Cross-Connect Blog

Survey Yields Top Six Issues Facing Data Center Operators Today: Parts Three and Four - Selecting the Right Technologies and Keeping up with Design

November 11, 2011

Data Center KnowledgeA few weeks back, we began sharing with you a series of articles chronicling the ways in which Chatsworth Products, Inc. (CPI) addresses the top concerns of data center managers today. As documented by the IT blog Data Center Knowledge in their 2011 Data Center Market Insight Report, we've so far covered the issues of running out of space and power, and we now continue our coverage with the fourth and third-most important data center issues today: selecting the right technologies and keeping up with design.

Issue #4: Selecting the Right Technologies

When building a new data center or updating an existing space, today's data center manager is faced with a multitude of options, especially when it comes to successfully cooling the data center. In this area alone, applicable technologies range from space-hogging CRAC and CRAH units, in-row air conditioners and highly complex liquid cooling solutions. Though if you're like us, and immediately start waving the red flag at space-hogging and highly complex, there's a far simpler, far less costly and much more effective method of thermal management: passive cooling.

CPI Vertical Exhaust DuctBy isolating and re-routing the hot exhaust air generated by a data center's heavy volume of equipment, CPI Passive Cooling® handles small applications with heat loads of 2kW per cabinet to high density heat loads pushing 30kW and beyond.

This isolation is so effective in fact that it can be applied at the cabling level (sealing any and all cable openings), cabinet level (Vertical Exhaust Ducts to rout hot air - seen above at right) and the aisle level (both hot and cold containment in a pod-like environment, also for both access floor and slab floor environments). Refer to our brand new Data Center Solutions brochure for complete details on each.

Issue #3: Keeping up with Design

In response to keeping up with data center design, it's important to note that not all data centers are created equal. While large-scale enterprises can afford to roll the dice on non-traditional design schemes (Yahoo's "chicken coop" comes to mind), there are just as many of you out there (okay, more!) who are simply looking to keep up with the Joneses (or in this case, the Facebook's and Google's of the world) on a much smaller, more traditional scale.

To ensure the most up-to-date and necessary design schemes are being used to maximize efficiency, CPI offers dedicated consultation (including preliminary site visits), state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis to simulate cooling trends, and a wide variety of free, online Design Tools and Downloads, including CAD Blocks, Visio Shapes and 3D BIM Drawings to make your design selection process as informed as possible.  

Ultimately, selecting the right technology is in itself an effective method for keeping up with design in the data center. And while newer doesn't always mean better, you can rest assured that CPI's constantly monitoring new trends and techniques to best serve your data center needs. Jeff Cihocki, eContent Specialist 
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