ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Hosting Company- USI(United System Integrators)

duration March 1-June 30

prepared by:

submission date
July 7,2016
1. Background

United System Integrators (USI) was established in 1999 by founder and

current CEO Michael Shebelle. Start up with staff of two focusing on
support. Our purpose was introducing and providing service delivery
and system integration in response to the growing IT infrastructure in
Ethiopia.
USI has wealth of experience and has been in business for the past 14
years. Today, USi is a company of over 50 permanently employed staff,
operating in 3 countries with a team of sales, pre-sales and technical
engineers that provide best-practices and best of breed solutions. After
14 years we have revised our drive to do the same for east Africa and for
the region. We employ a working methodology that requires
understanding of our customers’ needs, their goals and objectives, and
knowledge of the inner workings of the entire organization, from the
bottom up. USI maintains a high ethical standard for conducting
business and service excellence in technology driven business solutions
and maintains an excellent relationship within various industries.
USI is recognized as one of the most qualified company in position to
contribute to the growth of Ethiopia’s ICT capability and currently
spreading in to east Africa and the region. USI is continuously
collaborating with reputable international companies to take the region
into the technology of tomorrow and helps to smartly leverage their
information infrastructure to reduce costs, improve efficiency and
impact business benefits.

2. Mission

To provide best of breed IT solutions that is open, integrated and

complete using proven technology platform. USi has brought together
varied talents from diverse backgrounds. This has given us a strong
foundation with which to pursue our company mission and be a leading
IT company in the region.
3. Products and Services Provided by USI

2.1 IT Solutions provided by USI

-Computing
-Networking
- Data Storage
-Network Management
- Security solutions
-Core Banking software
-ERP Solutions
- Channel Banking Solutions (ATM, POs’, Internet Banking etc…)

2.2 professional services

-Network design and Installation

-Server/Storage design and Installation
-Security systems design and Installation
-software implementation and support

2.3 End to end delivery of IT Hardware / Operating System Maintenance

and Support, database, middleware and application

2.4 Telecom Services

2.5 MATV Installation/Maintenance

4. Major Customer

Ethio‐Telecom
African Union
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
United Nations for Population Administration (UNFPA )
Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO)
Sheraton Addis
Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority
Ethiopian Insurance Corporation
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
National Bank of Ethiopia
NIB International Bank S.C.
United Bank S.C.
Zemen Bank S.C.
Bank of Abyssinia
National Bank of Ethiopia
Wegagen Bank S.C.
Development Bank of Ethiopia
Lion International Bank S.C.
Nyala Insurance

5. BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS
USI works with world‐class solution and product providers and
continuously appends its manufacturer database. Our work experience
and supply record has earned partnership with large solution providers in
the area of system integration, including customer confidence.

Deployment of Temenos T24 core banking software- Ethiopia

USI in partnership with Temenos offer a one stop shop for banks that
wish to automate their core operation via Core Banking Solutions
.USI/Temenos has implemented T24 core banking solution for five
banks in Ethiopia. This includes Commercial Bank of Ethiopia,
Development Bank of Ethiopia, Construction and Business Bank S.C.,
Nib International Bank S.C. and Bank of Abyssinia while emerging
banks are soon to follow.

Nib International Bank S.C.

USI was the choice for Supply and Implementation of Data Center
Network Infrastructures and delivery of end to end hardware and
software for centralized core banking system project valued at over
million dollars for hosting of Temenos T24 core banking software. USI
has been providing maintenance, professional consultancy service and
supplies of all HP Products to Nib International Bank head office and its
50 branches for the past 6 years.

Wegagen Bank S.C.

Supply and installation of entire IT Core infrastructure valued at over 1

million dollars. During IT system deployment project, USI has provided
hardware and software for primary datacenter and disaster recovery site
where we have successfully supplied, installed, configured, tested,
trained their staffs and commission the project.
Bank of Abyssinia
Supply and installation of hardware and software for centralized core
banking system project valued at over 1 million dollars. USI was the
choice to deliver end to end hardware and software for hosting of
Temenos T24 core banking software.

National Bank of Ethiopia

USI was the choice for providing hardware and software infrastructures
for payment management system and RTGS check clearing
infrastructure of NBE’s National Payment System. In the software
aspect USI installed Red Hat Enterprise Server, Dbvisit , Crystal Reports
and HP Data Protector as a backup system. Installation of etoken for the
workstation and certificate generation application and Installation of
Kaspersky antivirus for the whole system from centrally managed
Administration kit server.

