The framework of the project
The Smart Port Challenge, organized by the CCI of Marseille, is a challenge bringing together actors from the Port of Marseille and startups selected to respond to each of their challenges. It is a 6-month co-innovation process where each challenge partner and their start-up collaborate to find a solution.
Interxion, the European leader in data centers, has set up two new data centers at the port in Marseille within the walls of a former German submarine base.
With the support of Dalkia Smart Building, Interxion has implemented an innovative solution to cool its data centers and optimize their energy consumption: River Cooling. It is a device that uses naturally cold and unused water (from the flow of an old mine) to cool the rooms that house the servers.
The challenge proposed by these two actors was therefore to create a demonstrator to present the concept of River Cooling to the general public and demonstrate its energy efficiency and environmental safety.
The solution provided
We were therefore selected to respond to the challenge by proposing to build the demonstrator based on the digital twin of the infrastructures. The option of a digital double in the “Google Street View” way was therefore chosen. This visualization solution accessible to the general public has been modified to integrate an educational dimension and interactive content.
After several months of collaboration, we are very happy to present this immersive experience designed for smartphones.
The implementation
At the start of the project, the main problem was to fully understand how a data center works and to go into the details of the River Cooling process for the My Digital Buildings team. On the Interxion side, it was necessary to clearly explain the capture technologies and visualization solutions used by MDB.
The objectives of the demonstrator
At the end of this stage, the other challenge was to properly frame the objectives of this immersive demonstrator intended for the general public:
- Present and popularize the concept of River Cooling;
- Demonstrate the safety of the device on the environment;
- Demonstrate the energy savings of the device (KPI);
- Present a data center and its operation transparently (break down certain preconceived ideas).
Prototyping
Then we went on to the prototyping stage. The demonstrator experience was designed to be experienced on a smartphone in order to reach the largest possible audience while also being accessible on a computer.
Prototyping was based on these 5 main areas:
- What is a data center?
- What is River Cooling?
- Where does the water used come from?
- Environmental impact and energy savings.
- Future opportunities for River Cooling
We have imagined a journey through a virtual visit allowing the user to discover these 5 main axes in a logical and sequenced way. For each axis, we scripted the journey by precisely detailing the elements to be captured as well as the points of interest for which interaction and specific content would be offered to the user.
The survey
The My Digital Buildings team then intervened to capture the data needed to create the demonstrator. We used a drone for aerial shots, a scanning cart equipped with 3D sensors and 6 HD cameras, equipment to take photos, video and sound.
The recording took place on 3 sites: on the MRS2 data center, in the pump station and the gallery at the sea. The latter is an underground gallery connecting the village of Gardanne to the sea to evacuate runoff water from an old mine. It is this unused water that is recovered for the operation of River Cooling and that is sent to the data centers (about 1.6 km) thanks to the pump station.
Design and result
The last step was to create the virtual tour by assembling all the 360° photos according to the imagined itinerary. The bulk of the work focused on graphic and textual overlays allowing the user to progress in a fun and educational way.
The navigation principle was as follows: for each new location, the user goes through an aerial view allowing him to contextualize where he is. He then switches to a virtual tour on the ground. Systematically, he is in a 360° photo with the possibility of looking at the angle of view that he likes.
At each major stage, the user discovers an “objective” map that allows him to understand what he must achieve. It is then guided by arrows and interactions. Textual and graphic contents explain and enrich the visit.
For each important technical concept, we proposed to discover an “experience”. This article proposes to go into the details of a technical installation in order to understand how it works. We used 3D graphics to explain some concepts, but also text, video, and audio. The user can interact with the infographic by manipulating it in 3D.
At the end of the experience, we come back to a summary of the River Cooling concept by presenting the impact on energy consumption, on the environment and the prospects of the project in the future.
