Operations & Maintenance

Run Like a
Hyperscale Data Center.

Every vault is monitored 24/7 from a central operations center, serviced on a defined interval, and backed by a managed lifecycle program — so building staff never have to think about it.

Ownership Model

You Own the Asset.
We Run It.

The building or development owns the physical vault, the compute hardware, and the thermal infrastructure as permanent capital assets — same as a boiler plant or rooftop chiller would be.

NSV provides design, installation, commissioning, and ongoing operations and maintenance under a long-term service agreement. Building staff are not responsible for the vault interior, the compute hardware, or the thermal loop.

Owner Responsibility

The Civil Asset

Vault structure, surface mechanical room, thermal distribution piping inside the building, and the building-side BMS integration.

NSV Responsibility

Everything Inside the Vault

Compute hardware, immersion fluid, BESS, network equipment, Vault AI platform, monitoring, fluid sampling, hardware refresh, security patching, and 24/7 NOC coverage.

Service Schedule

A Predictable Maintenance Cadence

No surprises. Every interval is defined up front and scheduled around building operations.

Continuous

24/7 Remote Monitoring

Fluid temperature, dielectric integrity, GPU utilization, network health, BESS state-of-charge, and security telemetry are streamed to the NOC continuously. Anomalies trigger automated response and operator escalation.

Quarterly

On-Site Inspection

Surface mechanical room walkthrough, pump and valve inspection, thermal loop pressure check, BESS containment inspection, and visual fluid sampling. No vault entry typically required.

Annual

Fluid Sampling & Calibration

Dielectric fluid is sampled and lab-analyzed for moisture content, dielectric strength, and contamination. Sensors are calibrated, firmware is updated, and BESS capacity testing is performed.

4–6 Years

Compute Hardware Refresh

GPU blades are refreshed on a 4–6 year cadence to keep the vault on a current performance generation. Refresh is scheduled with the building owner and runs without disrupting amenity operation.

7–10 Years

Dielectric Fluid Refresh

Fluid is refreshed only when annual sampling indicates degradation — typically every 7–10 years. Spent fluid is recovered and recycled by the manufacturer under a closed loop.

10–15 Years

BESS Replacement

Battery modules are replaced when their tested capacity falls below threshold — typically a 10–15 year service life. Modules are returned to the manufacturer for recycling.

Failure Modes

What Happens When Something Breaks

Every component has a defined failure mode and a defined response. Nothing is improvised.

Network

Fiber Uplink Fails

Sub-second automatic failover to the Starlink secondary uplink. Vault AI continues to operate fully because all inference is local. The NOC is alerted and dispatches a fiber repair.

Power

Grid Outage

The BESS automatically islands the property and powers Safe Harbor loads — life safety, lighting, refrigeration, network, and refuge spaces — for at least 72 hours. Resident amenities continue running on stored thermal mass.

Thermal

Heat Demand Exceeds Supply

In peak winter conditions, residential and commercial loads are prioritized; if amenity heating demand briefly exceeds vault output, the buffer tank smooths the gap, and electric resistance backup engages only as last resort.

Compute

GPU Node Fault

Workloads are migrated to healthy nodes automatically. The faulted blade is hot-isolated and replaced at the next on-site service window. Vault AI service is uninterrupted.

Fluid

Dielectric Anomaly

Continuous sensors monitor fluid level, temperature, and dielectric strength. An anomaly triggers controlled shutdown of affected racks, secondary containment activation, and immediate NOC dispatch. The thermal loop continues running on remaining capacity.

Building

Mechanical Loop Fault

Loop pressure and flow are continuously monitored. Pump or valve failures trigger automated isolation and switchover to redundant pumps. Building heat is maintained throughout.

End of Life

Decommissioning,
by the Book.

If a vault is ever decommissioned, the dielectric fluid is recovered and recycled by the manufacturer, servers and batteries are returned to certified e-waste recyclers, and the concrete vessel can be either repurposed (storage, civil utility, thermal energy storage) or fully removed with site restoration.

There is no environmental remediation required because there are no buried fuels, no soil-contacting fluids, and no combustion residues to recover. The full chain-of-custody is documented for the building owner.

Step 01

Workload Migration

Active tenants and Vault AI services are migrated or wound down on a notice period defined in the service agreement.

Step 02

Hardware Recovery

Compute, network, and BESS equipment are crated and returned to certified recyclers. Dielectric fluid is drained into sealed containers for manufacturer recovery.

Step 03

Vessel Disposition

The concrete vessel is sealed, capped, and either repurposed for storage/utility/thermal use, or removed and the site restored to grade.

Want the Full Service Agreement?

SLAs, warranty terms, response times, and escalation procedures — we'll send the full operations agreement template for your review.

Request the Service Agreement