Data centre cable entry protection with WallMax®

The challenge

When expanding their data centre’s capacity, the project team faced a familiar but often underestimated challenge. How do you best seal multiple large cable entries effectively?

The facility required dozens of incoming ducts for high-voltage power supply cables, fibre optic bundles, and back-up system cabling. Unfortunately, each penetration represents a potential entry point for unwelcome ingress.

If left poorly sealed, for example, they could allow water ingress from the surrounding ground or internal plant rooms. In a data centre environment, even minor leaks present a major risk. Downtime, electrical faults, and fire spread could compromise millions of pounds of digital assets.

The client had previously trialled a variety of alternate sealing systems. While effective in the short term, those solutions had created several longer-term concerns:

• Difficult re-entry when adding or upgrading cables
• Inconsistent sealing quality across multiple installers
• Long curing times that delayed programme progress

With the facility’s business case built on uptime and resilience, the operator needed a sealing solution that combined watertight, gastight and fire-safe performance with flexibility for future upgrades.

The solution

FILOform worked closely with the contractor to specify and supply the WallMax mechanical sealing system. WallMax’s colour-coded, modular design can accommodate multiple cable sizes in one frame – all without complex preparation or confusion around cable widths.

Key advantages for the project included:

• Deskilled installation – Installers were able to secure seals quickly and consistently without needing specialised tools or training.
• Multi-cable capacity – The same system handled both large power cables and smaller bundles, ensuring neat and reliable duct entries across the entire facility.
• Scalable design – Future upgrades can now be completed by simply opening the frame, adding new cables, and resealing without demolition.
• Expert support – FILOform provided a site survey and product sizing guidance, ensuring the contracting team were confident in fitting the seals correctly and quickly.

The results

The installation of WallMax delivered measurable benefits for the data centre operator and its contractors:

• Time savings – Sealing work was completed within the day, enabling earlier commissioning of key systems.
• Reliability – The sealed entries achieved watertight, gastight and fire-safe performance, giving the operator confidence that critical assets were protected.
• Futureproofing – The re-enterable nature of WallMax meant the facility could expand or adapt cabling without costly rework
• Reduced risk – By eliminating pathways for water ingress, rodents, or fire spread, the system contributed to the data centre’s resilience against outages.