Rightsizing the facility is a big challenge. (Taking the Data Center Power and Cooling Challenge).(Brief Article)

The computing world is being squeezed into smaller and smaller spaces. Technological advancement in almost any type of technology product such as calculators, desktops, and phones means reduced size. At the same time, the market values increased processing capacity and speed, storage capacity, fault tolerance, and high availability. In data centers small size and high processing requirements require increased power consumption and greater heat loads. In some facilities, the combination tests the limit of existing technologies to provide adequate cooling. As a result it is essential to design these facilities to manage their use of energy properly. Data center designers must provide for high line and low line power infrastructures, backup power for disaster recovery, and heating and cooling design.

Power Demands

For the past 20 years, data center requirements were approximately 35 to 50 watts/square foot W/[ft.sup.2]. Today data centers have increased power requirements:

* 75 W/[ft.sup.2] for a small- to medium-sized enterprise

* 100-150 W/[ft.sup.2] for a mid- to large-sized enterprise

* 150-200 W/[ft.sup.2] for a typical service provider

* 200-300 W/[ft.sup.2] for future data centers