Verizon Business SA Data Centre
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All our Windows 2000 servers are housed in Verizon's Cape Town Data Centre

A simple adherence to Verizon standards has resulted in one of the most advanced data centres in the country. VerizonSA's Cape Town data centre house state-of-the-art hosting facilities in environmentally sound conditions. The driving consideration behind Verizon SA's multiple hosting facilities, redundant infrastructure and ample bandwidth is optimum content delivery.

Apart from the physical security provided, Verizon SA also requires hand print recognition for entry and subject all data centres to constant multi-camera surveillance.

• 	Redundant infrastructure
  	Redundant and diversely routed bandwidth to the Verizon backbone,
  	Direct links to local and international peering points
  	Air conditioning
  	Secure cabinets for hosted equipment
  	Fire alarm and suppression systems
  	Uninterruptible power supply (UPS), back-up generator, and
  	fire protection and protective cooling systems.

• 
  The data centre is designed to withstand catastrophical disasters - from flooding to fire, using various failsafe means such as raised floors, back-up generators and fire-suppressive gas.
  
  

The temperature in the data centres is kept at a constant level. Underfloor cooling takes care of heat generated from customers' cabinets. Deviation from the set temperature or any sign of smoke is immediately sensed by ionisation sensors - located centrally, as well as underfloor - operating on a double-knock system which means that at least 2 sensors in separate zones have to be triggered in order to release a non-toxic natural, inert gas, IG200, which suppresses all fires. There are no sprinkler valves.

Floors are raised to keep cabling out of the way and all water conduits are kept in separate wells, away from cables. Moisture sensors in cable wells will detect even the remotest drop of moisture and pinpoint this to 24-hour staff.

Batteries for backup power are kept in a separately ventilated room to prevent any possibility of chlorine gas leakage affecting customers' machines. Monitors here also sense any rise in heat.

Full access control to both buildings and data rooms prevents any unauthorised entry. Biometric hand or thumb print scanners control both entry and exit. All rooms - even the aisles between machines - are constantly monitored by television cameras. Recordings of all visits are kept for six months. Customers' cabinets remain locked, and keys have to be left with data centre staff after visits.

All power is filtered through the UPS's. In the event of a power outage, the UPS kicks in immediately, and hands over the load to the generator within 20 seconds. However, for added precaution, the UPS is capable of carrying a full load for at least an hour. Only one generator is needed for the full load, but a second generator is available should the first fail. On-site diesel tanks contain enough fuel for 24 hours.

Cape Town is situated on Telkom's STM-1 ATM backbone - ensuring multiple redundant points at each node. Windhoek's 20m² centre has just been commissioned with a 2Mbps bandwidth capability and in Durban, a 50m² hosting room situated on the Overport Verizon node is serviced by multiple 2Mbps circuits.

Telkom supplies an ATM STM-1 core service to support the Verizon backbone. This is the highest speed interface that Telkom can deliver in their ATM core. An SDH STM-16 fibre ring supports customer access services. A fibre core connects all customer and network services and all other services are be run on a Lucent visipatch system. The network has Gigabit capacity.

All systems are monitored from a central control panel, which pinpoints all faults (even underfloor) by lit LEDs. All faults, including high pressure warnings on water pipes, humidity warnings and doors opening are fed into software that prioritises them and prompts a response.