Data Center Guide To Efficiency

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 20:16:42 +0000

Data centers use up to 50 times as much energy as the equivalent office space. This high energy usage is spread over computer loads, HVAC chillers, HVAC air handlers, UPS losses, lighting, humidifiers and other equipment. With such heavy energy usage, your data center should be a prime focus for significant savings through efficient designs and usage improvements.

Data center management is a balance between power, cooling and space. Poor cooling practices can lead to unnecessary capital investments as well as limit the amount of computing resources supported in your data center. Even small data centers can benefit from applying simple, best practices such as air segregation.

Poor air segregation practices can max out HVAC equipment at 50% of their plate rated capacity.

Using the space above and below the equipment to segregate air flow, data center managers can reduce the load on their HVAC equipment and lower costs.

Utilizing a hot and cold aisle configuration further reduces air mixing ensuring the return of higher temperature air to the HVAC air handlers and significantly extending economization hours. Increasing economizer usage improves equipment reliability and in mild climates can provide compressor free cooling.

In addition to hot aisle/cold aisle configurations, a rack by rack evaluation should be performed. Look for lightly loaded racks without blanking panels, floor tile leakage, and air flow obstructions which could represent wasted cooling and lost capacity.

With such high energy consumption and the ability to apply simple changes which offer significant saving opportunities, data centers should be a prime focus for efficient designs and usage improvements. Combined with an airside economizer, air management can reduce data center cooling costs by over 60%.

To find out how Metagyre has reduced costs for clients and improved operations contact us today. More detailed information on data center efficiency is available from PG&E “High Performance Data Centers“.

Data Center Design: Keep It Covered, Bundled And Out Of Sight

admin — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:01:39 +0000

You only relocate a data center once (hopefully), but you manage it day after day. A big part of making your data center more manageable, dressing in all the cables and fiber. This means keeping everything covered, bundled and out of sight:

a) Cabinets have doors and sidewalls.
b) Copper cables are patched within the cabinets using the provided cable management.
c) Cables follow standard paths and do not cut across cabinets.
d) Fiber and copper cables are kept in separate trays.
e) Blanking panels will be used.

Dressing in the miles of cable and fiber required to connect all the data center equipment is an art form. With a little practice you will learn how to comb through the cables to ensure they are aligned and bundled so they stay out of the way and allow access to the hardware they connect.

A large part of a well dressed facility is having a solidly designed standardized cabinet layout along with a good structure cable design and power plan. Obviously each category of equipment will require its own layout and each should be considered and planned before any equipment or cable is ever brought into the data center.

All your designs will be a compromise between capacity, initial cost, and management. Since a majority of a data center’s TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) results from the ongoing management and maintenance, spend the time up front and perform the necessary work to keep everything covered, bundled and out of site. You will see the savings over the life of your data center.

Data Center Solutions » Data Center Design Info

Data Center Guide To Efficiency

Data Center Design: Keep It Covered, Bundled And Out Of Sight