1. Data center site selection and design
Data center design is one of the most complex and important undertakings for any company. It first involves finding the right property to build on; then managing architects, builders and IT staff. Data center pros are expected to have expertise in computing, networking, electrical and mechanical engineering, thermodynamics and disaster mitigation — the list could go on.

In addition to cost, data center security comes into play with site selection. Are you looking for an urban facility, near your headquarters and employees — or are you looking for suburban real estate prices and security? Do you want to build new or renovate an existing facility? Have you considered a truck dock for equipment delivery and adequate parking? Where will your facility be located in relation the floodplain, tornado or hurricane paths, fault lines or airports?
But site selection is only the first piece of the puzzle. Building out a data center environment can include updating wiring, power conditioning, cooling and physical structures like raised floors.

2. Data center power management

Managing data center power supply becomes a matter of preparing for “when” not “if” your power will go down. But in the midst of an outage, the best laid contingencies can fall through. That’s why you need to check out our information on maintaining equipment and policies for reliable power.

Traditionally, power consumption has been a cost of doing business, well within the realm of facilities management. But as both the price and demand for power continue to rise, it’s a problem IT can no longer afford to ignore and there is mounting pressure on data center managers to address the issue. Read on to learn more about the new technologies and efficiency measures that might stem the tide of surging energy bills.

3. Data center cooling

The temperature in your data center is rising. You buy more air conditioning (AC) units to handle the data center cooling load, but you’ve still got hot spots. Where is all that cold air going?

If this problem sounds familiar to you, you’re not alone. According to recent studies, your data center could be wasting anywhere from 25% to 60% of its cooling capacity. Unfortunately, installing extra air conditioning to cool down your data center hot spots is like replacing one headache with another.
This isn’t an easy issue for IT management to get a handle on — data center cooling isn’t about bits and bytes, it’s about thermodynamics, engineering, and getting down and dirty with the raised floor in your facility.

For more information visit searchdatacenter.techtarget.com