Sure it's Time to Upgrade your Data Center, but is your Plan Feasible?

So you've realized it's time to upgrade your data center and you're overflowing with "brilliant" ideas.  You've probably run out of space, power, and/or cooling and want to take advantage of newer technologies and operate more efficiently.  You've been googling every possible approach, but the daunting options are starting to overwhelm you.  So many choices.  So many trade-offs. You can't decide if you should focus on a short-term upgrades or invest and plan for the long haul.  And which approach is cheaper?  At this point, it's time to consult the experts at PTS to conduct a feasibility study to quantify the costs and benefits of your data center upgrade plans.

 

PTS will identify the risks and rewards associated with your project.  We will help you understand the requirements to design and build a new or upgraded data center, and clarify the ROI and impact of any proposed changes. Armed with the information included in a feasibility study, you will be fully prepared to approach your data center project with realistic expectations with a full understanding of the benefits of the chosen approach. And PTS can execute the plan to perfection, and will be with you every step of the way.

For more information, download a free copy of the PTS Brochure on:
Data Center Planning & Feasibility Consulting Services

PTS' Peter Sacco featured in CRN's 2015 Top 20 Data Center Designers and Builders

Regardless of the size of the data center, the right mix of IT, power and cooling equipment, and how that equipment is integrated into the facilities, is key to maximizing efficiency and providing the flexibility to expand as needed. Successful integration of equipment into data centers depends on finding the right companies with site preparation, design, construction and management expertise. Those organizations also need to be able to quickly turn the new facilities over to customers and help manage the transition. Such designers and builders are often the unsung heroes of the data center. But not in CRN, as noted in the CRN 2015 Top Data Center Designers and Builders list.

Visit PTS Websites Collection

E&Y Names PTS President a Finalist for the 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year Award

PTS Data Center Solutions is proud to announce it's President & CEO, Pete Sacco, has been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® 2013 Award in the New Jersey Region.

The awards program recognizes high-growth entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. These finalists were selected by a panel of independent judges. Award winners will be announced at a special gala event on Thursday, June 13, 2013 at the Hyatt New Brunswick.

Pete was surprised and excited to learn about being named a finalist for such a prestigious award. He's had the entrepreneurial bug for many years and has started or been a part of a founding team for five startups in the last 16 years.

PTS Press Release

Have You Made the Move to Wireless Monitoring?

PTS Data Center Solutions Consultants are finding most data center facilities operators don’t want to burden or use their expensive network infrastructure to address environmental & power monitoring solutions. We all know we can’t manage what we don’t measure, but often the resistance of facilities and IT wanting to work together to address the problem, prevents both groups from effectively monitoring environmental conditions on the network to optimize our Data Centers.

Wireless sensor solutions can not only eliminate the resistance we might get in trying to get network infrastructure allocated for environmental monitoring, but wireless sensors provide the ability to quickly deploy, scale the solution and the flexibility to move sensors around for testing or as we are deploying new equipment. The wireless environmental market is growing quickly and here are some of the solutions PTS has evaluated and implemented. Some solutions just provide the monitoring while others provide analytical analysis and/or control software. We are interested in hearing from others on their experiences and why wireless monitoring has or has not worked in your data center.

Aurora
Innovative patent-pending technology couples a series of 8 temperature sensors with an array of high intensity LEDs. This design provides the appearance of a “live” CFD by visually displaying a range of cool (blue) to hot (red) and a blend of 129 colors in between. The Aurora is the perfect self-policing, real-time troubleshooting tool to clearly identify potential cooling or heat-related issues in your racks. Aurora is extremely accurate because it measures air temperature, not surface temperature. The 3 User-Selectable Sensitivity Settings allow you to fine tune the monitored temperature range of the full 129-color spectrum. Because temperature is monitored over the entire height of the cabinet, Aurora is perfect for Aisle Containment and areas susceptible to temperature stratification. Optional Wireless Communication and Management Interface enables the temperature readings for all 8 sensors per strip to be captured for trending and alerting purposes.

Packet Power
Uses a Wireless mesh network to monitor inline power meters, temperature, humidity and air pressure that the management of complex facilities require. The data collected from these sensors can be managed in a Cloud portal called EMX, or you can run Power Manager from Packet Power or you can just use a gateway for SNMP Connectivity and Modbus TCP/IP Connectivity link the wireless monitoring devices to your existing data center monitoring software.

