Mission Critical - Winter 2008 - (Page 56)

High-Density Data Centers – Discuss, Design, Deploy A highly reliable and available data center results from planning BY HERB VILLA T he most important question about data center design is, “Just what do I need to consider when designing and implementing a high density data center?” The key issues, in no particular order, continue to be power availability, heat removal capacity, cost factors (TCO, ROI, etc.), security (both physical and electronic), and green concerns. These issues are all vitally important and need to be addressed in any facility design. For the past few years, the focus has been on high-density cooling solutions at either the enclosure or row level. These solutions are available in a variety of configurations such as active air, supplemental row cooling, and close-coupled and enclosure-based liquid-cooling systems. This wide range of products can support a variety of installations. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, and each matches up differently to individual site criteria. Herb Villa (hvilla@rittal-corp.com) is the field technical manager (Datacomm Group) for the Rittal Corporation in the U.S. These solutions offered a good starting point for cooling data centers, but now additional products need to be considered to complement these heat-removal components. No matter the industry, the same criteria will need to be considered. The driving forces for this new world of IT facilities are being driven by a small but critical number of factors: • The number of servers and storage devices being installed • Adequate power supply and heat removal • Process automation and virtualization at any level and in any industry • A network that takes full advantage of new systems • “Keeping Up With the Jones’” • The move from convenience to “Mission Critical” • And the fact that the world is truly 24 by 7 by 365. Today, high-density installations require that additional thought be given to the other systems found in the facility, including power distribution, security, and cable routing, etc. Today’s data center must be viewed as a whole and not as a sum of its various subsystems. The trend is to think of the space as an ecosystem — a closed environment where all components must function together to maintain a desired level of performance. These components must operate with C 56 | Mission Critical Winter 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Mission Critical - Winter 2008

Mission Critical - Winter 2008 Table of Contents Editorial: What Have We Been Doing? Cronin’s Workshop: Imagining the Perfect Data Center Power And Cooling Solution Digital Power: The Next Edge in Business Resiliency Zinc Whiskers: Keeping Up With The Green Movement Mission Critical Care: Shipping, Staging, and Installation Legal Perspectives: “A Reliable Energy Supply Is Key to Data Center Success” Continued Payback, Instant Protection Beyond the Nines The Green Information Technology Revolution Health Care Network Offers Glimpse of the Future of Backup Power High-Density Data Centers – Discuss, Design, Deploy High Performance Data Centers Call for Innovative Cooling Techniques More Data in the Data Center Five Considerations for Powering Data Center Racks New Products Industry News Events Classifieds Letters Ad Index Datacenter Wiki: wiki-Mission Critical

Mission Critical - Winter 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.