Anglo American plc has consolidated three separate data rooms into one smaller, more efficient and easier to monitor data centre. This project has allowed the globally diversified mining business to reduce floor space used at its Marshall Street head office in Johannesburg by more than 50 percent, while also improving air conditioning power consumption by at least 20 percent.

“By migrating three separate server rooms into one, Anglo American has managed to reduce floor space from between 200 to 300m² to around 100m²,” states Ritesh Ramtahal, accommodation manager at Anglo American in South Africa. “We have also significantly shrunk the more than 15 years’ worth of cabling used, creating a far neater, more manageable space.”

The migration was undertaken by Datacentrix, a provider of high performing and secure ICT solutions, which also supplied the new data centre’s cold aisle containment solution, copper, fibre and electrical infrastructure, a CCTV system, and the lighting infrastructure within the new, optimised space.

In addition, explains Gys Malan, account manager: Infrasol at Datacentrix, the company was tasked with managing a number of additional suppliers affiliated to the project. “Datacentrix was involved in the physical building of the new data centre space – from construction and access control, right through to air conditioning and fire suppression.”

Says Ramtahal: “Anglo American had already been exposed to Datacentrix through its existing relationship with group company, Anglo American Platinum, so it made sense to continue this partnership, particularly with a company that had the proven expertise within the data centre space. And while this was a demanding site to work on due to stringent requirements and specific processes to be adhered to, Datacentrix was extremely easy to work with.”