For certain organizations—such as major firms in financial auditing, transaction advisory services, tax, legal, and cybersecurity— ensuring the security and proper functioning of IT equipment and server rooms is a strategic priority, as it is directly linked to their core business activities.
As a result, the need to monitor temperatures in real time within the data centers at their sites in La Défense, Paris, and throughout the region is a top priority.
One of them therefore decided to implement measures to enhance the security of its data centers and server rooms. In the past, temperature data from these rooms—which was integrated into the BMS system—was not made directly and efficiently available to internal maintenance teams and the IT department.
The project, carried out in partnership with Datapole—a company with nearly a decade of expertise in the management and qualitative analysis of “big data”—involved the implementation of a temperature monitoring system in five server rooms and patch panel areas (technical cabinets that house computer and telephone network components). The system’s objective was to detect abnormal behavior, such as sudden and unusual temperature spikes.
Starting in August 2019, 24 Enless Wireless Sigfox High-Power ambient temperature transmitters were deployed at the hot and cold spots in each room, which had been identified in advance by the on-site technical teams. The High-Power versions of Enless Wireless’s temperature transmitters offer up to 15 years of battery life, thanks to their built-in D-cell batteries.
The products were commissioned jointly by Datapole and the client’s on-site teams. Frédéric Gagnaire, CEO of Datapole, said: “The installation went very smoothly. Commissioning was really quick, and we had excellent network quality and very good coverage on site.”
By configuring the Enless Wireless transmitters to send data every 15 minutes, temperature data (in °C) is frequently transmitted to the Sigfox cloud, where it is decrypted and analyzed via Datapole’s PrediSmart platform.
PrediSmart, a solution developed three years ago by Datapole’s data science teams, enables detailed data analysis based on precise configurations tailored to the specific characteristics of each monitored environment (including the setting of relevant critical thresholds).
The detection of abnormal behavior is then highlighted through the issuance of relevant and targeted alerts. These alerts, which are visible on the platform, are also sent via email and text message to the various stakeholders involved in site maintenance and monitoring.
The IT department of the consulting and auditing firm, as well as the facility maintenance team, are thus notified and, if an incident is detected, can conduct on-site inspections to verify compliance with HVAC guidelines and, if necessary, control the BMS air conditioning units at the entrance and exit that regulate airflow).
In this regard, PrediSmart serves as a facility management tool that helps optimize building operating costs.
The implementation of the comprehensive solution, which has been in effect since August, has already identified a critical incident; thanks to the automated transmission of data and real-time notifications to the site’s maintenance teams, the issue was addressed in a timely manner.
The audit firm is now planning to equip other locations.
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