Coming back from the latest AFCOM Data Center World conference, we saw that the data center is as important as ever. New solutions around IoT, cloud, and management are all helping data center leaders create competitive advantages.

Within the data center itself, we saw how growing power and cooling requirements also increase concerns around outages and excellent levels of efficiency. Consider this, the latest AFCOM State of the Data Center report indicated that the majority of respondents report rack power density is increasing. The estimated mean target rack power density is 7.3 kW.

Furthermore, 55% indicated that they would have to increase data center capacity by adding additional space, power or cooling as a strategy to meet anticipated data center requirements over the next 12 months.

With that in mind, let’s touch on both data center efficiency and redundancy. In the data center world, an efficient system helps improve your uptime capabilities and helps reduce chances of an outage. Consider this; the latest Ponemon study indicates that the average total cost per minute of an unplanned outage increased from $5,617 in 2010 to $7,908 in 2013 to $8,851 in the most recent findings.

To that extent, organizations need to work with data center solutions which introduce more significant levels of simplicity alongside improving the health of the data center.

Working with new data center designs

Consider this; modular containment solutions introduce a new way to manage and optimize data center operations. For example, within an aisle in your data center, modular containment is specifically designed to block airflow, ensuring hot and cold aisle separation.

As we mentioned earlier, rack density continues to go up as well. This means that as density grows, the rack becomes even more critical to maintain. Furthermore, edge solutions are seeing a boom as well regarding power utilization and rack density. That said, make sure your racks are operating optimally with minimal risk to the gear inside. New solutions aim to specifically simplify rack airflow management. Furthermore, these solutions are designed to control intake airflow in server racks.

Remember, small efficiency gains translate into real savings within the data center. Rack design will continue to evolve as we place new kinds of systems into the data center. So, converged and hyper-converged will require you to rethink the way your racks are managed and optimized.

Looking Ahead

There were some big takeaways from the Data Center World conference. We know that the data center will continue to play a vital role for organizations and that the decentralization of IT has placed even more requirements around data center design. Coupled with things like edge and cloud computing – managing efficiency and uptime are going to be critical concerns. In the State of the Data Center Report, we found that four in ten respondents have either deployed or planned to deploy edge compute capacity. The typical respondent plans for the following estimated mean number of edge locations over time: 5.6 currently; 6.4 within 12 months; and 12.2 within three years. All of these locations will need good designs that fit in with rack density and data center architecture. They will need to be easy to manage and quick to deploy.

New requirements are continually being put out by businesses and consumers. Instead of continually trying to keep up, leverage solutions which can help you stay ahead of the game.

As I walked through the expo hall, I saw numerous vendors discussing data center design, efficiency, and how these designs do in fact help with resiliency. The point is that if you take care of your gear and your racks – your data center will take care of you. Maintaining proper airflow, power utilization, and cooling efficiency will all help your gear run optimally. Moreover, this all enables you to reduce the risk of an outage.