United Bank

Delivered and installed the entire IT infrastructure for the Central Data
Center with high end HP servers and Storage solution along with
virtualization solution. The
Installation included HP Integrity Servers running on HP-UX in a cluster
environment Including load sharing for the application servers. Four
units of rx4640 Itanium servers are installed to run the core banking
applications and two of them as data base servers. The data base servers
are clustered while the application servers are load sharing mode. The
storage is EVA 4000 in a SAN environment, along with DL580s, DL
380s and DL360s.The Tape library is MSL 6000 FC. This client is on
support from USI with annual comprehensive and preventive
maintenance service.

Zemen Bank S.C.

Zemen Bank data center was supplied and installed by USI. It includes
high end HP servers and storage solutions along with the Cisco core and
distribution switches. They are on warranty support from USI.

Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency

USI was the choice to make ERTA’s Radio archiving system digital.
The deployment includes high end HP Servers, workstation and tape
library of 96 slots (MSL 9096)
and Active Circle software to take and/or restore file from tape and
Netia software to archive their current files to digital and retrieve them
to play/ on-air from the digital. USI successfully supplied, configure,
commissioned and trained their staffs for ‘Audio archive’ project.

Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority

USI is best known in providing HP Computing solutions for ERCA for

years. USI supplied and installed HP Servers at the head office with Red
Hat Linux and Oracle for the Asycuda application including wide area
connectivity between the headquarters and 3 inspections points.

Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation

USI implemented the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Platform

to offer advanced IP Communications including Voice and Video
Conferencing and Teleworker support. USI has been providing Cisco
networking solutions for Ethio Telecom for the past years. USI also
awarded to repair line cards (electronic cards) study on record
purification on OSP with EML for Central Addis Ababa Zone.

SchoolNET Project

The Ministry of Education (MoE), in collaboration with United Nations

Development Program (UNDP), has awarded to United Systems
Integrator Plc (USI) a project, worth 250,000 dollars, to network 161
preparatory schools and connect them to the Internet. The project,
enabled through the broadband VSAT technology of the Ethiopian
Telecommunications Corporation is a part of MoE's SchoolNet project.
So far this project has provided access to educational content on an
eight-channel television program from the Ethiopian Educational Mass
Media Agency to 500 high schools.
UNECA CCTV Network

60 Camera control box installation, 13 KM of Fiber installed and

terminated for the CCTV Cameras
25 KM of Copper coax and power cable.
Main system configuration.
I heard about USI(United System Integrators) from school. The
company arranged an Interview to students who were interested and I
was selected to do the Internship program at their company.
There are different sections in the company doing different tasks. I was
supervised to get in to the networking section and practiced what I have
learned so far. we focused on designing data centers and how to build
their infrastructures. Me and my colleagues went to see already built
data centers at different banks to have the idea of data centers. Then we
were given certified data center professional to read and design a data
center. A brief description about data center will be described as follows.