RF Code
Manufacturers RFID environmental tags, temperature, humidity, pressure and PDU tags that work with ServerTech, Geist, Raritan metered and switched PDU’s. They have RFID asset tags as well if you want to monitor where assets are even down to what U they are installed in your racks. Each 433.92MHz RFID reader can support up to 1,400 RFID tags and the reader can support communications to multiple wired or wireless networks to report the sensor information into various software packages or you can use Sensor Manager to collect information from all types of RF Code wire-free sensor tags. Sensor Manager organizes all sensor information according to sensor type as well as sensor location. All information collected by Sensor Manager can be viewed interactively in real-time via an easy to use web browser based console. All information can be accessed via customized table views as well as graphically via map views. All historical data can be easily organized into reports and graphs using the standard reporting and graphing capability as well as RF Code’s Advanced Reporting Module which utilizes the powerful open source BIRT reporting engine.

SynapSense
Uses a Wireless mesh network to monitor:

• Server inlet temperatures
• Delta T across CRAC units
• Humidity and calculate dew points
• Subfloor pressure differentials

SynapSense wireless environmental monitoring and Data Center Optimization Platform software provides real-time visibility to assess current data center operating conditions, including generating a temperature gradient to identify operational or energy efficiency opportunities, and quantify improvements.

Vigilent
Vigilent energy management systems are built upon a sophisticated, wireless mesh network using technology developed by Dust Networks®, the leader in industrial wireless networking. This implementation is designed for the most demanding industrial applications, in harsh environments where packet delivery is critical.
These wireless sensors are installed at CRAC/CRAH supply and return as well as rack inlets to determine the zone of influence and the impact as air handlers are cycled down or turned off to optimize the cooling to the demand of the IT footprint.

Wireless Sensors
The SensiNetRack Sentry is a wireless temperature monitoring device and component of the SensiNet wireless sensor network. It reports highly accurate, real-time ambient level temperature measurements, without wires, and is FCC and CE-approved for license free operation worldwide. The Rack Sentry utilizes a solid state sensor in a unique configuration for ultimate installation flexibility. Individual sensors are “daisy chained” using standard CAT5 patch cables. Up to three sensors are supported as standard and these sensors can be added and or reconfigured in the field. The system simply recognizes the attached sensors and reports temperature with virtually no user configuration.

The Rack Sentry utilizes highly accurate, MEMS solid state sensors and a replaceable “C” size battery provides years of reliable operation. The SensiNet Services data acquisition Gateway is a powerful appliance providing network management, user interface, data logging, trending, alarming and communications without any complicated software to install. A standard browser and network connection is all that’s required to access and configure the system. The GWAY-1022 also operates as stand-alone data logger with real time views, trending and e-mail alerts.

With the various choices and solutions described above, it may help to discuss your requirements with a Data Center Solutions professional from PTS.

PTS Exhibiting at 3rd Annual HITECH Symposium for Healthcare Related IT Solutions

PTS Data Center Solutions is exhibiting at the Third Annual Mid-Atlantic Crossing the Infrastructure & HITECH Meaningful Divide Symposium. 

The event is Entitled: “Patients, Care Givers, and Technology: Partners in Care" and will take place on March 21st and 22nd at the Radisson Valley Forge in Pennsylvania.

For those of you unfamiliar with HITECH, the HITECH Act was established with the primary goal of improving the population’s health and the quality and cost of healthcare. One particular focus area is in the ability to provide electronic medial records for patients to service providers anywhere in the world via proper, HIPAA-compliant, sharing of these records anywhere the patient may happen to be.

The symposium includes a series of seminars and presentations related to IT issues and problems experienced by IT professionals in the healthcare sector. In addition, there is an exhibit hall for vendors to present solutions targeting healthcare IT.

PTS has world class design, engineering, construction, and management staff across both facility and IT disciplines. This integrated data center facility and IT expertise affords PTS a unique vantage point for executing data center, computer room, and network operations center projects for both healtcare service providers and hospitals as well as many other market sectors. We can build, redesign, consolidate or relocate your computer room as well as provide many IT-related services and solutions:

• Routing & Switching
• Information / Network Security
• Servers & Systems
• Virtualization Technologies
• Data Protection & Storage
• Unified Communications
• Microsoft Exchange & Active Directory
• Application Development
• Software Development

Learn more about the HITECH Symposium or Register for the Event.

