Creative Engineering Attacks Computer Housing Challenges

Most people have been attacked at one time or another by a computer virus. Attacks come in all shapes and sizes and can inflict varying amounts of damage. One of the most destructive and fastest-growing types is known as distributed denial of services, or DDoS. DDoS attacks work by maliciously bombarding a web site with so much traffic that it shuts down. The world’s busiest e-commerce sites and government systems have been affected, and millions of dollars have been lost as a result. DDoS attacks are even thought to be used by Al-Qaeda in cyber terrorist attacks.

One company is leading the way in effectively detecting and preventing these attacks. RioRey provides network protection by successfully identifying and filtering DDoS attacks while forwarding legitimate traffic through the network. In their most recent evolution of DDoS protection systems, RioRey created one specifically for data centers that must maintain complex mission-critical applications.

With their proprietary technology in place, RioRey needed to find mechanical engineering talent to design the housing for their new system before they could go to market. RioRey President and Chief Executive Officer Kwok Li talked to several local engineering firms, but ended up turning to Creative Engineering.

“We called firms in our area, but none of them could do it. They weren’t willing to take on the risk of coming up with a design,” Li says. “I found Creative Engineering online, met with them and they got it. We connected right away and I hired them.”

Creative Engineering was tasked with creating the housing that contains the electrical components of the RX Platform. Since the system would be used in data centers, the first requirement was that it fit inside a standard server rack. The second, and equally important requirement, was that it didn’t look like everyone else’s – RioRey wanted it branded, to stand out in a rack among dozens of other systems. And of course, the housing had to hold all the internal pieces securely in place with no moving parts – the power supplies, fans, and Ethernets.

The housing would be protecting a system that protects entire companies and institutions, so it was crucial that every aspect of the design was intended to keep the system safe and running at all costs.

Creative Engineering Senior Design Engineer Norm Barrigas who led the project said:

“Normally, if you have to replace the power supply, you can be down for 45 minutes. That leaves the client open for attack. So RioRey wanted us to use dual replaceable power supplies, and they wanted them to be able to be replaced without opening the case, for security reasons. This way, if the first power supply goes dead, the LED light is turned on, and the second kicks into gear – with no downtime.”

In addition to two power supplies, RioRey wanted three fans that could be replaced from the outside – without the client having to open the case to replace them. Creative Engineering also had to design the housing to pass electromagnetic interference (EMI) standards, so the electromagnetic waves wouldn’t escape and affect other electronics.

“After talking with Kwok, we came up with several designs based on the requirements,” says Barrigas. “I used online applications to show him the 3D designs I created in Pro/ENGINEER, and we spoke almost every day to keep us moving forward and on schedule.”

The project was completed in just eight months. Using the system requires no special training, and can be set up in less than an hour.

“Everyone loves the box. They say ‘wow,’ it looks like a tank… secure,” says Li. “They also comment on how good it looks on the rack. It’s different from all other equipment, which is great for our brand. Customers take out their phones, take photos and send them to me, telling me how happy they are with it.”

RX Platform Components
The RX Platform is made up of the following parts:

Polycarbonate blend:

• Front cover

• Fan enclosures

Steel:

• All outer covers

• Fiber optic cover cage

• Mounting brackets, internal and external

The RX Platform is hugely successful, with systems sold to clients on almost every continent. You can find more information about RioRey’s DDoS products at http://www.riorey.com.

Comments From our Client
“Would I recommend Norm and Creative Engineering? Absolutely!”

Li tells prospective clients they can expect the following if they choose Creative Engineering:

• They get your language: “They are smart people who understand what you want. You tell them once and they get it.”

• Competent mechanical engineering: “They do things right.”

• Creativity: “They truly are what their name says. They were able to marry the creative with the mechanical engineering to create a secure product that is differentiated.”