nanog mailing list archives

DC Power choices (was Re: Network visibility)


From: "Jay R. Ashworth" <jra () baylink com>
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2021 05:13:00 +0000 (UTC)

One of the 4 or 5 datacenters in downtown Tampa had a telco or offshoot in
their spaces, when I took All The Tours about 9 years ago.  

They have 8x750MCM hauling -48VDC from their power plant to the cage in question.

On each side.

It was, in fact, pretty impressive to look at.  But I was a little worried about 
the loading on the building frame.  :-)

And while I think there might be advantages in running power supplies in gear
at -48, I'd want to rectify it in the cage, preferably from 480/3ph.

Cheers,
-- jra

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lady Benjamin Cannon of Glencoe, ASCE" <lb () 6by7 net>
To: "Mark Tinka" <mark@tinka.africa>
Cc: "NANOG Operators' Group" <nanog () nanog org>
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2021 4:50:10 PM
Subject: Re: Network visibility

Outside the datacenter is where DC power really shines in my opinion.  Inside
the DC, everything is AC now and probably for the best.

We never came up with a modular standard for -48VDC. Perhaps that could have
changed things.

But it sure is nice having 72hrs of battery run time in the field/edge -
although those are becoming mini data centers themselves and are in turn also
slowly going AC.

Ms. Lady Benjamin PD Cannon of Glencoe, ASCE
6x7 Networks & 6x7 Telecom, LLC
CEO
lb () 6by7 net
"The only fully end-to-end encrypted global telecommunications company in the
world.”

FCC License KJ6FJJ

Sent from my iPhone via RFC1149.

On Oct 20, 2021, at 10:19 PM, Mark Tinka <mark@tinka.africa> wrote:



On 10/20/21 20:37, Lady Benjamin Cannon of Glencoe, ASCE wrote:

-48VDC power is still the best.

I really envy folk that love DC for networking gear :-).

Work in 2007 was an all-DC network. I rebuilt it into AC, considering the ISP
also owned the data centre (most of whose customers bought AC). The space we
freed up and the ease of deployment was night & day.

Currently, we obviously need DC for the terrestrial Transport and wet plants
(because that's just how classic telco rolls), but I also switched all IP/MPLS
gear to AC soon as I arrived. Heck, even the Arbor (now Netscout) gear, as well
as the HP server rack, was loaded with DC power supplies. Those things just had
to go.

There is an avenue of pleasure in not having to spend inordinate amounts of time
adding major electrical planning to deploying/decommissioning a router, switch
or server.

But yeah, I know the AC vs. DC discussion can become a rat hole.

I'm aware of data centre operators now providing DC as an option for their
expansion projects, when they previously had it as the norm, FWIW.

Mark.

-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                  Baylink                       jra () baylink com
Designer                     The Things I Think                       RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates       http://www.bcp38.info          2000 Land Rover DII
St Petersburg FL USA      BCP38: Ask For It By Name!           +1 727 647 1274


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