ODF for Iron Mountain Data Centers

Iron Mountain Data Centers is a fast-growing and global data center services organization where excellent fiber optic management is a must. It ensures that the valuable data that lives in any Iron Mountain data center is always securely accessible.

Everything in one cabinet: Fiber trunks, splice, and breakout cabling in the ODF-SCM cabinets from R&M. This is how Iron Mountain centralizes fiber optic management in the meet-me rooms at the AMS-1 data center campus near Amsterdam.

The more digital information needs to be AMS-1 data center campus near Amsterdam. stored, the more the services of the US-based company Iron Mountain are in demand. And that is why the data center campus AMS-1 near Amsterdam is growing strongly – and it’s not the only one. At 15 locations in North America, Europe, and Singapore, Iron Mountain Data Centers operates and expands fail-safe colocation, hyperscale, edge, and underground data centers.

The campus just west of Amsterdam now comprises eight halls and a data center area of 17,000 square meters. It is the largest multi-tenant colocation data center – and the first one that is climate neutral – in the Netherlands. The next phases of the data center campus that can be expanded up to 40.000 square meters are being planned.

Redundant connection

It is crucial that the data centers remain accessible at all times – securely and on redundant paths. That’s why Iron Mountain uses multiple entry points to global IP networks.

Other must-haves are latency-free lines to cloud providers and Internet exchanges. High-performance cross-connects and data center interconnects connect sites and computer rooms to optimally distribute workloads and ensure availability.

The challenge: Iron Mountain requires large, expandable meet-me rooms in each hall for these diverse connections. The nodal points between the outside world and the white spaces have to accommodate vast quantities of cable and fiber optic connectivity.

One cabinet for everything

In 2018, the data center operations team was looking for a new Optical Distribution Frame. The goal was to centralize the fiber optic management in the meet-me rooms. They were looking for a single cabinet that could hold everything.

Traditionally, separate fibers were drawn in from the cable entry to the distributors – an arduous task that requires a lot of time and material. A central cabinet would be clearer and easier to assemble. This would further minimize the risk of cabling errors and network failures. Iron Mountain could increase data center availability with better and more secure fiber optic management. This is what they were looking for.

And while they were doing so, the team came across the ODF from R&M. They gained an initial impression in the R&M Roadshow truck which happened to be on-site at that time. Then, R&M gave the team an opportunity to get to know the ODF in a live environment on-site at a customer’s.

Successful start

After this exchange of experience, Iron Mountain was convinced and had R&M provide the desired configuration. That was the beginning of a new, successful partnership.

The first joint project was the configuration of the ODF for Hall 9, which was completed in late 2020. R&M helped with the design – incredible value-added for the customer as their team was relieved of a number of tasks. The installation experts from the company Best connection assembled the cabinets to R&M’s specifications with an R&M technician helping them on site.

Frans Ruijsestein, Senior Service Delivery Engineer at Iron Mountain Data Centers, confirms: «The collaboration with R&M is outstanding. We received all the technical and sales support we needed.» He also finds the logistics support provided by R&M compelling: «Before the ordered products are delivered, R&M gives us a heads-up and let us know when and in what way the products are being delivered to us. And then they ask us if there is anything else we need. That is a major plus.»

After the installation of 500 connections in the ODF from R&M, he concludes: «There have been no failures so far, we are very satisfied with the quality.» Iron Mountain Data Centers will be continuing the collaboration. ODFs are also required for the meet-me rooms in future campus expansion plans.

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