ITKE grandparent

Do you use kw/rack and cfm/kw to determine cooling capacity? Beware

A common metric for determining cooling capacity in data centers is kw/rack, or kilowatts per rack, and cfm/kw, or cubic feet per minute per kilowatt. By figuring out how much power your server cabinet is drawing, the logic goes that you'll then know how much cooling you need. From looking...

Air velocity out the back of servers

Last week I spoke to Sherman Ikemoto from Future Facilities, which sells computational fluid dynamics software for analyzing airflow in data centers. I...

The Google pirates, corporate tax, and ice-side economizers

Green data center roadmap doesn’t have to be confusing

I just spotted a press release on a series of new analyst reports from Gartner on Green IT. Gartner says users should focus investments on areas that will provide the most bang for the buck. Unfortunately, their recommendations are vague....

Another drawback to hot/cold aisle containment

Last week I wrote about the fire code issues around containing your hot and/or cold aisles for energy efficiency benefits. And while I wrote pretty extensively on the issues that can arise, I didn't...

ASHRAE and Green Grid team up to standardize data center energy monitoring protocols

I recently spoke with Roger Schmidt, distinguished IBM technologist and past chairman of The American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Technical Committee 9.9 about ASHRAE's

New certification from ASHRAE, but does it matter?

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers, better known in the industry as ASHRAE, has a new certification program focusing on facility operations and performance, something of which data center operators can take...

Powering down your servers

I didn't know this, but I guess yesterday was "Power IT Down Day." Hewlett-Packard, Citrix and Intel...

Microsoft expected to announce Des Moines data center location tomorrow

According to the Des Moines Register, Microsoft is expected to officially announce its plan to build its newest data center there, specifically in West Des Moines. Microsoft...

Data center shift-change checklist from The Planet

Last week, Eric Bush, Data Center Operations Supervisor at hosting giant The Planet, posted a checklist for data center perimeter patrols. The perimeter patrol is an integral part of our data center...