Location and Description of Storage Facility

Giving a description of the piqlVault and its surrounding environment that is accurate, precise and which reflects the way Piql AS envisions the implementation of the Piql system is an important step of risk identification, which will in turn let us give meaningful results in the analysis and evaluation phases. Of course, such a precise and realistic description of a piqlVault and its surroundings would vary greatly between countries and between sectors. So, we are required to create a simplified version of reality and of the Piql storage facility in particular.

One representation of a piqlVault is presented in the following. This description does not serve as a requirement specification for the design of a piqlVault: it is merely meant to serve as a tool for the scenario development. A schematic presentation is given in table 5.4 below.

User class

Level of sensitivity

User group Asset

Type of storage facility

Location Placement Size Operations Storage conditions

Table 5.4 The location and layout of the storage facilities used in the scenario development The storage facility used for analysis in this assessment is placed in one location: in an office or industrial building, depending on the user’s needs, which is situated in a densely populated urban area. The choice of this location reflects the needs and circumstances of the user base of the Piql Preservation Services, which is mainly commercial.⁶ Further, we have specified two possible placements of the storage room within the building: whether it is placed in the basement or on the lower floors of the building, or higher up on the upper floors. This has significance for different types of risks the storage room is exposed to. For instance, a storage room placed in a basement or in the lower floors of a building would be less vulnerable to shakes in case of an earthquake, but more likely to suffer heavy losses in case of a flood.

Conversely, the storage room placed in the upper floors would be less vulnerable in case of flood, but more likely to be harmed by an earthquake.

We have defined a standard size for the storage room within which the piqlVault is placed that applies to all scenarios. The room has a surface area of 86 m², with a width of 8,0 meters and a depth of 10,7 meters. The height is 7,5 meters. The ideal storage conditions for the piqlBox and piqlFilm in order to guarantee the longevity of 500 years is 21° Celsius and 50 % relative humidity to avoid condensation [27, 28]. ⁷ This is in accordance with ISO standard 18911:2010, according to which longevity testing has been done in earlier R&D projects. The automated storage system used in the piqlVaults is also compliant with these regulations. For the sake of continuity, it will also serve as the baseline storage conditions from which the scenarios are developed.

6 It should be noted that users who wish to store and preserve more sensitive, or in other ways particularly valuable information, understandably may not view a regular office building as providing sufficient safety and security. These users can instead place the piqlVault in a mountain repository. More on this is chapter 10.

7 More specifically, the stipulation is to maintain a temperature in the range of 4 – 21°C and a relative humidity in the range 20 – 50

%.

In coordination with Piql AS, it has been decided that all storage facilities evaluated in this assessment are fitted with a fully automated storage system, a modified version of Element Logic’s AutoStore® system. This system is used for the automatic handling and storing of piqlFilms in the piqlVault. ⁸ Within the space described above there is room for an AutoStore®

grid which holds 5.000 piqlBins, each containing four piqlBoxes stacked horizontally on top of each other. This puts the total at 20.000 piqlBoxes, or 2.240 terabyte (TB) worth of digital storage space.⁹

Figure 5.1 The size and layout of the piqlVault system. Source: Piql AS

The modified version of the AutoStore®, from now on referred to as the piqlVault system, and how this automated system operates, is described in the following. This includes what we alluded to in chapter 3, namely the control system of the piqlVault system, or the data input, the physical handling of the piqlBins, done by robots, and lastly the external structural

dependencies, such as power supply, and where in the system this is critical. The IT system security architecture is described further in the last section of this chapter.

8 According to Piql AS’s wishes, the report only assesses risks in a piqlVault with an automated storage system. It should be noted, however, that it is likely that some users would not wish to utilise this operating system, preferring instead a manual system for handling the piqlFilms.

9 The specifications on the storage capacity in the piqlVault for the purposes of this analysis was as part of an email correspondence with Katrine Thomsen, Project Manager at Piql AS, on 07.10.2015.

Figure 5.2 The operations of the piqlVault system. Source: Element Logic AS

The main structure of the piqlVault system is an aluminium grid which can be expanded upon demand. Within this grid, piqlBins are stacked on top of one another, a feature which adds additional stability to the otherwise quite sturdy structure. There is minimal electronic presence inside this grid. Most of the electronics are located at the top of the grid, where robots – in the case of the piqlVault system outlined above: two robots – zoom around. The robots run on batteries which last for about a day. Near one end of the grid, there are charging stations, where the robots can charge its batteries. Attached to the grid, there is a service mezzanine where the robots are offloaded for repairs. The robots require very little electricity, meaning that the risk of electrical fire, though present, is not as high as one would assume with a fully automated system. Neither is the amount of heat dissipation.¹⁰

Upon request, the robots pick up the correct piqlBins containing the piqlBoxes which were ordered and transport them to an operator port where a human operator can retrieve them. The movement of the robots is managed by a Controller, which must be situated onsite on the service mezzanine connected to the gird. The Controller sends commands to the robots through radio signals telling them which piqlBins to pick up and where to deliver them. The robot then lowers a lifting unit attached to it down into the grid to retrieve the indicated piqlBin, but the electronics involved in this process are minimal, so there is very little fire hazard. Piql AS has also made a backup plan for manually extracting the piqlBins in case of prolonged power failure [29]. After having retrieved the correct piqlBin, the robot delivers it to the correct operator port.

This is the second location in the system where there is a concentration of electronics, with sensors, ―normal‖ computers and barcode readers. A redundant energy supplier is not part of the standard outfit of the piqlVault, but this is possible to facilitate into the piqlVault system. There is, however, a backup generator which lasts for 24 hours.

10 See appendix C.1.

The Controller which sends the commands to the robots has no knowledge of which piqlBoxes are in which piqlBins, only where each piqlBin is located at any given time within the grid. It is the Element Logic Warehouse Management System (EWMS) which contains these details. The EWMS stores all information regarding the location of a specific piqlBox containing a specific piqlFilm, which is linked to a unique reel ID stored on a hard disk directly shared with the Piql IT system.