Blog

Challenge

In downtown St. Louis stands an impressive data center that supports the digital backbone for several businesses. Inside this data center, companies rent out secure server space, and this data center tailors each space specific to the customers’ needs. By splitting floors into several areas with the help of wire cages and wire partitions, each customer can rent out different sized spaces.

Recently, this data center needed a new setup for a customer wanting space to store their servers. Their customers depend on them to provide a secure setup as sensitive data requires reliability and protection. It’s vital that customers can trust this company with the storage space that they provide.

That’s where we came into play. Industrial Shelving Systems was brought in to create a safe and secure setup. With the help of WireCrafters, wire partition was engineered to create a sturdy cage that surrounded this customer’s server, ensuring only authorized personnel would have access to this space. The goal was to give this customer peace of mind, knowing that their sensitive data would be safe.

Solution

Within this floor, we were tasked with creating a secure cage that would sit around this customer’s servers, keeping it locked away from unauthorized personnel. We knew that in order to have a long lasting and sturdy solution, WireCrafters wire partition was needed. In creating secure solutions for data centers, depending on the customer’s needs, sometimes we’ll create a wall of wire partition that can be close to 8ft tall, and other times, we need the wire partition to go all the way up to the ceiling. In this case, the wire partition needed to go all the way up to the ceiling.

This meant that customizations needed to be made. Cutouts in wire partition are often necessary to fit around existing cable trays, pipes, plumbing, and sprinklers.

“The biggest hurdle was that there were a lot of pipes that were down very low, but we had to have our door opening large enough and tall enough so that they could fit their server racks inside,” says Joe, sales manager at Industrial Shelving Systems.

To ensure that this project would move quickly, cutouts of the wire partition were done in the field. This was helpful as changes are often made as the project moves along. Electricians may have additions to the infrastructure, cable trays can be moved around, so by making changes in the field, we can be flexible and adapt as needed.

“It’s just measuring the area out, taking note of where the obstructions would be, and going through the approval drawings,” says Joe.

In addition to the cage itself, hinged doors with interchangeable locks and a thumb latch were used for the inside of the cage. A sliding gate with an interchangeable key lock was used as well as ceiling finish locks. 

With this project, we made sure that the WireCrafters wire partition would accommodate the customer’s server racks into the cages. We also ensured that this space would allow access to everything, fitting everything nicely into the space.

Overtime, the layout and setup of data centers may need to change. When someone needs more space, there is flexibility with WireCrafters wire partition so that we can change the setup when the customer needs.

Results

Together with WireCrafters, we were able to create a secure solution for this data center ensuring their customer would have a sturdy space for their servers. This customer can now have peace of mind knowing that their sensitive information is safe, and the data center can rest easy knowing they are providing a secure space for their customer.

If you are in need of a secure space for your servers or need to ensure a space for your customers to host their servers, reach out to Industrial Shelving Systems to see how we can customize wire partitions.

Send us a message here or give us a call at 1-800-875-6201 to get started! We’d be happy to help you out.