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Is Your Data Center Running Out of Space and Power?
Optimize It!
The lifecycles of data centers are getting shorter
and shorter. The needs of today's data centers are much
more complex than they were 25-or even five-years ago.
As a result, data centers are increasingly challenged
to support high density environments often running at
full capacity, frequently running out of space and power.
Although technology is improving every day and new servers
are more efficient, corporations need to intelligently
allocate resources and get the most from their existing
infrastructure. Optimizing your current environment
will help you reclaim precious capacity and may allow
you to delay or avoid altogether the time and expense
required to build a new data center saving money and
achieving immediate results.
When looking to optimize a data center space, managers
need to consider four areas for improvement, servers,
storage, network and infrastructure. For the purpose
of this article we will focus on infrastructure.
Optimizing the data center infrastructure involves three
activities: 1) analyze the current data center environment,
2) implement effective cooling technology, and 3) modify
power sources for maximum efficiency.
Data center analysis
The first-and most important-step in optimization is
to conduct a thorough analysis of the data center's
dynamics. This analysis is three-fold: 1) measure temperatures
and power use to establish a baseline; 2) carefully
examining every item in the data center to ensure that
each component is serving its intended purpose; and
3) conduct a comprehensive airflow analysis to identify
areas of weakness. Because this process requires detailed
data collection and analysis, an expert who has the
tools, knowledge and experience is best-suited to perform
the assessment. This comprehensive analysis provides
metrics for performance measurement, identifies problems
and allows managers to make intelligent decisions to
improve data center efficiency.
Efficient Modular Architecture
Effectively removing heat is an important factor in
data center performance. Traditionally, data center
managers have relied on ambient air cooling solutions.
Such solutions, however, are inefficient at handling
high heat loads and can be cost- and energy-inefficient.
With modular solutions, data center managers can match
cooling and power resources to the devices that consume
the most power and generate the most heat. Locating
the cooling source closer to the heat-generating device
improves efficiency that would otherwise be lost in
transport. With fewer barriers to air flow, less energy
is wasted and the data center's stability, reliability
and efficiency are improved.
Efficient power management
When optimizing the data center, intelligent power management
is essential. Managing the efficiency of your power
distribution infrastructure starts with an analysis
of each component. By improving the efficiency of each
component of the system, as well as taking advantage
of high voltage, or three phase power, you can squeeze
more computing performance from each rack.
If your data center is reaching full capacity, you don't
have to rebuild a new one. Optimization significantly
improves a data center's space and power limitations
while saving time and money. By first analyzing the
dynamics and then implementing effective cooling and
power management technologies, you can boost efficiencies
and extend the life of your data center.
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