As colocation demands evolve beyond housing servers and networking equipment in the data center, enterprises are beginning to work with colo providers to improve the reliability and performance of IT operations. To enhance the colocation services to its customers Orange Jordan wanted to take advantage of this trend.

The company built two data centers located in dynamic areas of Amman: A greenfield site in the Marj Al Hamam area, and a renovated facility in the AI Hussein Medical Center. The Hashem location includes an ITN infrastructure and a converted floor for colocation business. Both data centers are connected

to the Orange Jordan MPLS network and global internet via fully diverse and protected links to ensure the highest availability and scalability for its customers’ growing business needs.

To optimize the Marj Al Hamam area data center, Orange Jordan needed to reduce power consumption associated with cooling operations and decrease operational expenses. Other requirements included theability to monitor and control power consumption per rack, invoicing and prioritized reporting capabilities for power usage per customer, reduced energy and occupancy costs, improved space utilization, capacity management, and automation capabilities.

Finally, the data center needed to be deployed quickly to allow for a seamless transition that would not interrupt operations and continued Tier III colocation services to its customers.

The open-rack accessibility contributes to data center aesthetics by showcasing properly routed cables and improves network availability.

Strategic Objectives

The main objective of this project was to build a reliable, innovative data center to support Orange Jordan’s ability to manage the increased demand on its colocation services while maintaining a high level of customer service.

As part of this goal, the company required a data center management solution to provide environmental monitoring for the new Marj Al Hamam data center. 

“Our ultimate goal was to achieve a solid power and cooling strategy, and prioritize analytics and reporting while optimizing space utilization, capacity management, and automation,” said Bahjat Al Adwan, data centers and environment engineering manager, Orange Jordan.

Panduit and Trident Solution

Orange Jordan deployed the Panduit IT Infrastructure and Network Data Center Solution to optimize data center colocation operations and increase business efficiency. Panduit’s ability to provide innovative and integrated solutions that drive financial advantages to reduce energy and occupancy costs made it an easy decision for Orange Jordan. In addition to Panduit’s knowledge and expertise, Jordan Business Systems, JBS, was the system integrator and distributor for the project. JBS executed the design and deployment promptly, making it simple, consistent, organized, and secure. Trident Technology Services, the exclusive sales and marketing representative of Panduit in the Middle East and Africa, also participated in the project. 

“Our relationship with Orange Telecom in Jordan dates back almost 12 years with many DC [data center] deployments,” said Bassel AlHalabi, general manager, Trident. “For this project, the Trident team started with understanding Orange Telecom’s core business objectives, which helped us to customize and deliver a state-of-the-art colocation data center.”

“As the leading telecommunication services provider in Jordan, and as part of Orange’s strategy for digital transformation, we have invested in our infrastructure by partnering with Panduit and Trident to strengthen our networks, provide integrated services for businesses, and meet our customers’ needs and aspirations,” said Thierry Marigny, CEO of Orange Jordan.

The company selected Panduit Net-Access™ N-Type and S-Type cabinets. The modular design incorporates flexibility for future expansion of the data center as more cabinets are added to the system and as network upgrades occur. The open-rack accessibility contributes to data center aesthetics by showcasing properly routed cables and improves network availability. These cabinets along with the Net-Contain™ cold aisle containment sliding door, integral roof, and integral roof wall panel provide Orange Jordan effective thermal management to ensure proper equipment operation and increased uptime.

SmartZone™ software provides accurate, real-time visibility and timely documentation of its physical assets and allows Orange Jordan to monitor and control power consumption per rack; invoice and report power usage per customer; and monitor temperature, humidity, and airflow per rack. The software also allows Orange Jordan to control and track IP ports, manage the port capacity, and speed port activation and service request handling.

SmartZone hardware, including PanView iQ™ (PViQ) patch panels, provides continuous, real-time patch field monitoring and visibility of physical infrastructure connectivity for enhanced system reliability, capacity management, and security. The physical security devices provided by Panduit offer Orange Jordan successful mitigation of threats and protect its network against downtime and theft by controlling access to its network resources.

Orange Jordan deployed the QuickNet™ copper and fiber optic cabling system to support improved flexibility, consistent network performance, and reliability throughout the colocation. QuickNet copper assemblies offer fast network deployment, which was a key requirement for the company.

The copper solution includes Category 6A cabling for high bandwidth, network reliability, and a migration path for future applications in the colocation. For consistent performance and reliability, the Panduit OM3 and OM4 multimode fiber provides the data backbone for each area of the colocation to support future 40G or 100G connections. OS1/OS2 single-mode fiber provides longer transmission distances and PanMPO™ fiber connectors deliver fast and efficient Ethernet migration to help maximize return on investment and minimize downtime.

The company selected Panduit Net-Access™ N-Type and S-Type cabinets for effective thermal management to ensure proper equipment operation and increased uptime.

 

Panduit’s PatchRunner™ high capacity vertical cable manager enables a maximum amount of cables to be managed in a minimum amount of space. To improve cable management while ensuring system performance, durability, and reliability within the colocation, PatchLink™ horizontal cable managers were deployed. Preterminated copper and fiber optic cabling, along with the cable management pathways, helped lessen the project’s duration. The FiberRunner™ routing system improves cable routing and management and ensures quick moves, adds, and changes.

The Wyr-Grid™ overhead cable tray routing system routes and manages copper data cables ,on-premises distribution fiber optic cables, and power cables to minimize installation time and simplify cable management. Rounding out the solution, the Panduit StructuredGround™ grounding solution provides a dedicated grounding path to maintain system performance and protect network equipment and personnel.

“Working with Panduit, Trident, and JBS was a fabulous experience,” Al Adwan said. “The alignment between communication, computing, control, power, and security led to an agile physical infrastructure that minimizes risk, increases flexibility, and delivers maximum performance throughout our business.”

Business Benefits

The Panduit IT Infrastructure and Network Data Center Solution enabled Orange Jordan to achieve Tier III data center services that are fully secured, redundant, and monitored to quickly meet the growing demand on its colocation services. The company now has a standards-based, service-oriented architecture for the business process improvements it needed to increase functionality, interoperability, and operations manageability. The solution, which incorporates power, cooling, and physical infrastructure enhancements, gave Orange Jordan the ability to achieve scalability to easily expand whenever needed. It also allows Orange Jordan to increase capacity in the data center while reducing risk and complexity.

“The Panduit solution provides the standardized infrastructure with space utilization and monitoring management that we needed for a reliable network,” said Al Adwan. “We were able to reduce our operational expenses by 10%, as the SmartZone solution and the intelligent PDUs provided accurate readings of power consumptions per cabinet.”

The cold aisle containment system helped Orange Jordan save 25% to 30% of the power needed for cooling. “Panduit’s end-to-end solutions have reduced tedious tasks and helped Orange Jordan to achieve excellence in the field of data centers,” said Waleed Al Doulat, chief ITN and wholesale officer, Orange Jordan. “Orange Data Center received Tier III Design and Constructed Facility Certificates. Additionally, the data center was accredited by the Uptime Institute … becoming the only data center in the kingdom to obtain this global certificate.”