At a Glance
Company
Vatican Apostolic Library
Region / Country
Vatican State
Industry
Education and Historical Research
Panduit Solution
Panduit Integrated Data Center Solution
Net-Access™ S-Type Cabinet System
Net-Contain™ Hot Aisle Containment System
Copper and fiber cabling system
OM3 fiber optic transport system and Category 6A 10 Gig copper system
Preserving Historic Manuscripts with a Reliable Data Center Foundation
The Vatican Apostolic Library needed a secure, highly available data center infrastructure to support its manuscript digitization project. Panduit delivered an Integrated Data Center Solution with intelligent power distribution, environmental sensors, Net-Access™ cabinets, hot aisle containment, and copper and fiber connectivity. The upgraded infrastructure improved visibility, efficiency, data availability, and scalability for future digital preservation efforts.
Challenges
- The Vatican Apostolic Library needed to preserve delicate manuscripts that are sensitive to light, humidity, and temperature.
- The existing data center needed to be dismantled and replaced with more efficient infrastructure.
- The new infrastructure needed to support a large manuscript digitization initiative and massive data transfer effort.
- The data center requires secure, highly available network infrastructure with real-time monitoring capability.
Solution
- Implemented the Panduit Integrated Data Center Solution to support efficiency, scalability, and visibility across the physical infrastructure.
- Deployed intelligent power distribution units alongside environmental sensors to monitor and process real-time data, including current and historical views of power and temperature.
- Installed Net-Access™ S-Type Server Cabinets with Net-Contain™ Hot Aisle Containment for thermal performance and energy efficiency.
- Completed the data center connectivity solution with Panduit copper and fiber systems, including OM3 fiber and Category 6A 10 Gig copper.
Outcome
- Improved data center infrastructure management and visibility of critical IT infrastructure.
- Improved cooling efficiency from the previous cooling system by 40%.
- Reduced deployment time by 30% compared with alternate solutions.
- Supported high reliability and elevated transmission speed for data generated by the digitization project.
Challenges
Founded in 1451, the Vatican Apostolic Library preserves rare manuscripts, printed books, coins, medals, prints, drawings, engravings, and photographs that support research in history, art, literature, law, philosophy, science, and theology. The library’s manuscripts are extremely delicate and sensitive to light, humidity, and temperature, making physical handling risky for preservation. To better protect these materials while extending access to researchers, the library began an extensive manuscript digitization project.
The digitization effort created new infrastructure requirements. The existing data center needed to be dismantled and replaced with a more efficient data center infrastructure capable of supporting future storage needs. The upgraded environment needed to support the transition of more than 80,000 historical manuscripts to digital format while enabling cooling optimization, power continuity, storage, secure network availability, and real-time monitoring.
The Panduit Strategy and Solution:
The Vatican Apostolic Library selected Panduit after validating the performance of connectivity previously installed at its main data center. Panduit implemented an integrated physical infrastructure solution that included hardware, software, and a hot aisle containment system within the historical home of the library. The project also included support from partners such as EMC2, Stulz, and Borri UPS.
Intelligent critical power solutions enabled the library to monitor and process real-time data while accessing current and historical views of power and temperature. Smart PDUs, integrated with environmental sensors and rack-level security solutions, provided centralized visibility into power utilization, environmental conditions, and physical infrastructure status. This integrated approach simplified infrastructure management while supporting operational efficiency, reliability, and security.
The Implementation
The upgraded network infrastructure included eight Panduit Energy Efficient Net-Access™ S-Type Server Cabinets, thermally compartmentalized with a complete Panduit Net-Contain™ Hot Aisle Containment System. The containment system supported energy efficiency, optimized airflow distribution, and improved thermal performance across the data center. The cabinet components maintained hot/cold air separation and improved cooling efficiency from the previous cooling system by 40 percent.
Panduit also deployed NetManager™ High Capacity Horizontal Cable Managers and Patchlink™ Horizontal Cable Managers to improve cable management while supporting system performance, durability, and reliability. The connectivity solution included Panduit OM3 fiber optic transport system components and Category 6A 10 Gig copper systems to deliver reliable performance, application availability, and standards-based infrastructure.
The Outcome
The Panduit Integrated Data Center Solution reduced deployment time by 30 percent compared with alternate solutions while providing the infrastructure needed to support the large volume of data generated by the Vatican Apostolic Library's digitization project. The solution delivered high reliability, fast data transmission, improved infrastructure management, and greater data availability, helping create a scalable foundation for ongoing digital preservation efforts.
Since project completion, visitors to the Vatican Apostolic Library have expressed interest in replicating the design and implementing similar Panduit solutions within their own environments. The project stands as a compelling example of how intelligent data center infrastructure can accelerate deployment, improve operational efficiency, and support long-term access to culturally significant digital assets.
“The use of Panduit technology has provided us with an essential contribution to our data center in terms of efficiency, infrastructure management, and data availability, creating balance between cost and performance.”
– Luciano Ammenti
IT Director, Vatican Apostolic Library