NJ Technology Council - Data Center Summit

PTS Data Center Solutions will be a conference sponsor for the 2012 New Jersey Technology Council Data Center Summit. Titled Working in the Clouds, the focus of the event is on the latest trends and innovative technologies driving the emergence of Next Generation Data Centers. There will be two panel discussions and PTS Data Center Solutions Founder & President, Pete Sacco, will be a panelist for the DCIM Challenges and Opportunities panel in the morning. This panel discussion will examine the world of Data Center Infrastructure Management as a catalyst to increase energy efficiency and control underlying data center operating costs.

The afternoon panel entitled Data Center Options - Deployment Challenges - Solutions brings IT leaders from different industries together to share their data center experiences from due diligence to deployment. Solutions providers will offer examples of client objectives and services provided. The goal of this panel is to help you sort through identifying your data storage needs and the options and solutions that can help you achieve maximum return. If you are battling an IT deployment or storage problem, PTS can help you through our IT Solutions Group. We have a team of engineering experts including network and systems architects, server and storage engineers, virtualization engineers, and other IT-focused technical staff.

Who should attend this event?

• C-level executives (CEO / CIO / COO / CFO / CTO)
• Data Center Facilities Managers and Engineers, IT and Infrastructure Managers, Data Center Managers
• Directors and Consultants, IT Directors, Infrastructure Directors, IT Consultants
• Business Analysts, Finance Directors & Managers

When: December 13, 2012, from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM

Where: Eisenhower Conference Center, Livingston, NJ 07039

Is Your Disaster Recovery Approach a Disaster?

• Are You Optimizing Your Data Backup Along with Your Disaster Recovery?
• Are You Wondering if there is a Better Approach To Business Continuity?
• Are You Looking for a Low-cost Alternative to Traditional Backup & Disaster Recovery Approaches?

PTS Data Center Solutions will be hosting a Lunch & Learn at the Chart House Restaurant in Weehawken, NJ. Please be our guest to learn about the better path to backup, recovery, and continuity.

Your IT team shouldn't have to worry about data disruption which leads to business interruption. Quorum solutions can solve your backup AND recovery pain and, more importantly, business continues as usual.

Quorum offers a One-Click Backup, Recovery, & Continuity Appliance. These affordable plug and play appliances can keep virtual copies of your critical servers (physical or virtual) ready-to-run for instant recovery on and off-site. Deploy in 1 hour, test every 15 minutes, and recover with a click of a button.

Hear about Quorum's hybrid cloud solution for backup and instant recovery of your servers from your very own private cloud. Ideal for clients with 3-100 physical or virtual servers, this is one Lunch & Learn you will be glad you attended!. Additionally, we will be raffling off a $100 Gift Card to those in attendance.

You are welcome to invite additional colleagues in technology with job responsibilities relevant to this topic. You can find additional information about Quorum and its solutions (datasheets, videos, case studies) by clicking here.

A Lunch & Learn seminar you must attend this year. You'll gain a clear understanding of today's next generation approach to Backup & Disaster Recovery.

• LOCATION: Chart House - Weehawken, NJ
• DATE: Wednesday, November 7th
• TIME: 11:30am - 1:30pm

Registration is Closed - call us at 201-337-3833 for more information

Energy efficiency Improvement Methods: PermaFrost NMR

As a Data Center Design & Build company with a focus on energy efficiency services and energy efficient solutions, PTS Data Center Solutions is always looking for the next great technology that improves data center efficiency. We think we've found a solution worth considering to improve the performance of your cooling systems.

Powertron Global™ offers PermaFrost NMR™ Refrigeration Solutions in synthetic and non-synthetic formulations. PermaFrost Nucleo Molecular Regenerative (NMR) technology was designed to improve the performance for any A/C, refrigeration system, or heat pump without modification or alterations. 

PermaFrost NMR has been deployed for clients to improve energy efficiency in a 16-ton Liebert Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) unit supporting mission critical data center operations.

For one such deployment, the improved/restored efficiency attributable to PermaFrost NMR was substantial. Overall efficiency improved by 13.5% and the EER improved by 20.4%. There was an increase in coil capacity of 25,920 in Btuh which equates to gaining more than 2-tons of capacity or 15.7%. There is also an improvement of 2.1 degrees F in Delta T (difference between supply and return air) and an overall reduction in kWh and Watts per ton of 16.9%.

For data center use, PermaFrost NMR is available for Direct Exchange (DX) and Chiller units. Contact PTS to learn more.

