Discovery is a South African financial services group. It is seen not just as a leader in the financial services sector but a pioneering employer within South Africa.

The business is moving to a purpose-built $230m head office in the Sandton suburb of Johannesburg. While meeting world-class environmental standards, Discovery is also aiming for operational excellence throughout; it wanted the very best fire suppression system for its new 700 m² data centre.

The data centre project required two innovative solutions; the Johnson Controls iFLOW fire suppression system used in conjunction with the Johnson Controls Acoustic Nozzle Solution – a first for the South African market.

This Acoustic Solution uses an innovative acoustic nozzle and an acoustic calculation tool to estimate the sound pressure level at a hard disc drive (HDD) location.

It simplifies the calculation by containing drop down menus for the suppression system parameters, as well as selection of room materials and the equipment within the data centre. This enables SFP’s Technical Services team to perform calculations tailored to each customer installation.

Dan Lurie, Contracts Manager at SFP, the South African systems integrator leading the implementation said: ‘Vibrations from the discharge of an inert fire suppression system could damage the HDDs and destroy data. Discovery understood that this was an issue. Johnson Controls’  Acoustic Solution was perfect as it’s one of the main methods in reducing noise levels to an  acceptable level.’