Machine Zone has developed proprietary technology that creates an immersive, real-time gaming experience enjoyed by more than 130 million people globally. The company’s flagship title, “Game of War – Fire Age,” is the largest multiplayer mobile game in the world and the top free-to-play mobile application downloaded from Apple iTunes, Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore.

In order to streamline the buildout and operation of its large-scale data centers, the company “racks and stacks” preconfigured equipment in its integration center and ships the fully populated racks for onsite deployment. However, the equipment often shifted during transport — the cabinets Machine Zone had been using were not strong enough to withstand the stresses of shipment when fully loaded.

The company’s integration center team began searching for an alternative and discovered DAMAC. Because DAMAC cabinets are constructed of fully welded tubular steel rather than sheet metal, they can be shipped fully loaded without buckling or twisting.

“With DAMAC, there is absolutely no shifting of the gear in the rack,” said Jeff Routledge, infrastructure architect, Machine Zone. “We can guarantee that what we produce in the integration center will arrive onsite in the same condition as when it left.”

Solution

The DAMAC team has worked with Machine Zone on a variety of rack designs. DAMAC has been able to change the width, depth, color, and other specifications to meet the requirements of different facilities and applications.

The rear coffin area in a DAMAC cabinet facilitates management of cables and power distribution units (PDUs) while providing more usable space for equipment.

“We have gone with slightly wider cabinets in some instances to give us more room to work,” Routledge said. “We have also had DAMAC make the coffin area in the back part of the cabinet deeper for easier wire and PDU management. By having the extra-deep coffin, we are able to install our two PDUs and still have room for two more.

“In phase one of the data center we went with gray cabinets and in phase two we went with white. The colors give our operational team visual cues as to what production areas they are in.”

The Machine Zone data center in the Las Vegas SUPERNAP facility required a different approach. SUPERNAP has little architectural flexibility and strict requirements for rack configurations. DAMAC developed a cabinet that would meet these constraints, provide optimum airflow for hot-aisle containment, and streamline cabling. The SUPERNAP cabinets have a green powder coating that matches the Machine Zone logo.

DAMAC racks are designed to support heavier loads and maintain their structural integrity when shipped fully loaded with equipment. DAMAC’s tubular steel construction provides horizontal as well as vertical strength, and 20% more usable space than competitive products.

Because of DAMAC’s approach to product development, a standard DAMAC cabinet or rack can be configured in thousands of different ways. DAMAC can also produce fully customized solutions to the customer’s specifications in about six weeks — the fastest turnaround time in the industry. DAMAC provides expert engineering services free of charge and builds all of its products in the U.S. with 100% control.

“We have been very impressed with DAMAC’s flexibility and ability to manufacture cabinets to our exact specifications,” said Routledge. “DAMAC also offers great in-rack wire management features and has helped us experiment with a couple of different scenarios in terms of wire management. We have purchased hundreds of DAMAC racks and continue to work with DAMAC as our space, power, and cooling requirements expand.”