DCIM Made Simple 

Last week's Triple Play Lunch & Learn was a resounding success. Feedback from attendees was extremely positive as presentings from PTS Data Center Solutions, RF Code,  Rackwise, and No Limits Software providers viewers with a variety of thought provoking approaches to improve management of their data center systems.

As an added bonus, attendees were able to take advantage of 3 "signing bonuses" offered by the vendors to add to or upgrade their current DCIM solutions. If you were unable to attend but would like to learn more about the signing bonuses and DCIM solutions, please contact us. And remember, consider our leading DCIM tools to:

• Know where your assets are in the facility and in their lifecycle
• Discover how your assets are performing 
• Use discovered and trended data to plan and optimize your data center with tools you are already familiar with

Puzzling Over Effective Computer and Server Room Design

Creating an effective computer or 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 and effectively as possible, you need to assess the puzzle’s pieces, make a game plan, and then begin work in a systematic manner.

When creating a server room design, not only do you need to take stock of all the elements of the server room, you also need to consider the way those components work together. It’s rare that you get a server room design right on the first try – throughout the design process, you’ll need to adjust for different design elements to make sure the systems work harmoniously.

To make sure your team has all its pieces in place, begin by meeting with your IT and facility staff to review your server room objectives based on your existing systems and facility. With your company’s design goals in mind, your team can evaluate the availability expectations as well as the requirements for your server room’s power and cooling density. The Planning & Feasibility stage defines the scope, schedule and budget for the new server or computer room. You can develop a conceptual server room design and draw up construction budgets and timelines.

With feasibility accomplished and a high level plan in place you are ready to move to the Engineering & Design phase. The end result of your design project should be a server room that not only provides enhanced scalability, flexibility and server availability, but also concurrent maintainability and fault-tolerance against failures in which a component must be replaced.

To evaluate the quality of your server room design, consider the following points:

1. The server room should accommodate your current needs, as well as your facility’s expansion for up to five years in the future. If it doesn’t, you may need to go back to the drawing board.
2. Your location should be centralized and in a secure location. Try to avoid placing the server room near in the basement, on the ground floor, near bathrooms, and near the roof or exterior walls because of flooding and climate control issues. Also, avoid high traffic areas in order to improve the security of your server room.
3. When evaluating your server room’s power and cooling requirements, don’t stop with just the servers or the air conditioning system. Consider the impact of air flow, floor space, lighting, UPS, fans, and other hardware. Each of these elements affects your design’s power and cooling loads. You may have to revisit your plans multiple times to create an efficient server room design.
4. Take security seriously. Control access to your server room via auditable methods and consider installing security cameras.

The true test of an effective server room is whether your design will allow for future expansion while remaining reliable and cost-effective in the present time. Through careful planning, you can design a sophisticated, successful server room that meet your company’s demands for years to come.

Emerson Network Power Welcomes Partners into Trellis Pilot Program

Emerson Network Power today welcomed PTS Data Center Solutions and 10 additional channel partners into its Trellis™ Pilot Partner Program. The program is designed to enable this select group of Emerson Network Power partners to effectively and successfully support the Trellis data center infrastructure management (DCIM) platform. 

The Trellis platform is a real-time infrastructure optimization platform that enables the unified management of the data center’s IT and facilities infrastructure, allowing for unprecedented insight and action to achieve optimal data center performance. To help ensure success of the go-to-market strategy for this platform, participants in the pilot program were selected from the Emerson Network Power Innovation Partnership Program based on an intensive screening and interview process that identified channel partners with the strongest data center strategies and activities in place, experience selling complex software and solutions, and commitment to the vision and growth of DCIM.

“We appreciate that Emerson Network Power saw the potential in PTS Data Center Solutions to consider us as a pilot partner for the Trellis launch,” said Pete Sacco, president of PTS Data Center Solutions. “To PTS, it was critical that Emerson Network Power saw the importance and invested in preparing us to take the industry’s most advanced and comprehensive DCIM technology to our clients." 

Read the complete press release.

Learn more about the Trellis Pilot Partner Program.

Learn more about Trellis.

Data Center Management Gotchas

As the complexity of IT infrastructure continues to increase in data centers, managers must look ahead to avoid unexpected downtime. A list of 10 common surprises for data center/IT managers was released by PTS supplier, Emerson Network Power, at AFCOM Data Center World Spring 2012.

According to a Ponemon Institute study, an outage can cost an organization
an average of about $5,000 per minute. That’s $300,000 in just an hour.

