by Adam Welles , Barry-Wehmiller Design Group Inc. on April 26, 2024 Data center growth has exploded over the past decade. Initially driven by organizations moving their computer assets to the cloud, this trend has only accelerated. With the rise of AI and its need for even more computing power, data center expansion and infrastructure design remain a critical focus. Whether it's hyperscalers or colocation owners, the need for more data center capacity remains crystal clear. Data Center Architecture & Design To deploy a SCADA data center project at scale, it's important to have set standards and base projects to follow. It’s necessary for a system integrator to adhere to these established standards. If there are no standards in place, it's crucial to create them in a thoughtful way. These Ignition features can help. Remote Tag Provider The remote tag provider bridges the gap between different Ignition installations, allowing seamless sharing of tags across networked Gateways. This tool enhances visibility across a data center campus, spanning multiple distinct data halls and buildings. It can even extend its reach to encompass multiple campuses across a broader geographical area. Ignition Redundancy The platform’s native redundancy feature is one of the most important tools for any data center to leverage, as it is critical to maintaining seamless uptime in case of a system failure. Beyond basic redundancy, data center owners need to consider all potential failure scenarios and strategically deploy Ignition gateway pairs to support logical zones of the data center. Flexible Deployment Options Ignition is a powerful industrial communication platform capable of communicating directly with devices, bypassing the need for third-party OPC servers like Kepware. This cost-saving approach minimizes OPC licensing expenses. Additionally, Microsoft licensing can significantly impact finances due to operating-system and SQL costs. Depending on data center technicians’ skills and support systems, a fully Linux architecture with Postgres for the database might be advantageous. Ignition’s cross-platform compatibility makes this feasible, unlike many traditional industrial software packages. Platform Security Cybersecurity should be an important focus of any data center infrastructure . Ignition offers several security features that can help improve a data center’s overall security posture, such as: SSL/TLS encrypted HTTPS Well documented network protocol usage, allowing for strict firewall policies Flexible authorization options based on role, location, and/or zone Development & Version Control Managing large-scale change and maintaining a consistent look and feel is critical, no matter the platform. While some organizations are more lenient in how system integrators apply their standards, others prefer to have tight, centralized control over their templates and objects. In cases where a core team has tight control over the application standards, it can be very beneficial — and often necessary — to leverage a version control system like Git to manage and control change at a large scale. Unlike other SCADA packages, Ignition supports Git integration. Git tracks changes to source code and other files, provides tools for managing different versions, and rolls back when necessary. Additionally, developers can add comments about changes for historical reference. As many development teams are often remote, users benefit from better quality and consistency of Git integration, resulting in more manageable change and bug fixing, especially for distributed teams working across time zones. Overall, this feature enables development teams to leverage workflow tasking, enhancing overall efficiency. In addition to the benefits of version control, the use of the Ignition Enterprise Administration Module (EAM) provides a secure and intuitive way to manage multiple installations centrally. EAM provides status and management of all the gateways in an ecosystem in one central location. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) & Historical Data Collection Historical data collection is a fundamental aspect of all data center installations. The ability to analyze past conditions is crucial for evaluating failures and ensuring optimal performance. While data center operators may have their unique strategies, several common scenarios are: Ignition functions as its own historical provider, with Ignition serving as the primary source of historical data Ignition forwards that information to another client-specific historical system Ignition is a direct interface for a client-specific historical system and can extract information live via the OPC UA server and/or the Ignition history system APIs The data center provider establishes a parallel historian path directly to the equipment, collecting data in tandem Graphical Design & Templatization One of Ignition’s greatest and most apparent assets is its templatization capabilities, both for tag structure and visual design. Providing consistency across the application not only greatly increases speed of deployment but also drives consistency in look and feel for operations. Training new operators on various systems/platforms for multiple data centers in the same campus is not only time-consuming but also an inefficient use of resources and time. As discussed in the previous section, Ignition excels in collecting, synthesizing, and visualizing data that is meaningful to the end user, which is the operations team. Often, it can be difficult for operations teams to gain consensus on design during the early stages of a data center SCADA project. This pain point can be addressed with collaboration with modern design services and tools like Figma. Figma is a collaborative design tool where teams can draft mockups, share internally, collect feedback, revise, and approve the final product. Leveraging Figma with Ignition is advantageous because: Sharing Data Alarm Notification Module Platform Versatility & Vibrancy of Community Regardless of platform, quick startup and commissioning processes are key. Ignition has several capabilities that streamline this process, ensuring efficiency and repeatability. Ignition’s scripting capability decreases field time and increases speed of deployment by enabling deployment engineers to quickly instantiate or modify field devices, confirm field device connections, and/or quality check the application deployment status. Conclusion Ignition is a dynamic and modern platform, packed with features that significantly benefit the data center industry. Considering the high conversion costs for SCADA, it’s crucial to opt for a flexible, future-ready platform that not only meets today’s needs but also anticipates tomorrow’s requirements. As an experienced system integrator, BW Design Group highly recommends Ignition for facility infrastructure management as it is a scalable solution applicable to both small and large data centers. Tags / Inductive Automation All rights reserved