A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and

associated components, such as telecommunications and storage
systems. It generally includes redundant or backup power supplies,
redundant data communications connections, environmental controls
(e.g., air conditioning, fire suppression) and various security devices.
Large data centers are industrial scale operations using as much
electricity as a small town. It has become one of the most valuable and
strategic assets within any organization.
Data center networking is the process of establishing and
interconnecting the entire physical and network-based devices and
equipment within a datacenter facility.
It enables a digital connection between data center infrastructure nodes
and equipment to ensure that they can communicate and transfer data
between each other and on an external network or internet. Typically,
data center networking creates a network infrastructure that is :
-stable, secure and reliable
 -In line with the industry regulations and meets
organization/customer/users needs
-scalable and can easily meet the requirements of network
communication in peak usage
The components and technologies that make up data center networking
generally include:
-Networking equipment(routers, switches, modems, etc)
-Network cabling (LAN/WAN and network interface cabling)
-Network addressing scheme such as IP V4 or IP V6
-Network security(security protocols/encryption algorithms, firewalls,
IDS)
Data center design is the process of modeling and designing a data
center's IT resources, architectural layout and entire infrastructure. It
enables the logical conception of a data center prior to development or
implementation in an organization or IT development.
Although data center is a broad term that includes various processes and
techniques, a data center design may be in the form of documents,
modeled diagram systems or a combination of both. Its design serves as
the key design phase of data center development, where system
architects create a documented and diagrammatic, logical view of a data
center. It is typically an extensive process that covers all of a data
center's essential computational and non-computational parameters. The
computing aspect of data center design may incorporate any of the
following:
-Number and type of required servers
-Networking layout and equipment
-Enterprise resource planning(ERP),customer relationship
management(CRM), data center management or any other required
software
similarly, data center design's non-computing aspect includes but is not
limited to the following:
-Physical facility that houses all equipment
-Data center power, coding and ventilation systems
-Physical data center security, disaster recovery and business continuity
planning.
Data center infrastructure refers to the core physical or hardware-
based resources and components including all IT infrastructure devices,
equipments and technologies that comprise a data center. It is modeled
and identified in a design plan that includes a complete listing of
necessary infrastructure components used to create a data center. It
includes:
-servers
-computers
-Networking equipment
-security(firewall, biometric security system)
-storage(storage area network, backup/tape storage)
-data center management software/applications
It also include non-computing resources, such as
-cooling systems
-physical server racks/chassis
 -cables
-Internet backbone
data center management refers to a small number of employees who
have been designated and hired to manage large data sets and hardware
systems that are usually part of a large distributed network. The data
center is responsible for the management of significant amounts of data
and the hardware required to store it and distribute it to users. It plays
crucial role in protecting data and keeping it secure so as to avoid data
security breaches. The hosted computer environment within a data
center must be explicitly managed. but most of the management is
conducted in an automated fashion, thus saving hiring and energy costs.
Data centers can be managed remotely and may not even house actual
employees.
function of data center management include upgrading hardware and
software/operating systems, managing data distribution and storage,
backup regimes, emergency planning and some technical support.
The advantages of data center management include cost savings,
especially when the data centers are green. within all data management
centers, fewer employees are needed as a result of automation, allowing
agencies and businesses to experience growth without having to allocate
space for their servers or operating systems.
Applications
The main purpose of a data center is running the IT systems applications
that handle the core business and operational data of the organization.
Such systems may be proprietary and developed internally by the
organization, or bought from enterprise software vendors. Such common
applications are ERP and CRM systems. A data center may be
concerned with just operations architecture or it may provide other
services as well. Often these applications will be composed of multiple
hosts, each running a single component. Common components of such
applications are databases, file servers, application servers, middleware,
and various others. Data centers are also used for offsite backups.
Companies may subscribe to backup services provided by a data center.
This is often used in conjunction with backup tapes. Backups can be
taken off servers locally on to tapes. However, tapes stored on site pose
a security threat and are also susceptible to fire and flooding. Larger
companies may also send their backups off site for added security. This
can be done by backing up to a data center. Encrypted backups can be
sent over the Internet to another data center where they can be stored
securely.
As I have defined basic data center terms, below will be described the
procedures I have been following to design a data center.
The first important thing to consider in building and designing a data
center is its mission critical site in which data centers shall have high
performance IT resources and facilities which is very important for the
business and to make sure everything is properly implemented, managed
and monitored. Most downtime is caused by:
power-high ground resistance
-poor voltage and current regulation
-harmonics
environmental-temperature
-humidity
-wrong cooling principles
EMF conditions-high radiation levels from power
cables/UPS/transformers etc
human errors-Accidents
-unnoticed alarms
-unauthorized access etc.
The other thing to consider is the set up of the data center and tier
levels which are
Tier 1- single path for power and cooling without redundancy.
Tier 2- single path for power and cooling but with redundancy
components which is easier and less risky maintenance of the data
center.
Tier 3-multiple path for power and cooling one active allowing
maintenance on one path without causing interruption to the critical
load.
Tier 4- multiple active path for power and cooling with redundancy in
each path.

