Phantom loss of power and data

It is time to address the twin problems of power and data loss in data centre

Every organisation relies on data centres in some way, be they small, in-house servers or large systems. It is obvious that processing data creates heat, which adversely affects computers. How long can a data centre go without cooling before the servers begin to overheat, is a question that needs to be addressed. Equally important is the issue of huge amount of energy that these data centres consume. This ‘phantom loss’ often goes unaccounted for. This is a serious concern, especially given the growth rates of emerging markets like the Middle East.

According to 2007 estimates by the US Environmental Protection Agency, data centres consumed 1.5% of the total power in North America. This is predicted to double by 2011 to more than 100 billion kWh. Evidently, this is an area that deserves urgent and immediate attention.

Now, coming to the problem of data loss, according to information released by Trane, it has been found out that for some companies, just two-minutes of down-time can result in considerable financial and data losses. For these organisations, cooling is “mission critical”. This makes cooling a serious concern, says Trane.

According to Trane, it has tried to ensure that owners, operators and designers of mission-critical applications have the most energy-efficient and reliable cooling systems available. It claims that it has also developed chillers with a quick restart capability of 93 seconds. Trane believes that this can go a long way towards mitigating the risks of devastating data loss and asset damage caused by power outages.

Evidently, end-to-end cooling solutions that are energy-efficient, reliable, and green is the answer to the problem of overheating, data loss and above all, huge energy consumption by data centres.