BUMC Data Center

The Medical Campus Data Center is a secure computer-ready facility with redundant power and cooling and a variety of network connectivity options for hosting servers and related equipment.  The facility is physically secure, monitored and regularly maintained to ensure a high level of reliability and availability.

Benefits

Leveraging central institutional data center services, rather than operating independent server rooms, improves efficiency and lowers University operating expenses.  Departments that leverage this service are relieved of the responsibility and expense to maintain their own server room and can re-purpose that space to help address their strategic academic or administrative goals.

This service can be combined with other IS&T services listed within Infrastructure to provide a custom bundle of services.

Key Features

The Medical Campus Data Center offers a number of features to ensure a high degree of availability, security, and reliability:

• Data Center access is managed by a card-key system (swipe + PIN) and video surveillance supplemented by on-site operations staff during normal business hours.  Breaches of the security system are escalated to Public Safety.
• Conditioned electrical power is provided by uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system.
• All room air is circulated and filtered to remove dust and contaminants. (Note it is not a class 4 facility.)  The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system is redundant to ensure continuous operation due to equipment failure or scheduled maintenance.
• A pre-action fire detection and suppression system is installed and tested regularly.
• Automated monitoring of physical access and environmental control systems.    IS&T is notified and responds to environmental and security alerts, escalating to appropriate facilities or vendor resources.
• Standard server racks are available with 19-inch rails. Rack space is assigned by the number of rack units (RU) required by each device.  Each rack offers dual power connections with intelligent power monitoring.  Standard 20/30 amp circuits are provided with higher voltages available.
• Hardware installation is performed by IS&T unless vendor engineers are required.
• Remote Hands Services – IS&T offers personnel, tools and resources to assist Clients in remote management of their colocation environment.  Remote hands services will perform as directed by client to provide maintenance, management and/or installation of client’s collocated equipment.

What to Expect

• The BUMC Data Center operates 24×7.  Escorted access is available upon request to bumchelp@bu.edu between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding University holidays.  Special access arrangements can be made outside these hours with advanced notice.
• IS&T reserves the right to power off any equipment in the data center if in IS&T’s judgment such equipment represents a security risk, a risk to other tenants, or to other wise protect the equipment due to supporting infrastructure failure.  Reasonable attempts will be made to contact the client before taking such action.
• IS&T is governed by a Change Management policy that manages planned changes that will disrupt, or have the potential to disrupt, services.  Every effort will be made to provide timely notification to clients in the event of unplanned outages.

Requirements

• Provide and ensure system and security contact information is kept up-to-date; subscribe to IS&T email list for announcements (e.g. new services, upgrades, changes, outages).
• Designate individuals authorized to access their equipment. IS&T will challenge any individuals not authorized.
• Provide advance notice for special access outside the hours of operation listed above.
• All equipment must have out-of-band, asynchronous remote management capability, if applicable. (e.g., iDRAC, iLO, IPMI, etc.)
• You may not lease rack space to others.
• Servers and other equipment must be compatible with data center operating environment and must be rack-mountable to ensure that all server hardware resides within the cabinet structure
• You are responsible for all external costs associated with vendor software and maintenance.
• You are responsible for requesting network and (if needed) other supporting services (e.g., backups). Additional fees may apply in these situations.
• Ensure proper delivery of equipment to the Data Center.  Coordinate with IS&T before placing any new or relocating existing equipment.

Getting Started

• Click the Get Help button on this page to request more information about how this service could match your specific needs.