Power capacity management and configuration —many data centers grow in a chaotic and unplanned manner. Technicians often plug new equipment into the first available outlet with little knowledge of the available power capacity. This can lead to blown fuses and downtime. Statistics show that in 2013, the average cost of downtime reached a staggering $7,908 per minute.
Energy management – Many data centers support more infrastructure than they need. One study found that the average server operates at only 12-18% capacity. Therefore, adopting several best practices can reduce power consumption by up to 40%.
Environmental Management – While IT equipment accounts for 50% of energy costs, another 37% is spent on cooling and circulating air. Data centers are often overcooled to prevent equipment failure, but raising the thermostat temperature by one degree Fahrenheit can save up to 3% on current energy costs.
Physical and cybersecurity— the need for secure access controls for server racks and aisles is rising. In 2011, Health Net, Inc., one of the largest publicly traded healthcare companies in the United States, reported that the loss of multiple server drives in the data centers it managed compromised the personal health records of up to 1.9 million people nationwide.
Computing power demand – Despite the shrinking and expanding of data centers, a constant trend for the foreseeable future is the demand for more computing power, a rapid expansion that will far exceed the power demands that data centers have experienced in the past.
Asset and Change Management – For expanding data centers, manually tracking assets can be cumbersome and costly. One study indicated that the process of inventory collection, inventory reconciliation, locating misplaced assets, manually updating and replacing misplaced assets costs $714,000 and approximately 706 business days annually.
Solving these challenges requires an intelligent approach.
In short, data centers face unprecedented challenges. These challenges need to be addressed to control operating costs and meet new business demands. Data centers will need to optimize the use of power, space, cooling, and personnel. Smart PDUs are platforms that can solve all of these problems. Now we will discuss how to choose the right rack PDU for your data center, how to provide reliable power to your racks, and how to create a reliable, efficient, and environmentally friendly data center for now and the future.