A genuinely modern data center is also a sustainable one. Professionals are increasingly concerned with energy sustainability today. There’s also no doubt about the fact that the energy management of data centers will help companies save money.
Purchasing the equipment for data centers certainly costs money, as does the process of maintaining that equipment. The data center technology stack is complicated. However, many of the costs associated with data centers still relate to energy. People just have to consider ‘how are data centers powered.’
Plenty of data centers will still primarily receive power from the broader municipal electricity grid. The data center power distribution involves at least one transformer in many cases, and there are usually several in place. Using renewable energy to power data centers can quickly make an entire business much more sustainable than it was before, and those benefits will last for years.
There are actually data centers that now run entirely on renewable energy, and they’ve been that way for more than three years at this point. Some other organizations are now trying to modify their own modern data centers accordingly. A lights out data center will certainly use less electricity than other data centers, but it’s still better if the center uses renewable energy.
Cabinet and storage configurations like electronic packaging cabinets are important for the consistent and constant high level of function for many data centers. Many data centers now utilize electronic packaging cabinets or other storage solutions like a server cabinet or server rack in order to best organize everything to be as efficient and space effective as possible.
IT equipment failure is a problem that can plague many data centers, but there are easily definable reasons that failures happen, and electronic packaging cabinets can help to prevent those issues. A hot aisle containment system can also be instrumental in reducing the risk of server failure, and the vast majority of current data centers (around 80%) now employ or are looking to integrate a hot or cold aisle containment system. These hot and cold aisle containment systems are hugely helpful in preventing server failure because they help to keep servers at the right temperatures, preventing them from overheating. In fact, the majority of server failures – over 60% – are due to servers overheating. This is usually caused by inadequate air conditioning, either due to a lack of necessary maintenance or a problem with the air conditioning unit itself.
Improving the air conditioning efficiency of any server room can be hugely beneficial not only for preventing server failure but also in saving data centers money. Improving air conditioning efficiency in a server room has actually been shown to reduce monthly energy costs by up to 35%. This can combat some of the green house gases that are released from data centers, lessening a data center’s environmental foot print as well, saving both money and having a positive impact on the environment.
Electronic packaging cabinets can also help to make sure that a data center is easy to navigate. They can help to reduce energy costs, the likelihood of a potentially disastrous server failure, and issues with data loss, as well as better organizing the physical layout of a data center. Data centers are important in our world and in our country and society, but it is important that they are updated regularly. In fact, the majority of data centers will be considered out of date if they are not updated at least every nine years, if not more frequently. Data is important, and data centers must do all that they can to adequately take care of it.