ING Bank apologised to its customers in Romania this week after a planned test of its gas-based fire suppression system knocked its Bucharest-based data centre offline. This left users unable to carry out card transactions and access internet banking services over the weekend. The company’s ability to alert customers about the situation was also hindered by its email and text systems being unavailable due to the issue.
Although the Head of ING Bank’s retail division blamed the test for the problems, it was reported that the sound created by the release of the inert gas from the cylinders, as opposed to the substance itself, caused the data centre hardware to fail. The noise levels are said to have exceeded 130dB during the test, causing the hard disk drives inside the storage systems to vibrate and malfunction.
This is the first time I’ve heard of sound waves from a gas fire suppression system creating damage to hard disk drives, resulting in server failure, and this is highly unlikely to happen again. Nevertheless, freak scenarios such as this one prove how important multiple lines of defence are in data centre environments.
At LDeX Group we use a ‘double knock’ solution, meaning that smoke must be detected in two zones to trigger our gas fire suppression system, reducing the risk of a false positive. Our VESDA smoke detection is installed throughout our data centres to act as an early warning sign for any potential fires and the FM200 suppressant is designed to remove the oxygen, heat and fuel from a fire, extinguishing it within ten seconds.
If you want to know more about our offering and how ‘double knock’ can help you avoid situations like ING Bank’s, visit our website.
