APC IT InfraStruXure Resource Center

Energy Efficient Cooling for Data Centers

The trend of increasing heat densities in data centers has held consistent with advances in computing technology for many years. As power density increased, it became evident that the degree of difficulty in cooling these higher power demand loads was also increasing. In recent years, traditional cooling system design has proven inadequate to remove concentrated heat loads (up to and greater than 20 kW per rack). This has driven an architectural shift in data center cooling. The advent of a newer cooling architecture that was designed for the higher densities has brought with it increased efficiencies for the data center. This article discusses the efficiency benefits of row-based cooling compared to two other common cooling architectures.

Watts and Volt-Amps

This whitepaper helps explain the differences between Watts and VA and explains how the terms are correctly and incorrectly used in specifying power protection equipment. Read more now.

Comparing UPS System Design Configurations

There are five main UPS system design configurations that distribute power from the utility source of a building to the critical loads of a data center. The selection of the appropriate configuration for a particular application is determined by the availability needs, risk tolerance, types of loads in the data center, budgets, and existing infrastructure. This paper discusses the five configurations and explains the advantages and disadvantages of each. Read more now.

Monitoring Physical Threats in the Data Center

With technologies such as blade servers driving up cooling demands and regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley driving up security requirements, the physical environment in the data center must be watched more closely. This paper describes a class of threats that are often ignored and suggests approaches to deploying monitoring devices and best practices for leveraging the collected data to reduce downtime. Read more now.

Accounting and Tax Benefits of Modular, Portable Data Center Infrastructure

Well-informed accounting treatment of Network-Critical Physical Infrastructure (NCPI) assets provides significant opportunities to contribute to improving the financial performance of a business, institution, or organization. Design and manufacturing improvements in modular, scalable UPS systems, power distribution units (PDUs), and computer room air conditioners have not only created technological benefits, but provide entirely new NCPI asset management opportunities with direct and measurable financial benefits. Read more now.

Electrical Efficiency Modeling for Data Centers

Conventional models for estimating electrical efficiency of data centers are grossly inaccurate for real-world installations. Estimates of electrical losses are typically made by summing the inefficiencies of various electrical devices, such as power and cooling equipment. This paper shows that the values commonly used for estimating equipment inefficiency are quite inaccurate. A simple, more accurate efficiency model is described that provides a rational basis to identify and quantify waste in power and cooling equipment. Read more now.