We frequently work with data center managers who need help optimizing data center white space. They are fully aware that data centers are among the costliest facilities to build and operate. Excluding power and cooling, Gartner estimates that the space a single server cabinet occupies costs $4,900 per year. This figure is based on the annualized cost of the building structure itself, racks, building maintenance, 24/7 security and staff and property taxes, etc.
Dynamic, virtualized work-loads, the need to provision new applications quickly, and lack of insights into available power and cooling leads to over provisioning of power and cooling, which results in higher operating costs. On the contrary, space is often under provisioned and results in average cabinet space utilization between 50% and 65%, an obvious visual indicator that improvements are needed. However, historically, deploying additional capacity has been complicated, expensive and time consuming.
Factor in the time and effort, associated with justifying capital for a data center expansion and optimizing the existing space becomes an attractive alternative. Increasing cabinet density can be like venturing into unknown space. Here are some considerations as you embark on your mission–optimizing data center white space:
- Conduct an assessment to understand what capacity is actually available. It is critical to understand what changes are required to consolidation high heat load devices in cabinets to help reclaim underutilized floor and cabinet space.
- Implement cabinets, containment systems and sealing accessories that maximize the separation of IT equipment hot air from cooling air to enable higher per cabinet densities and make best use of available cooling.
- Deploy a DCIM solution to provide visibility into conditions within the data center to help you plan and manage capacity changes over time. DCIM functionality is imperative to maintain accurate visibility and to help prevent finding yourself in a data center full of unknowns.
Panduit offers a comprehensive Intelligent Data Center Solution offering that can help you explore your data center’s space frontier. Please be sure to visit us at www.panduit.com/datacenter for a complete overview of our offering.
Thanks again,
Jeff