The 10 common surprises include:

1. Those high-density predictions finally are coming true
2. Data center managers will replace servers three times before they replace UPS or cooling systems
3. Downtime is expensive
4. Water and the data center do not mix – but we keep trying
5. New servers use more power than old servers
6. Monitoring is a mess
7. The IT guy is in charge of the building’s HVAC system
8. That patchwork data center needs to be a quilt
9. Data center on demand is a reality
10. IT loads vary – a lot

For complete details on the Emerson list, click here.
As a Diamond Solutions Partner for Emerson, PTS Data Center Solutions leverages our engineering and architectural experience in designing and building data centers with our IT network, storage, virtualization expertise to avoid the surprises mentioned in the article before they result in significant downtime. To learn more contact PTS today.

An Industry Look at Locking IEC Power Connections

Not sure if any of you have experienced outages caused by loose fitting IEC power connections, but there is a big push in the industry to address the major problem of IEC plugs coming loose on equipment & power strips due to vibrations or inadvertent disconnects caused during rack equipment moves, adds and changes. Here are six (6) solutions we have found to address this issue:

1) IEC Lock. This solution is universal on the equipment side and addresses the problem by having a button that slides to engage a pin that drops down on the ground plug. This is now UL approved.
2) IEC C14 Grip Secure Insert. This solution is not UL approved, and only addresses the PDU side, but it is very inexpensive.
3) APC / V-Lock by Schurter. The solution works well, but the APC PDU must be 8000 series and the equipment outlets must be changed out to also secure the IEC receptacle on the equipment side.

4) Raritan ETO Outlets. Some Raritan PDU’s are available with this option, designated by an –E2 on their parts list. It appears to work the same as IEC Lock, but they do not address the equipment side only the PDU side.

5) Server Technology Retention Clips. Server Technology provides retention clips that clip into their power strips only and clip around the head of the IEC power cord. This solution only addresses the PDU connection and works well with ServerTech power cords. It does not work with all IEC power cords as there are variances in the size of the IEC C14 heads and input cords.

6) HP PDU Notches and Bands. HP now has notches on their PDU's and they provide bands to secure the IEC power cords to the PDU. This only addresses the PDU side of the problem.

Would like to hear about your experiences and what your organization is doing to address this issue. See this link for more information on the solutions we have found.

Guaranteeing IEC Secure Power Connections

There is a big push in the data center industry to address the major problem of Independent Electrical Contractor (IEC) plugs coming loose on equipment & power strips.

Have you been experiencing this issue due to appliance vibration or accidental disconnects when maintenance and cabling work is performed in your racks?

If so, PTS recommends and distributes five different IEC Secure Power Connections to meet the needs of data center operators. To learn more click here.

UPS Configuration Availability Rankings

Peter Sacco, President & Founder, PTS Data Center Solutions, recently wrote a new white paper on UPS Configuration Availability Rankings.

Reliance on technology has elevated data center availability from a lofty goal to an absolute necessity. As such, the configuration of the UPS system is vitally important in achieving high-availability with respect to the power side of the universe. This paper explores a number of different UPS configurations, how they contribute to availability, and who manufactures them.

Pete's conclusion is that UPS configurations depend upon a number of factors including: level of availability required/desired (i.e. Tier class), IT load requirements, power input, and budget. Understanding these factors and their impact on UPS configuration and design will result in a suitable UPS purchase to meet user and IT load requirements.

For the complete white paper, please visit the PTS Media Library (log-in required) or contact us to receive a complimentary PDF.

CleanZone Premier Contamination Control Zone Solution

Typically PTS focuses on high tech design considerations and solutions for your data center, computer room, server room, or network operations center. However, we are extremely impressed with the performance of the CleanZone Premier solution from UK Company, Dycem.

The product is designed to attract, collect, and retain contaminating particles which collect on your shoes before you enter the mission critical room.

To learn more about how Dycem products work, check out the PTS Data Center Design Channel Dycem video, click here or contact PTS.

Are the Uptime Institute's Data Center Rating Tiers Out of Date?

Let me start by saying I have the utmost respect for the Uptime Institute’s Pitt Turner, P.E., John Seader, P.E., and Ken Brill and the work they have done furthering the cause of providing some standards to an otherwise standard-less subject like data center design. However, as a data center designer I feel their definitive work, Tier Classifications Define Site Infrastructure Performance, has passed its prime.

