I am not sure at what point I am meant to stop saying happy New Year to people but Happy New Year to you all.
New Year’s resolutions? