New Year’s Resolutions for Data Center Solutions

Happy holidays, everyone!Each year, millions of people form New Year’s Resolutions in the hopes of making a change for the better. I encourage data center managers and other IT professionals to use this annual tradition as an opportunity to reflect on the data center solutions you want – or need – to adopt in order to keep your data center in top condition. Here are a few ideas to get you started:1....

Puzzling Over Effective Server Room Design

Creating an effective server room design is a bit like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. Unless you’re a glutton for punishment (which, I admit, some of us probably are), you wouldn’t get started on a puzzle without making sure you had all the right pieces or without looking at the picture on the box to see how the finished puzzle is supposed to look. In order to get the project done as efficiently...

Data Center Construction Made Easier

Based on first-hand experience, I can tell you that there’s plenty of stress involved and detail required in even a minor data center construction project. Compound this with a 24x7 availability requirement, and the quantity and complexity of systems required in today’s mission critical facilities and what you have is today’s typical data center construction project.Data center construction project...

Eco-Friendly Solutions: Build a Green Data Center

Recycled goods, alternative power sources and energy-saving technology are becoming commonplace in many homes and businesses. It’s a sign of the times as energy costs continue to climb and public concern over environmental issues grows. Data centers are not immune to this eco-friendly trend and, in fact, are reaping great benefits from going green.For companies looking to build a data center, the...

The Pros and Cons of Data Center Colocation

Data center colocation plays a strategic role in modern IT operations. For many companies, it presents an attractive alternative to building and maintaining a sizeable data center. Housing servers and network equipment off-site does offer companies a number of benefits, but the picture isn’t as simple as black and white. Before you commit to colocation, here are a few things to consider: Data center...

Datacenter Solution: Server Virtualization

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Does this folksy wisdom hold true when it comes to server virtualization? Virtualization is an increasingly popular datacenter solution that divides the resources of your physical server into multiple isolated virtual environments. Instead of maintaining one application per physical server, virtualization enables dominant workloads...

Tips for Handling Your Data Center Relocation

Nobody ever said data center relocation was easy. Although moving mission critical computer and communications equipment from one site to another is no simple task, it needn’t be an overwhelming one. With careful planning, any company can organize its people, manage the communications, implement a sophisticated design for the new site and move its data center equipment with confidence and ease.Months...

DC-power Sparks Interest among Data Center Designers

Rising data center power and cooling costs have renewed industry interest in DC-power, but is DC really a cure-all or just more snake oil?Up until this point, DC-power hasn’t been very attractive for a number of reasons. The large amount of copper wiring required for DC-power distribution is expensive and takes up valuable space in the data center. DC-engineered facilities are also more complicated...

Data Centers vs. Computer Rooms: What’s the Difference?

The differences between data center and computer room design don’t amount to a hill of beans for most people. The terms are often used interchangeably, but using them correctly makes a big difference if you’re trying to communicate with a data center design firm or an IT expert. If you want to sound like a pro, it’s important to know what sets data centers and computer rooms apart. Data centers are...

Dark Data Centers: Dream or Reality?

I was just contacted by Processor.com for my thoughts on this topic and thought it might be useful to share some information about it with you all here.If data center operators had only one wish, it would be this: build me a dark data center.Many of the daily problems that affect data centers have less to do with the design of a facility and more to do with variables introduced by human involvement....

Data Centers Go to Washington

Data center power and cooling issues are creating quite a buzz on Capitol Hill.In recent years, the power and cooling costs of the average data center have gone through the roof. Data centers rack up more than $3-billion in energy costs each year. That number is expected to rise dramatically within the next decade as more data centers are built. Adding to the energy drain are factors such as inefficient...

Data Center Solutions to Beat the Summer Heat

This summer, data center managers are sweating – and it’s not just because of the heat. As temperatures hit record highs this year, the increased demands placed on US energy grids have lead to brownouts and occasional blackouts. Between the soaring temperatures and the power outages, data center cooling systems and backup generators are getting a real work-out.The situation isn’t likely to improve...

Raised Floors - Still Relevant?

With the widespread use of serves installed in racks instead of legacy mainframe configurations, the use of ethernet cable in cable trays located above server racks instead of legacy wiring types beetween mainframe boxes, and finally the use of in-line cooling equipment and/or overhead cooling with ducted returns for cold aisle/hot aisle configurations, is the installation of an access floor a wise...

Data Center Planning is Critical to a Successful Project

Network downtime means lost revenue – and lost jobsImagine a scenario where you are coming under fire because your data center project is over budget and months late. Even worse, your management team pushed you to accept the architect’s idea of your computer room that today won’t even deliver the most basic needs - enough space, adequate security & fire protection, ample power, and sufficient...

Pete Sacco

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Data Center Design Blog Launch

Welcome,The purpose of this blog is to promote an open exchnage of ideas relating to the planning, design, engineering, and construction of data centers & computer rooms.More specifically, the intent is to discuss the design trends and industry standards relating to the support infrastructure technologies present in all mission critical environments including power, cooling, structured cabling,...