site selection criteria is an activity of choosing the location to set up the

data center. proper planning and analysis must be performed in order to
avoid impact after built on such as:
-Hi-Availability
-reliability
-manageability
-scalability
according to location evaluation we should avoid places in which
 -flooding
-lightning
-earth quake
and also places with potential man made hazards such as
-flight path
-train/airport
-industrial pollution are found.
supporting areas also play a vital role in data centers. These areas
includes
-Holding area-is the area where equipment is received.
-staging area-is an area where equipment can be configured and safely
tested.
-computer/server room- is a place where equipments are expected to
work or run at 24/7 basis with minimal risk of interruption.
-media storage area-is a place where master copies, and documentation
backup tapes are stored.
-UPS room- is a place which provides a safe secure and conditioned
environment where power protection and conditioning systems can
operate in 24/7 basis.
-battery room- a place where batteries are stored.
-security room- security functions can be undertaken on a 24/7 basis.
raised access flooring and suspended ceiling- in this section there are
two main types of flooring such as die formed welded steel construction
and die formed welded steel shell with cementitious core.
other important thing to consider is the light in which the lighting of
work areas must facilitates a recognition of visual objects and shall
render dangerous situation to be recognized easily.
The power infrastructure-the power distribution should be aimed to be
reliable, flexible and scalable.
 Air conditioning is used to control the temperature and humidity in the
data center. The temperature in a data center will naturally rise because
the electrical power used heats the air. Unless the heat is removed, the
ambient temperature will rise, resulting in electronic equipment
malfunction. By controlling the air temperature, the server components
at the board level are kept within the manufacturer's specified
temperature/humidity range. Air conditioning systems help
control humidity by cooling the return space air below the dew point.
Too much humidity, and water may begin to condense on internal
components. In case of a dry atmosphere, ancillary humidification
systems may add water vapor if the humidity is too low, which can
result in static electricity discharge problems which may damage
components. Subterranean data centers may keep computer equipment
cool while expending less energy than conventional designs.

A data center rack is primarily designed to house servers in different

form factors (rack-mounted or blade servers). Although they are mainly
designed to hold servers, some are designed to hold other components,
such as:
 - Networking equipment
- Telecommunication equipment
- cooling systems
- UPS

each rack is generally prefabricated with slots for connecting electrical,

networking, and Internet cables. Data center racks are created using a
systematic design, and are classified based on their capacity or the
number of bays- essentially, the amount of equipment they can hold.

Rack images

A data center must have an adequate water supply in many locations

such as:
-fire suppression
-sanitary facilities
-make up water for cooling
-cleaning etc.
failure to supply water could result in IT failure and denial of access to
operate.
designing a scalable network infrastructure
In the data center all equipments are connected to each other by network
infrastructure cabling. various types of cabling and connector
technologies exist such as:- copper cables(solid and flexible/stranded)
- fiber cables uses laser/LED
while networking cables must be structured to provide a neat way of
cabling in which it reduces risk of downtime, easy re-patching, easy
fault finding.

image showing the difference between structured cabling and random

cabling
fire suppression and safety-most of the fires in data center originate
from electrical sources such as equipment over heating , electrical
distribution( loose connection).
fire suppressions must be detect early, environmentally friendly, do not
damage sensitive equipment. In data centers various detection systems
may be used such as highly sensitive smoke detection or smoke
detectors for fire panels.
The last but not least data centers must be monitored every time with
careful consideration with the selection of equipments.

The problem I have faced while I was working is that in most of the data
centers we visited in different banks I was able to find what the data
center lack according to the standard document. The problems were
some of the data centers don't have proper security systems like cameras
and digitalized doors while others don't have raised floors and poor
cooling systems. After observing the problems I wrote a
recommendation report about each data centers and submit it to my
supervisor. In my performance I tried to submit my reports on time and I
tried to improve what was lacking.
Over all benefits I have gained from my internship program is that I get
to know about my field more practically and gained more learning
experience and it brought to me a real world application, I got an
opportunity to practice communication and teamwork skills, I learned
new skills and add knowledge while gaining confidence in my abilities, I
have met new people and practice networking skills while establishing a
network of professional contacts, mentors and references.
While doing my internship I understood to be punctuality, reliability,
dedication, productivity, cooperation, character etc
 conclusion

I have visited different data centers. While visiting these banks data
center I got a lot of knowledge about different facilities of bank data
center and I got knowledge about many devices inside data center. Like
electrical power devices, mechanical and cooling system devices,
essential network devices and security devices. This helped me a lot to
have clear picture about data center. Now I have an understanding of
data center as it is not only a cluster of servers interconnected by
different network and server farm switches, rather I get clear picture of
data center as it is house of computation or the heart of the network
build from different types of servers (Web servers, Application Servers
and Database servers), Storage devices (including backup device),
interconnect device (server farm switches and network switches),
security devices(Firewalls, and IPS(Intrusion Prevention Systems)),
mechanical devices (Air conditioning system and proper
system),electrical power supply devices(like UPS) and other room
security devices (camera, access control and fire detection system). And
also I learned a lot about safeties to be taken and guidelines to be
followed while running a preventive maintenance, in order to avoid
damage on the equipment.
 Reference

-Wikipedia
-CDCP(certified data center program)