Computer facility upgraded

By Ken Goze

NIU’s Swen Parson computing lab will be freed from the constant threat of brownouts and power fluctuations after the completion of a $265,000 project to upgrade the electrical supply to the facility.

The 12-year-old computer facility needs electrical improvement to meet the increasing demand for constant, clean power required by the lab’s mainframe computer and other electronic equipment.

“We’re just barely getting by right now,” said Walter Czerniak, NIU director of computer operations, referring to problems caused by the almost constant full load on the facility’s 30-year-old power supply.

Czerniak said computer operations sometimes are interrupted by “spikes” or fluctuations in the power supply. Although fluctuations are normal and rarely cause problems for most electrical equipment, they wreak havoc with computers, interrupting programs and resulting in data loss.

Spikes have not resulted in any major data loss because of tape storage and other backup systems, but time is lost trying to get the system back into operation, Czerniak said.

The problem has been most severe in spring and summer, when shortages and spikes caused by air conditioners and lightning have forced him to shut off computers, sometimes for several hours, he said.

In addition to inconvenience, Czerniak said he believes the voltage drops caused by the spikes contributed to the breakdown of the lab’s Harris computers, which were replaced this summer.

Electrical Construction Superintendent Forrest Struthers said the improvement project, funded by the fiscal year 1990 Build Illinois Project, will solve these problems by switching the computing lab to a larger power supply and installing a new transformer to eliminate spikes by acting as a filter.

Struthers said the lab, located in the northern addition of Swen Parson Hall, is powered by a small “branch feeder” supply, which runs through Davis Hall and into central Swen Parson.

Struthers said the small network, one of NIU’s oldest, provides about 90 amps and has no backup. “If it (the power supply) goes down, the only way to restore power is to go in there and replace whatever has burned out,” Struthers said.

By switching the lab onto the main “loop network,” which serves most of NIU, the lab will have access to 400 amps and could be switched to either of two power substations on Carroll and Lucinda avenues if one fails.

Struthers said scope statements detailing the project’s requirements were submitted to the Capital Development Board, which oversees the Build Illinois Fund.