Domesday preserved with confidence
May 20 2009 By The Journal
THE National Archives at Kew, which hold 1,000 years of British history, are using the power-saving expertise of a Teesside firm to install a vital electronic back-up system.
Resilient Power Solutions (RPS) has co-designed an innovative upgrade to double the capacity of the IT data system that keeps 10 million records, including the Domesday Book and six million maps, safe for future generations. Described as a "giant fridge", the digital archive, set up in 2001, can hold 100 terabytes of data – equivalent to 1.5 billion pages of text.
The Billingham company was given the £300,000 contract by Birmingham company SCC.
Meanwhile RPS is also investing £25,000 in a demonstration room on disused land at Haverton Hill, Stockton, to win new business. The fledgling company, which has grown rapidly, is on track to treble turnover this year, but the confidential nature of its work makes it difficult to market its services to new clients.
Managing director John McGee said: "Because of our work in security services, we couldn’t show people what we’d already done, so we decided to build a demonstration ourselves. We designed an environmentally friendly cooling and chilling plant as a template of what we do for potential clients. It will be very useful in helping us win new business."
The company’s super-efficient power systems save on energy by recirculating heat.
One design channelled heat generated by the IT system into room heating for a school.
