John Muir Health

Walnut Creek, CA

THE RESULTS: State-of-the-Art Data Center Meets Modern Healthcare Needs

With extensive use of building information modeling (BIM), DSI was able to ensure the feasibility of all solutions before construction even began. This has allowed DSI to provide John Muir Health with a new OSHPD-approved, state-of-the-art data center that meets its technological needs and supports the highest patient care possible.

DSI Delivers Data Center Solution with Minimal Space Availability

A leader in healthcare in the San Francisco Bay area, John Muir Health is a not-for-profit integrated system of doctors, hospitals, and other services. They are committed to providing the highest quality patient care to patients every day through the contributions of numerous physicians, employees, and volunteers.

THE CHALLENGE: Major Space Constraints Limit Choices for New Site

In 2011, John Muir Health was preparing to roll out its Epic Electronic Health Record software system, but IT recognized that they faced a challenge due to major space constraints in their existing data center sites. They need a new, OSHPD-compliant data center – one that would have to fit in the basement of one of their existing hospital facilities. A second challenge was when John Muir Health decided to perform upgrades to its main data center at its headquarters in 2013. Because of the critical nature of the healthcare organization’s IT load, the work had to be performed while maintaining an emergency power source to the data center and while maintaining zero downtime.

THE SOLUTION: Build Out of New OSHPD Compliant Data Center

John Muir Health selected Data Specialties Inc. (DSI) to review and assess their four existing data centers in Walnut Creek, CA. As a result of this extensive assessment, the organization decided to build an OSHPD compliant data center in the basement of its Ygnacio Valley Road hospital.

DSI’s installation included:

  • Two APC Symmetra PX 500 kVA UPS systems with maintenance bypass cabinets and four PSX PDUs
  • A 34-cabinet full hot aisle containment APC pod
  • Six In-row chilled water air conditioners
  • A new EPSMS system for the new equipment
  • A new Honeywell leak detection system
  • Fiber cabling from existing DC to new DC, which included two 24 strand 50 micron armored multimode fiber
  • Aftermarket containment to fill gaps in customer-provided EMC cabinets

Two years later, DSI returned to upgrade John Muir Health’s existing paralleling system, replacing it with all new equipment and improved controls on the three existing generators without disrupting the emergency power source to the data center.

Additionally, DSI upgraded the power distribution system, reconfiguring the existing UPS battery system to make room for additional UPS systems. All of this work was performed while maintaining 100% uptime of the data center, which was critically important for patient care.