The Institute’s systems have been in use since 1995, which is positively ancient in the world of IT.

In its latest revision, the Uptime Institute’s Tier Performance Standards morphed from a tool for IT and corporate decision makers to consider the differences between different data center investments into a case study for consulting services pushing for certification against their standard.

While the data their standard is based upon has been culled from real client experiences, the analysis of the data has been interpreted by only one expert company, ComputerSite Engineering which works in close collaboration with the Uptime Institute. Surely, the standard could be vastly improved with the outside opinion and influence of many of the, just as expert, data center design firms that exist.

Case in point, the Uptime Institute has repeatedly defended the notion that there is no such thing as a partial tier conforming site (Tier 1+, almost Tier III, etc.). They argue that the rating is definitive and to say such things is a misuse of the rating guide. While I understand the argument that a site is only as good as its weakest link, to say that a site incorporating most, but not all of the elements of the tier definition is mathematically and experientially wrong.

PTS’ actual experiences bear this out. Our clients that have all the elements of a Tier II site, except for the second generator, are clearly better than those with no UPS and/or air conditioning redundancy (Tier I). Therefore, if not for Tier I+, how do they suggest to account for the vast realization between the real availability of the two sites?

It is interesting that most data center consulting, design, and engineering companies nationwide utilize elements of the white paper as a communications bridge to the non-facility engineering community, but not as part of their design process. In fact, most have developed and utilize their own internal rating guides.

While I will continue to utilize their indisputable expertise as a part of my own interpretation in directing PTS’ clients with their data center investment decisions, I suggest that clients would be wise not put all of their eggs in the Institute’s basket at this point in time.

What is your outlook on the Uptime Institute’s Tier Performance Standards? Is the four-tier perspective outdated or is it still a meaningful industry standard?

Data Center Cooling: Approaches to Avoid

Data center cooling problems can compromise availability and increase costs. The ideal data center cooling system requires an adaptable, highly-available, maintainable, manageable, and cost effective design.

When working to design an effective data center cooling system, there are a number of commonly deployed data center cooling techniques that should not be implemented. They are:

• Reducing the CRAC supply air temperature to compensate for hot spots
• Using cabinet and/or enclosures with either roof-mounted fans and/or under-cabinet floor cut-outs, without internal baffles
  
• Isolating high-density RLUs

Reducing CRAC Temperatures

Simply making the air colder will not solve a data center cooling problem. The root of the problem is either a lack of cold air volume to the equipment inlet or it is lack of sufficient hot return air removal from the outlet of the equipment. All things equal, any piece of equipment with internal fans will cool it self. Typically, equipment manufactures do not even specify an inlet temperature. They usually provide only a percentage of clear space the front and rear of the equipment must be maintained to ensure adequate convection.

Roof-mounted cabinet fans

CFD analysis conclusively proves that roof-mounted fans and under-cabinet air cut-outs will not sufficiently cool a cabinet unless air baffles are utilized to isolate the cold air and hot air sections. Without baffles, roof-mounted fan will draw not only the desired hot air in the rear, but also a volume of cold air from the front prior to being drawn in by the IT load. This serves only to cool the volume of hot air which we have previously established as a bad strategy. Similarly, providing a cut-out in the access floor directly beneath the cabinet will provide cold air to the inlet of the IT loads, however, it will also leak air into the hot aisle. Again, this only serves to cool the hot air.

Isolating high-density equipment

While isolating high-density equipment isn’t always a bad idea, special considerations must be made. Isolating the hot air is in fact, a good idea. However, the problem is in achieving a sufficient volume of cold air from the raised floor. Even then, assuming enough perforated floor tiles are dedicated to provide a sufficient air volume, too much of the hot air re-circulates from the back of the equipment to the front air inlet and combines with the cold air.

For more information on data center cooling, please download my newest White Paper, Data Center Cooling Best Practices, at http://www.ptsdcs.com/white_papers.asp. You can also view additional publications such as the following at our Vendor White Papers page:

• Avoidable Mistakes that Compromise Cooling Performance in Data Centers and Network Rooms
  
• Essential Cooling System Requirements for Next Generation Data Centers
  
• Explanation of Cooling and Air Conditioning Terminology for IT Professionals
  
• The Different Types of Air Conditioning Equipment for IT Environments
  
• Calculating Total Cooling Requirements for Data Centers
  
• Cooling Audit for Identifying Potential Cooling Problems in Data Centers