Friday 14 September 2012

5 Cooling Options for Data Centers

| Friday, September 14, 2012 | |

Not every business requires the same solution.  Each company has its own particular set of needs for cabinet space, power and cooling.  A good Austin colocation facility will have already planned for this and can offer their partners various solutions in a customized format. One business might need twice as much power as another, yet a third could require ten times the cabinet space.  A good colocation partner needs to be in a position to provide for the specific and enhanced needs of each.

Power Systems

When exploring the various options Austin colocation facilities offer, business owners and technical staff should carefully consider the power infrastructure to ensure that it offers everything that they need.  A power system that is completely diverse and completely redundant is desirable.  Ideally the power entering the facility would stem from two completely different power substations. In the event of failure at one location, the other substation could continue to provide power.  The system should also be designed so that should repair or maintenance be needed, the facility can manually switch over to one power source without taking down power to their clients. Finally, every well-equipped Austin colocation data center should also have a fail-safe solution in place – in the form of a fuel operated generator and well-tested UPSs – that stand by in case of substation power failure.

Cooling Options

High Performance Computing is becoming a necessity for many companies looking to process information faster and keep the competitive advantage.  These High Performance Computing systems process information so quickly, they require considerably more cooling than standard servers.  These systems require data centers that have chilled water cooling as an option. A data center, however, should be designed to offer plenty of other cooling options, including:
  • Cold aisle
  • Hot aisle
  • Cabinet cooling
  • Chilled water cooling
  • Standard cooling
Any business that is not certain which type of cooling would be most ideal for their setup can consult with their Austin colocation partner’s expert staff. This staff is often trained to help customers design the best solution for their needs.  It is not advised to choose a colocation data center that only employs an air-cooled system. These systems do not cool as efficiently, and they draw considerably large amounts of power, which means prices are higher for customer. 
Along with a variety of cooling options, an Austin colocation facility needs to also offer redundancy.  Even if the network and the power remains up and stable, complete loss of the cooling system in a facility that houses so many servers would be detrimental to all businesses concerned.  A redundant system, built on independent water systems will ensure that whether it a disaster or routine maintenance requires a partial system shutdown, servers will still receive adequate cooling to remain operational. 
Author's Bio: William Bell writes articles about colocation and data centers in the Austin area.  William believes that the colocation service in Austin is a wise choice for many businesses. He encourages that companies should always think about customizable solutions that are tailored to meet their needs.  The Austin Data Center he recommends can be found at http://www.datafoundry.com

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