Electronics Protection - Summer 2014 - (Page 20)

Feature Data Center Downtime Study Puts Focus on Maximum Protection Peter Panfil, vice president, global power Emerson Network Power As the complexity and criticality of the data center continues to increase, a study conducted by the Ponemon Institute, sponsored by Emerson Network Power, reports that unplanned data center outages remain a significant threat to organizations in terms of business disruption and lost revenue. In fact, unplanned outages are so feared that most of the survey's respondents (84 percent) said they would rather walk barefoot over hot coals than have their data center go down. The increasing cost of downtime underscores the importance for organizations to focus on maximum protection and to make it a priority to minimize downtime risk Data Center Downtime Still a Critical Issue A majority of respondents (91 percent) reported having experienced an unplanned data center outage in the past 24 months. Regarding the frequency of outages, respondents experienced an average of two complete data center outages during these two years. Partial outages, or those limited to certain racks, occurred six times in that timeframe. The average number of device-level outages, or those limited to individual servers, was the highest at 11. According to responses, complete outages lasted an average of 107 minutes and partial outages lasted an average of 152 minutes. For most respondents, the causes of the outages were no mystery. Eighty-three percent of respondents said they knew the cause of the outage. The top three most cited causes of outages were UPS battery failure (55 percent), accidental EPO/human error (48 percent) and UPS capacity exceeded (46 percent). (Figure 1) Figure 1. Top root causes of unplanned outages experienced over two years The second part of the study quantified the average cost of an outage at more than $7,900 per minute. This is a 41 percent increase from $5,600 in 2010, when Emerson and the Ponemon Institute first calculated costs associated with data center downtime. According to the study, industries with revenue models dependent on data center availability to deliver IT and networking services and those that deal with a large amount of secure data 20 Summer 2014 * www.ElectronicsProtectionMagazine.com continue to incur the most costs associated with downtime; with the highest cost of an event at more than $1.7 million. As there is an increasing need for a number of companies and organizations to adapt to a more social, mobile and cloud-based model, the criticality of minimizing the risk of downtime and committing the necessary investments is greater than ever. For some data centers, this may mean that the assurance of high availability may take priority. For those data centers, the approach they take with their UPS solutions should reflect that focus. Maximum Protection UPS Design For those organizations that deem maximum protection as their top concern, a robust UPS design is required. The key to protecting your data center's availability starts with ensuring you have the highest quality power at all times. As you explore UPS options that provide maximum protection, you should seek out a UPS solution that offers the following benefits and characteristics. * Built-in electrical isolation for safety and performance. * Handles a stack-up of multiple adverse conditions at once without compromising your connected IT load. * Maintains online operation without transfer to bypass during DC ground fault conditions. * Fuse-less continuous duty bypass design for fault management & to allow fault coordination of the distribution system. There are many options to consider in deploying the right maximum protection configuration for your environment. Transformerbased UPS systems are robust and excel at providing the highest capacities and levels of availability while simplifying external and internal voltage transformation, as well as fault management. For high-power enterprise data centers and other critical applications, a transformer-based UPS still provides an edge in availability. Transformers within the UPS provide integrated fault management and galvanic isolation as well as greater compatibility with critical power distribution system requirements that should be considered when designing a high-availability UPS system. When added capacity is needed, modules are added to the system in either a centralized or distributed bypass architecture. In a centralized bypass architecture there is a single system level bypass and no module level bypass. In a distributed bypass architecture each UPS has its own bypass that must act in concert to take the system to bypass. Of the two, centralized bypass has higher mean time between failures, so it is typically the configuration of choice. Having a dedicated battery monitoring system is also a must. Utilizing an integrated system can provide early notification of battery failure by enabling data center professionals to monitor the performance of cells across UPS systems, 24/7. These monitoring solutions provide insight into battery health without requiring a full discharge and recharge cycle. This allows batteries to be utilized to their maximum effectiveness, safeguarding against premature replacements and unanticipated battery expirations. In addition to on-site monitoring capabilities, integrated solutions typically offer predictive analysis and provide web-based remote access to facilitate rapid service response before battery failure occurs. The best practice is to implement a monitoring system that connects to and tracks the health of each battery. With this renewed focus being placed on the frequency and cost of downtime, it is important that data center professionals remember that no two organizations, and therefore data centers, are the same. Each organization has its own set of priorities, and as the most important strategic asset, the data center needs to reflect those business priorities and objectives. http://www.ElectronicsProtectionMagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Electronics Protection - Summer 2014

Editor's Choice
New High Efficiency LED Technology Benefits From Best Practice Thermal Management Design
Passive Thermal Management of Lithium-ion Batteries Using Phase Change Materials
Considerations for Powering Military Applications
How Thermal Ground Plane and Compact Air-Cooled Heat Sinks are Revolutionizing Thermal Management
Access Control Solutions for Railway Infrastructure
20 Data Center Downtime Study Puts Focus on Maximum Protection
Cooling and Shielding in the Right-Sized Enclosure
Enclosures
Thermal
Power
Hardware
EMI/EMC/ESD
Industry News
Calendar of Events

Electronics Protection - Summer 2014