Research Data Center

OTS provides and maintains a Research Data Center (RDC) for high performance computing purposes available to IIT research faculty.

By design, the RDC is configured to provide five nines (99.999%) of uptime availability throughout its infrastructure. It has three 20-Ton CRAC units. Two units will always be running at any one time, with the units cycling every two weeks for even workload distribution. These units are controlled by an automated system which will turn on the third unit should one of the units fail or if there is a high temperature alarm.

Additionally, the RDC has a power generator, an Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS), and 2 UPS systems providing two feeds of power to the server and network racks. If a UPS fails, the other UPS will still be able to provide power along its feed. In the event of a power failure, the UPS will provide power to the systems while the generator comes online. Once it is online and providing stable power, the ATS will transfer the power source to the generator to provide power to the data center for the duration of the outage.

Finally, the data center is equipped with an FM200 fire protection system along with several monitoring systems that notify OTS staff members when there is an event requiring attention such as flooding, fire, electrical outages, or high air temperature.

Requests for technical support should be sent to the support@iit.edu, and this address is regularly monitored by OTS System Admins.