Testimonials & Case Studies

William Morris Sixth Form College Case Study
More Success Stories and Feedback

Medway Foundation Trust:
Cooling and Quiet Racks Support New Hospital Network

In July 2013 The Rack People successfully bid for a ground-breaking project at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent. The tender required a range of rack solutions to facilitate deployment of new nodes containing fibre switches which would support a new telephone system and wireless access points. The rack solutions needed to be installed in 28 separate locations around the site.

After visiting the site and working closely with the NHS Project Team, The Rack People identified the best solution for each location. These solutions featured;

• Cooling Without Major Building Works: Unique cooling solutions were chosen which allow removal of the warm air from the cabinet environment without drilling through exterior walls, hence avoiding the expense involved in weather proofing and preventing access to flora & fauna.
• Noise Reduction: Industry leading acoustic racks were chosen to prevent the noise from PoE Switches and other equipment from having a detrimental impact on the patients, staff and other people using the spaces, whilst still offering high performance cooling and security.
• Resilience: Power supplies required N+1 Redundancy and in some cases the cabinet cooling systems too.
• Monitoring: Monitoring of the air temperature exiting the racks in order to control airflow and activate failure alerts in the event of power or fan failure.
• Space Savings: Maximising the space available at the location
• Safety & Security: The racks were specified to prevent unauthorised access and provide remote alerts in the event of smoke or fire within the cabinet.

In essence there were two types of location, larger peopled areas and smaller spaces.

Peopled Areas

The peopled areas included staff offices, public areas, waiting areas or day rooms. They needed to have cooling, noise reduction and suitable aesthetics. The Rack People's solution provided;

• 7 kW of cooling. In some locations we provided ducting in order to remove the hot air entirely from the room to dissipate in a ceiling plenum.
• Resilience
• High levels of noise reduction
• A light reflective finish or a real oak wood finish to help the rack integrate visually into it's environment

Small Spaces

The small spaces, such as cupboards or store rooms had restricted air-flow and needed a clever cooling solution. Noise reduction and aesthetics did not need to be considered. The Rack People's Solution provided;

• 10 kW cooling with heat ducting to remove the heat entirely from the space
• N+1 Redundancy

Craig Allen, IT Projects and Operational Manager, says, "The Rack People were successful in tendering to provide cabinets and supporting equipment as part of a major network infrastructure refresh at Medway Foundation Trust. Their range of products meant that they were able to provide a range of solutions to support the network across our main hospital building. The project management, delivery and installation of acoustic and ICAS cabinets to the Trust was handled with a high standard of professionalism and a can-do attitude. The Rack People worked with the Trust to provide or engineer products that suited our specific needs and achieve an environment that will support our network throughout its future development and deployment."

Click to Download PDF Version of The Rack People Medway Case Study

William Morris Sixth Form College, West London:
How Noise Reduction Racks Changed an Office

Brandon Farr and his colleagues, Lennie, Steve and Sami, form the IT department of William Morris Sixth Form College, West London. As their IT and Comms equipment grew, so did the noise and heat implications, so much so, that 'the noise was unbearably loud' and had gone beyond health and safety regulations. The day had arrived when a solution had to be found.

Brandon tells us about the problem and the impact that this had upon everyday working life;

How did the noise from your IT equipment affect your working environment?

Our office dimensions are approximately five by three metres. Not only did this house the four of us, but also 17 Servers, 2 Switches, 2 UPS (3KVA), 2 KVMs, 2 Rack Consoles, 1 NAS, 1 Content Filtering Unit and 1 Google Search Appliance.

My desk was within 1 metre of the rack, and the noise was so loud that I couldn’t hold a conversation with colleagues who were only 2 metres away! On a typical day the noise would measure between 80 and 85 dB(A). During a hot day, not only did the temperature in the office become uncomfortable, but due to the demand on the cooling fans, the noise increased to levels in excess of 90 dB(A). In fact, the noise was such an issue, I seriously considered the long term effect upon my hearing. As a team, we all found it impossible to communicate effectively and had to arrange meetings off-site. As you can imagine this was both very time consuming and inconvenient.

What options did you consider to try and eliminate the problem?

Option 1. We looked at physically moving the equipment out of the office. This would have instantly removed the noise problem and would have allowed us to reclaim space, however this was going to be costly and disruptive. Also there weren’t any other rooms available for us to use in the college.

Option 2. Rather than move the equipment, we looked at moving the team, but as I said before there wasn't anywhere else for us to go, and working remotely from the equipment wasn't ideal.

Option 3. We looked at isolating the equipment by using a dividing wall or an acoustic screen, both options proved to be costly and wouldn’t have guaranteed a suitable level of noise reduction. We were also concerned with how a change in the room's layout would affect the airflow for cooling the rack mounted equipment.

The noise reduction rack was your final choice, why?

I had been speaking to one of our equipment providers and they recommended that I contacted Acousti Products because of their expertise in the area of noise reduction racks. With their help, we decided to opt for a quiet rack cabinet that would deal with the equipment noise and at the same time provide a sufficient level of cooling. Using a quiet cabinet also meant that we could optimise on space in the office and plan the room layout. We found another benefit was the mobility of the acoustic racks. This gave us the option to move the equipment to another room, should the need or opportunity arise in the future and as the quiet rack took up a relatively small space, it enabled us to utilise an additional quiet cabinet, with minimal impact upon the working environment. Out of all the options that were available to us, the sound proof cabinets also proved to be the most cost effective solution.

