The Heat Is On (continued)
Plan to Scale Based on Demand
When planning the layout of a data center, Dunlap recommends thinking about how much capacity is needed today and populating it for current needs, and then matching the energy consumption rack by rack. Then as racks are added, it will be possible to also add cooling units and scale as the computing needs grow, so you're matching the capacity to the demand.
Hodges says APCC's hardware enabled Mercy to tap into the building's power supply and redirect capacity that wasn't being used, which gave them the ability to extend the life of their existing data center. On top of that, APCC's components are modular and can be moved when Mercy ultimately builds its new data center five years down the road.
Since most enterprises have a three- to seven-year equipment replacement cycle, experts suggest doing a usage inventory and then ensuring that power is supplied only to the racks that are being used. "We've seen a shift from cooling the room in general to looking at a room as a large heat source and trying to cool it with a big air conditioning system,'' says Dunlap, "to targeted cooling solutions where each individual rack has its own row or rack. So it's much more one to one."
About the Author
Esther Shein is a freelance writer and editor specializing in technology and business matters. She is the former editor-in-chief of Datamation, an online technology magazine.
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