A single computer suddenly seems far less complicated once you set foot inside Machinery Hall. The rooms are filled with tall columns containing hundreds of servers, wires and storage systems. It is almost like walking through a city lined with miniature buildings – buildings with a lot of buttons.

All of these systems within the building collectively operate Syracuse University’s computer network system. This includes everything from MySlice to the SU Web site to e-mail services.

And if those systems in this room shut down, the school is in a lot of trouble.

This is why Information Technology and Services and the Office of Campus Planning, Design and Construction are working together to install power transfer switches in the hall. In case of a power failure, these switches will keep SU’s computer network running smoothly.

Susan Watts, process manager at Machinery Hall, said it would be beneficial to install the new power transfer switches. If power were cut from the room, no one on campus would be able to use the computer network system.

‘The goal is to leave enough of this building running so people can do basic computer functions in case of a power outage,’ she said.

Steve Bonomo, an information technology analyst at SU, said there is currently a large machine in Machinery Hall that provides enough power to allow the computer systems to progressively shut off if there were a power outage.

‘As opposed to letting the systems slam off, this allows them to gradually shut down,’ he said.

‘Think of it as a big battery,’ Watts said. ‘It recognizes when we lose power from the street, and it provides battery power, but right now it only lasts for 31 minutes. Then it sends a signal to all things in the room, and it gradually starts shutting things down.’

Installing the new power transfer switches in Machinery Hall is good for students, said Judy Holmes, tech writing and publications specialist for Information Technology.

‘It’s a manual process right now, and the power outages we’ve experienced on campus have been longer than 30 minutes, which is why we have a generator,’ Holmes said. ‘So now the power transfer switches would automatically send power to all our computers. Students won’t even know there was a power outage unless their dorm lights are out.’

Watts described the generator as a gas-powered source of electricity. It is located outside of Machinery Hall, but it currently does not come on automatically, so people have to come and switch the cables.

‘The transfer switches will recognize the outage, so it will switch the power to the generator,’ Watts said. ‘And then the generator will power the system.’

Christopher Sedore, director of ITS, said installing the new switches is a complicated process.

‘So basically, the power would have to be turned off and a switch gets installed. The switch has an input for the generator,’ Sedore said. ‘So when the street power goes out, it tells the generator to start and then connects the building to the generator.’

The installation process will take place during the weekend of Oct. 27-28, Sedore said. It will take about 18 hours to complete.

Students will not be dramatically affected by the installation during that time.

Bonomo said ITS staff is trying to at least keep the essential sites available, such as like Blackboard and MyMail, and that they anticipate no interruption in Internet connectivity.

Some systems, including MySlice, will be unavailable for about four hours early in the morning those two days. Sedore said it will be rewired Oct. 28 to the normal power feed.

Published on October 20, 2007 at 12:00 pm