ASHRAE Journal - March 2013 - 74

DATA CENTERS
From Wire to Internet

Why Datacom?
By Donald L. Beaty, P.E., Fellow ASHRAE

T

he term “datacom” is a reflection of the convergence between two
previously disparate industries (data center and telecommunications).

This column provides valuable insight into the catalyst for the convergence
(the Internet) and the emergence of ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.9 as
the primary information vehicle for the converged industries.
The telecommunications industry dates
back more than 100 years. For most of that
history it consisted of ﬁxed, wired networks (or central ofﬁces) used solely for
making phone calls between individuals.
Computers emerged as mainframes in
the 1940s and 50s and were used primarily to perform advanced computations
and for storage of electronic information.
At that time, there was very little communication to or from those computers.
It wasn’t until the 1970s that personal
computers and commercialized networking equipment, such as servers, emerged.
The IEEE published a paper in 1974,
“A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication,” which became the
basis for packet switching and formed
the foundation of the Internet protocol,
Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
The introduction of TCP/IP and the
Internet created an explosion of growth in
the late 80s and 90s. This growth set the
stage for the dot-com boom, which roughly
spanned 1997 to 2000. It was also called the
dot-com bubble, the Internet bubble and
information technology bubble. Regardless
of its title or its deﬁnition, it represented a
period of time where there was unsustainable rapid growth in the Internet sector.
The Internet interconnects computers,
servers, routers, switches, and billions of
people worldwide. Since the Internet is a
worldwide communication system, tele74

ASHRAE Journal

communication companies are actively
involved and are critical to the success of
the Internet. This column provides some
context for answering “why datacom?”

Internet’s Impact on the IT Industry
Change can be difﬁcult, but it can also
be an opportunity. Disruptive change
simply ampliﬁes its impact. The TCP/
IP protocol has represented a disruptive
change to the telecommunication industry. It has changed the protocols used for
telecommunications, whether wireless
or wireline and it even introduced a new
version called Voice over IP or VoIP. This
has translated into changes to the telecom
equipment and its overall infrastructure.
The Internet has also been a disruptive
change for the Information Technology
(IT) computer industry. There was an
explosion of applications to meet the
ever-increasing needs and demands of
an Internet enabled society in its infancy.
Although client server configurations
existed for many years, disruptive change
emerged with the creation of an entirely
different market called “volume servers” or
commodity servers. The high volume drove
down the price, which created more demand.
This theme developed into a disruptive trend
for industry demand for servers that were
faster and cheaper, with better compute/
storage capabilities than ever before.
In meeting these needs, server power
was rising at a rate that could easily catch
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the wider data center industry off guard.
As a result, the top thermal engineers
from 15 major IT equipment manufacturers started the “Thermal Management
Consortium” in the late 1990s. Their
efforts resulted in publishing a trend
chart for projecting future power density
growth for servers and other equipment.
They recognized they needed a much
broader base to publish critical information so that buyers of the equipment
would have vendor neutral guidance.

ASHRAE TC 9.9 Beginnings
Based on this, ASHRAE Technical
Committee (TC) 9.9 was formed. The
original members of TC 9.9 included all
members of the Thermal Management
Consortium who elected to stop their
independent activity. The creation of an
ASHRAE Technical Committee (TC)
begins with the formation of a Technical
Group. Therefore, the Thermal Management Consortium started out as being
members of a Technical Group called TG
HDEC (High Density Electronic Cooling).
ASHRAE recognized the group as
a full technical committee and it was
named TC 9.9. The disruptive change
in the industry was rapid, thus it was
necessary for the committee to quickly
choose a name. Members of TC 9.9 knew
the name must encompass the depth and
breadth of the industry, and decided on
Mission Critical Facilities, Technology
Spaces, and Electronic Equipment.
The title sought to encompass a macro
and micro scope, including everything
in between. The newly formed TC 9.9
deﬁned the following scope for its work:
TC 9.9 is concerned with all aspects
of mission critical facilities, technology
spaces, and electronic equipment/systems.
This includes data centers, computer
rooms/closets, server rooms, raised ﬂoor
environments, high-density loads, emergency network operations centers, telecom
facilities, communications rooms/closets,
and electronic equipment rooms/closets.
TC 9.9 knew the technology industry
moved so fast that speed to market was
absolutely critical. As a result, the overall
March 2013
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