Mission Critical Assets - Size Matters

When the National Australia Bank (NAB) was hit recently by what the Wall Street Journal described, in a masterpiece of understatement, as a “computer glitch” the company came very close to melt-down. In addition to affecting millions of NAB customer across the country, the “glitch” impacted on transactions with just about every other bank. Accounts were erroneously frozen, wages and salaries went unpaid, customers were left without cash, and bank balances were thrown into chaos. The problem took six days to rectify, and how much it cost the bank – both financially and in damage to its reputation – is just about anyone’s guess. Certainly, the bank is being very tight lipped.

At first glance, it may not be easy to spot the link between NAB’s computer problem and fire detection and suppression. However, the story does throw into sharp focus the impact that even a small computer problem can have on a business that is totally reliant on its IT infrastructure. It also offers a chilling definition of the terms “mission-critical” and “business-critical”. So picture a slightly different scenario: also a company that is dependant upon IT for its survival, but this time a business that is hit not by a “computer glitch” but a major fire. The result has the very real potential to make NAB’s “glitch” appear to be a very trivial problem. Serious fire damage or the complete loss of such an organisation’s IT assets could herald the collapse of the business.

“Provide dedicated fire protection for business-critical assets” has been Firetrace’s mantra for many years, and it remains true as many are housed in cabinets and other enclosures where dedicated tube-based fire detection and suppression is the most efficient and cost-effective solution. However, as business becomes ever more complex and dependant upon technology, and as IT and communication innovations enable a growing number of business tasks to be computer controlled or computer generated, such technology demands more space and constant human interface. The space required expands beyond that capable of being housed in a cabinet or enclosure. In these cases, adopting a solution that floods the entire room may well be part of the solution. But the key word here is “part”.
“Part of the solution” because, even in today’s more-expansive computer suites there are still key assets that are housed in enclosures. So, it is not so much switching from in-cabinet protection to total flooding, as it is to adopting an integrated solution using both systems. Now, while that may appear to be an expensive option, the opposite may well be the case.
Protecting vital in-cabinet equipment with dedicated tube-based protection means that if a fire breaks out in that enclosed environment, it will be detected and suppressed right where it starts. Significantly, there will be no need for the remainder of the suite’s total flooding system to be discharged. Typically, this means suppressing the fire with US$300 of suppression agent, compared with US$250,000. If, on the other hand, the fire breaks out in the main IT area, it will be suppressed by the total flooding system, without the in-cabinet systems being activated, again saving the unnecessary discharge of suppression agent.

Culturally critical assets
With the possible impact on business survival, the focus of attention is naturally on protecting IT and communications facilities. However, these are not the only critical assets that need safeguarding from fire; national treasures are every bit as important to society’s heritage and culture.
To cite just one example that puts the heritage fire challenge into sharp perspective, some 25,000 books were destroyed and a further 40,000 were damaged by smoke and water – no doubt used to suppress the fire – in a fire a few years ago in the Duchess Anna Amalia Library housed in a 16th-century rococo-style palace in Weimar, Germany. Christina Weiss, Germany’s Culture Minister at the time, understandably called the fire “a national culture catastrophe and a great loss for world heritage.”
Here too there is, of course, a strong argument for using both total flooding and in-cabinet protection. In fact, the argument may be even more compelling as certain artefacts or exhibits need to be housed within enclosures either for security or to safeguard them from the ambient atmosphere.

Suppression agent considerations
There are several factors that have to be taken into account when selecting a total flooding solution for business critical assets. These include five key considerations:

• The increasing desire to use clean suppression technology.
• The need for suppression to be fast acting to minimise damage.
• The importance of selecting a suppression agent that is not detrimental for room occupants.
• The importance of specifying a suppression agent that does not damage the very equipment it is there to protect.
• The desirability of choosing a suppression agent that makes the most efficient use of the available storage space.

In light of the demise of Halon 1301 and the disappointing performance of some agents that have entered the market since the signing of the Montreal Protocol, added to these five key factors are: the ability to be retrofitted to Halon systems; commercial availability of the suppression agent; and its long-term sustainability.
Significantly, the factors cited above that have to be taken into consideration when selecting a total flooding solution to protect a business-critical asset, apply equally to museums and art galleries. Perhaps the most important though is the need for the suppression agent not to damage the items it is there to protect. For, while computers are replaceable, ancient documents and works of art truly justify the term “irreplaceable”.

Total flooding option
When developing the new UL [Underwriters Laboratories] listed Firetrace Total Flooding system it was decided that, while other suppression agents will be used to suit specific applications and fire safety needs, the system should be available initially with DuPont’s FM-200, which has established itself as one of the most popular clean fire suppression agents. This is due to its ability to quickly knock down Class A (ordinary freely-burning combustible materials) Class B (flammable liquids and flammable gases – Classes B and C in Europe and Australasia/Asia) and Class C (electrical equipment – Class E in Europe and Australasia/Asia) fires with no risk of thermal shock damage to delicate equipment.
FM-200 is electrically non-conductive and non-corrosive; it leaves no oily residue or deposits to damage software, data files, communications equipment, documents or artefacts so clean-up operations are unnecessary following an agent discharge.
Another major consideration is the fact that, if discharged, the FM-200 gas does not itself pose any threat to human life. At its design concentration it does not deplete the oxygen level to a point where it is unsafe for occupants to remain in the room. Following discharge, the gas is dispersed through natural ventilation, a course of action made possible by FM-200’s freedom from any toxic side effects and its zero ozone depletion characteristics.
In terms of space utilisation, FM-200 takes up little more space than a Halon 1301 installation, appreciably less that a CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) system, and substantially less than an inert gas installation. This footprint is a particularly important consideration when office rental costs are taken into account. According to the Global Real Estate Market Annual Review produced by global property specialist, Knight Frank, a square metre of office space in London can more than US$1000 a year – a figure that is replicated in many of the world’s major cities.
Firetrace Total Flooding clean agent systems can be activated either manually or automatically using electrical activation, and are available with cylinder capacities ranging from 7.26 kg to 544 kg that can be combined to create a fire suppression system that is appropriately sized for any room. Other cylinder capacity options are 32 kg, 68 kg, 113 kg, 170 kg, 254 kg, and 544 kg. Each of these cylinders can be under-filled in 0.45 kg increments to meet the exact amount of agent required within their fill ranges. Nozzles are available in various discharge patterns for pipe sizes ranging from 12.7 mm to 50.8 mm.

Synergistic solution
So, far from moving away from its oft-stated position that in-cabinet fire protection is the most logical method for protecting business-critical assets, the development of Firetrace Total Flooding technology merely acknowledges that in some instances more space needs to be devoted to housing assets. The rationale is simple; make the solution fit the size of the environment being protected.
At the same time, do not lose sight of the fact that, in many of these facilities, key assets are still enclosed in micro-environments, and they are best protected by their own dedicated fire detection and suppression systems.

By Nick Grant EMEA Vice President and General Manager of Firetrace International

For more information : www.firetrace.com