How did Acousti Products help you choose your quiet cabinets?

Acousti Products arranged a demonstration of all the leading quiet cabinets available from the leading manufacturers. This enabled me to assess the performance of each noise reduction cabinet. This was great, as I could hear and compare each product's capability and therefore make an objective choice. Acousti Products, also helped us overcome peripheral issues associated with this project, such as researching and supplying a means of weight distribution.

Soundproof cabinets have made a difference to your working day, how?

The performance of our soundproof cabinets have been above and beyond my expectations. Since the arrival of our new acoustic racks, things are very different in the office. We no longer have to raise our voices to communicate, or leave the room to discuss issues of importance. We can now hear each other, and the phone! Our working environment is far more enjoyable and fun, we are able to have team banter and be more productive. Ultimately, everything, as Lennie said, is "Oh, so much better!"

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Customer Success Stories & Quotes

The Noise Reduction Cabinet That Gave Surprising Results

"We were approached by one of our clients with a noise problem in their compact office environment. They were sharing the main office with 5 x 1U Intel servers, 1 x 2U Intel storage server and an Adaptec NAS unit, and the noise was so loud it was distracting them from their work! "We suggested the client isolate the noisy equipment inside a 24U soundproofed cabinet and I was sent to install the server rack. Having completed the installation and switched on the power, I asked the client what they thought of the result. The response was, '...it looks very nice, but how loud is it going to be?' The quiet server rack was so effective that the client had not realised that the units were already turned on!" Max Benson Technical Manager, Freehand Ltd, UK

Server Noise That Needed Quietening

"We have a small office and after introducing a new server the noise it generated became a problem. We either needed to build a separate room for the server of find a way to quieten it down. A new room wasn't an option due to space and cost so after an internet search we contacted Acousti uncertain about the best way to achieve this. Acousti offered an honest appraisal of what their products could do, which of them met our needs best and also offered good value for money. We took their advice and the result is perfect, we have now regained our office, improved morale and can talk business again." John Allen, Geoplex Limited

The Sound Proof Cabinet That Dramatically Reduced the Noise

"Our new open plan office became almost uninhabitable after the delivery of our new Dell rack-mount server - we had not considered how loud the server's cooling fans would be. Our supplier had provided us with a steel and glass cabinet which provided absolutely no sound insulation. The Acousti Products cabinet completely transformed our working environment - the cabinet dramatically reduces the noise of our server to a whisper... I would recommend this product to anyone who has to share an office with a noisy server". TS VAR Surrey

The Cooling Effects of Quiet Cabinets

"Because the IT equipment was in a small room without special air conditioning, in order to keep them cool enough we would need to leave the door open all the time. This meant that the main office would become noisy due to the noise from IT equipment filtering through the open door, making it fairly uncomfortable for staff members sitting near the door. The quiet cabinets have made this area of the office a lot quieter even though there is no longer a wall between the IT equipment and office staff; they also keep the equipment cool enough so that we never need to open the server cabinet doors thereby compromising the noise reducing effects of the cabinets." Paul De Margin, C.E. Europe Ltd, UK

More Customer Feedback

Find Out What Other Quiet Rack Cabinet Customers Say

"What an improvement the new server rack has made to our working day. Everyone seems to be amazed by the difference it has made and having it in the wood finish to just looks like another one of our filing cabinets" SJ, UK PR Company

"Fitted the three servers and UPS devices into the cabinet last night. Went into our ICT suite first thing this morning and thought the servers were off!! ... We are delighted." GB, ICT Network Manager, Infant School, SE England

"I will be recommending Acousti Products to anyone who needs quality acoustic racks." EW, Building Services Consultants – London & Manchester

"Great product, works as expected, critical to me being able to use the server. I have my server, an Apple, but for your product, the noise would be intolerable." Sebastian Nokes, Aldersgate Partners LLP, UK

"The level of service was above the competitors - quick reply-time in all our inquiries made us choose Acousti Products. And our new noise product solution has improved our working environment a lot." Petri Halonen, Atomi Advertising Ltd, Finland

"The cabinets have gone beyond our expectations. The noise reducing effects have enabled staff to happily conduct daily business while sitting very near to the cabinets and the fans successfully keep the equipment cooler than it was while in the much larger server room they were moved from." Paul De Marigny, C.E.Europe Ltd

"Exactly what we needed" Simon Gray, Antiphony, UK

"More than met my expectations – money well spent!" Brian Mihell, E3 Frames Ltd, UK

"Immediately noticed a difference, we are very pleased. It looks good and stylish and doing the job it's supposed to!" Software Solutions Company, Hampshire, UK

"Since the arrival of our new acoustic racks, things are very different in the office. We no longer have to raise our voices to communicate, or leave the room to discuss issues of importance." Brandon Farr, William Morris Sixth Form College, UK

"Solved ALL issues - noise, general appearance and heat" John Allen, Geoplex Ltd, UK

"The cabinet is fantastic and really cuts the noise down. It is far better than we ever thought in terms of build quality, heat extraction and sound proofing" University, Scotland, UK

"The office is a lot quieter, we can now talk without shouting" RL, School IT Department, UK

"Staff aware of how effective product was" DD, Exports company, UK

"Other rooms now freed up" KN, Software Company, UK

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