The Effect of a Data Center Layout on Power Services for Data Centers
The layout or design of a data center and the power services for data centers may not seem that important at first glance however it can have a significant effect on the efficiency of the facility. Unfortunately the layouts of many data centers are somewhat incidental, resulting from incremental deployment rather than a fixed plan. The problem with this is the fact that after a plan is established, it is almost impossible to change, thus resulting in a performance deficit.
Power Services for Data Centers Statistics
According to American Power Conversion (2007) the floor plan strongly influences the following features of a data center:
- The intricacy of the cooling systems
- The predictability of temperature distribution in the area
- The energy consumption of the data center
- The attainable power density
The reference to the attainable power density stems from the fact that the layout of the hardware within a data center can hinder the efficiency of the air conditioning or cooling system used. As IT components must remain at a temperature between was 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) to 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), a poor floor plan can reduce the allowable power for a component by over 50 percent (America Power Conversion, 2007).
The intricacy of cooling systems is also influenced by the center layout. This is due to the fact that when components are arranged in long rows it allows for the configuration of hot and cold rows between the racks (The Green Grid, 2007). As the main aim of any data center floor plan is to separate cool and warm air this simplifies the cooling system and increases reliability whilst reducing running costs.
The predictability of the temperature distribution in the facility is important in any data center as IT components are, as stated, quite temperature sensitive. Having a simple layout and being able to predict the temperature in the vicinity of particular components allows for the data center manager to gain the maximum performance from all components. This in turn also conserves cooling energy. Simple floor designs also allow centers to monitor temperature distribution in real time in order to maintain top performance from their equipment, and prevent temperature fluctuation outside of the desired ranges.
Finally, floor layout also greatly influences one of the most important features of a data center, the energy consumption. Recently, the energy consumption and power services for data centers have been a much discussed topic. This is owing to the fact that the IT industry requires billions of dollars worth of energy every year to run these types of facilities. The main reason that the floor layout influences energy expenditure is due to its influence on air conditioning units. A poor data center layout often requires the use of additional air conditioning units in addition to air mixing fans which in combination require enormous amounts of excess energy.
