Man and England, where it terminates at the Stellium Campus before continuing to Denmark.

The overriding requirement for Aqua Comms’ landing station is guaranteed, 100% uptime, reinforced by a stringent service level agreement (SLA). Several factors make the Stellium Campus a good fit, including ample utility power via the UK’s Super Grid, which provides dual 11kVA feeds into the site, as well as backup power systems that offer defence in depth.

Its features include 2N levels of redundancy offered by Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VM UPS and 6MVA standby generators arranged in an N+1 configuration. Stellium selected Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VM UPS due to its high levels of reliability, strong technical and energy efficiency capabilities, and because the company’s sustainable approach to its product strategy matched Stellium’s approach to life cycle management.

Galaxy VM UPS

Designed to provide highly efficient data centre power continuity, Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VM is a scalable, 3-phase UPS for data centres and industrial environments. Powered by lithium-ion batteries, Galaxy UPS delivers the highest levels of backup power protection in a smaller footprint, offering advantageous space saving capabilities for colocation businesses. Furthermore, Galaxy VM utilises Schneider Electric’s patented eConversion mode as standard, offering up-to 99% energy efficiency alongside Class-1 (UL certified) power protection level for critical loads, without compromising availability. With cost of ownership and sustainability a key pain point for the sector, Schneider Electric is the only organisation that offers this unique, patented combination of performance and efficiency.

“Today businesses have come to the realisation that through high quality fibre connections and access to 100% sustainable power, it is possible to have major data centres built to Tier 3 standards, in almost any location,” said Paul Mellon, Operations Director, Stellium Datacentres. “By partnering with Schneider Electric and using its UPSs to build the highest levels of redundancy and resiliency into our Newcastle data centre, we’re safeguarding the provision of our customers critical equipment, and ensuring their applications are powered both efficiently and sustainably.”

“Stellium Datacentres truly defines what it means to be a northern powerhouse and has built a campus primed to create hyperscale levels of growth in the north of England,” said Marc Garner, SVP, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric, Europe. “We’re delighted that Stellium has selected our Galaxy VM technology to power its mission-critical workloads, and help it deliver industry-leading levels of resilience and efficiency.”