Upsite Technologies, Inc. has released a new white paper discussing how decisions and actions made under the jurisdiction of the IT side of data center management can have a profound impact on the mechanical plant functions, resultant operating costs and data center capacity. The white paper, How IT Decisions Impact Data Center Facilities: The Importance of Mutual Understanding makes a compelling case for data center end-users on how IT and Facilities can work together to optimize the data center environment.

The paper explores the ramifications of some of the common IT management responsibilities on data center mechanical plant efficiency and architectural effectiveness. This provides a basis for IT management involving facilities management in situations with more overlap than has traditionally been recognized. As a result, communication and positive working relationships of both IT professionals and data center facilities managers are paramount for the mutually-beneficial outcome of an optimized data center.

Key considerations and findings of the white paper include employing airflow management best practices as well as specifying:

• High ΔT Servers vs. Low ΔT Servers
• A1, A2, A3, or A4 Servers
• Equipment That Breathes from Front-to-Back
• Solid State Storage or Tape Storage
• Cooling Unit Set Point
• Cages that are Compatible with Containment

The end goal in discussing these considerations is to have an agreement between IT and facilities as to how these decisions impact their counterparts. To ensure efficiency and optimize the data center, both teams need to work together and understand the impact that the aforementioned considerations will ultimately have on the data center environment.

The complimentary IT Decisions White Paper can be downloaded by visiting Upsite’s White Paper Library.

Read the full article at Electronics Protection Magazine.