All digital systems on board a yacht require computing power. Centralized management and storage of multiple yacht systems results in a highly efficient setup. All the necessary computing power and storage space for all our products (Main Infrastructure, Discover and Connect, Audio/Video, CCTV and crew management systems ) is provided by the Data Centre. The on-board Data Centre allows for un-interrupted execution of servers and applications needed for the operation of the IT network and other (business) needs. For stability and scalability reasons, the Data Centre is built upon a VMWare cluster with multiple servers and storage arrays. Adding storage or computing power to the Data Centre can be done easily.
AV/IT equipment will be installed in MEC and BEC locations as much as possible due to better operating circumstances like efficient cooling and heat and humidity monitoring. Only minimal equipment, like audio/video decoders , will be installed in room and there for local switches will not be required. Due to this design philosophy, a redundant network backbone is critical. There for a Cisco’s lead stackable enterprise switching platform is installed on the vessel with redundant fiber optic uplinks.
The network topology is a collapsed core design with a core layer and a combined access/distribution layer. The core layer consists of a redundant stack of two managed layer 3 switches in the AV Room (MEC). The combined distribution/access layer consists of one stack of multiple managed switches in the AV Room (MEC) and multiple switch stacks of managed switches on the other decks. Important equipment like the firewall and datacenter are connected directly to the core switching.
A Security Control appliance with all-in-one Unified Threat Management (UTM) solutions will provide comprehensive next-generation firewall protection of the vessel's network and data. The Security Control appliance includes a next-generation fire-wall and router, Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IPS), gateway anti-virus, VPN, and web content and application filtering.
REDUNDANT
All core and access switches are stacked in a single location, creating a single virtual switch. This ensures ease of maintenance and adds even more reliability, as multiple redundant cables are now connected from the stacked core switches to the stacked access switches. This results in a so-called N+3 redundancy, meaning that up to three cables may fail without affecting the functioning of the system. The stacked switches do not only share data amongst each other but also power. This means that when a single power supply or cable stops functioning, the switch will be powered via the stack cable. This design ensures a high degree of availability when compared to alternative designs, which usually only provide N+1 redundancy.
Proudly part
of a strong
group
