Coloured Generator
Coloured Generator

Safe Host Takes a Colourful Approach to Safety

Safe Host, a data centre in Switzerland, uses colorful equipment to create a safer, more simplified work environment. Each floor of the facility has its own unique hue, ranging from hot pink to electric blue.


By Caterpillar | Posted: January 13, 2021 | Revised: March 28, 2022

We use the internet every day. The recent global pandemic in particular has seen more and more of us working and learning from home. When we can’t be together, we keep in touch with social media and video calling. We stream films, watch broadcasts, play games, and order food and whatever else we need for everyday life online.

All these activities generate data, and lots of it!

The organisations we interact with online keep their critical applications and our data in data centres. They are crucial for supporting the internet itself as well as millions of interactions and transactions every day. Also, more and more companies are outsourcing their data-hosting solutions through Cloud applications.

As you’d expect, storing, organising and keeping this data secure requires a reliable source of constant, quality power. No matter how short, any loss of power can have a significant impact.

To avoid the interruptions that power grids sometimes experience, data centres invest in backup generators that provide power during outages. That’s where Caterpillar® Electric Power comes in! Our generators provide reliable backup power for data centres all over the world, ensuring that they can store, secure and organise your data and keep you connected 24/7 wherever you are.

For the last 20 years, Safe Host has been a pioneer in the design, construction and operation of data centres in Switzerland. They have brought technical and human expertise to their customers whilst always putting the safety of their staff and vendors first. With over 76 MVA of installed capacity across four Swiss sites, Safe Host executives trust Caterpillar and Avesco AG, their local Cat® dealer, to provide turnkey standby power solutions.

“Guaranteeing the safety and security of our customers’ data is one of our primary focuses, as well as the safety and security of our staff and vendors” Gerard Sikias, chief executive officer of Safe Host S.A. 

“Guaranteeing the safety and security of our customers’ data is one of our primary focuses, as well as the safety and security of our staff and vendors.”

The management team at Safe Host are more aware than most of what’s involved in building an infrastructure that relies on low- and medium-voltage equipment, which includes planned expansions to 75 MW in three to four years’ time at the company’s SH2 Gland location. “A vast amount of electrical equipment associated with grid and emergency backup power is housed in each data centre, weaving its way throughout the building from gensets, switchgear, and UPS strings to the power distribution at our customers’ computer racks,” explained Line Dujourd'hui, director of operations for Safe Host. “During routine maintenance and repairs, this can be tricky to identify, so we need to move quickly and safely when isolating each floor of the building. Even so, we need to ensure that the investigation and repairs can be carried out swiftly and without incident.”

Safe Host’s infrastructure team came up with the idea of colour-coding each floor of their 36 MW data centre in SH2 Gland, as well as all of the equipment that supports each floor, wherever it is located in the facility. This makes service and maintenance safer and faster. The team chose 24 vibrant colours, from hot pink and electric blue to some more familiar yellow, of course! Applied during the manufacturing process, the colourful generators turned a few heads at the Caterpillar facility in Lafayette as they made their way down the assembly line.

Coloured Generators
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Coloured Generators

“It’s incredible how such a simple idea has added so much value to our health and safety initiatives, and as we continue to expand, we plan to implement this system across all of our facilities,” observed Faiz Tandon, sales director and co-founder of Safe Host. “Caterpillar was very supportive. They share our focus on safety, and their ‘Everyone Home Safe Everyday’ initiative fits so well with our own efforts and ethos. Caterpillar understood why we needed these colours, and they made it happen.”

“It’s incredible how such a simple idea has added so much value to our health and safety initiatives, and as we continue to expand, we plan to implement this system across all of our facilities.”

 

Safe Host staff and vendors are grateful for the system. Not only does it simplify their working lives, but it brightens up their day as well. It’s also a definite source of pride among staff that Safe Host is the only data centre that takes such a colourful approach to an everyday problem. Click here to find out more about Cat Electric Power for Data Centres. 

Pink Generator
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Not yellow, but Cat to the engine core!

Pink Generator
of

Not yellow, but Cat to the engine core!

Pink Generator
of

Not yellow, but Cat to the engine core!

Blue Generator
of

Not yellow, but Cat to the engine core!

Pink Generator
Pink Generator
Pink Generator
Blue Generator

Data Centers

Data centres are centralised hubs for storing, processing, and disseminating large volumes of data and applications for businesses. The data we generate every day, at work and at play, is increasing exponentially. Securing data and processes and preventing important information from being compromised or lost is vital and can only be guaranteed with a constant source of quality power.

 

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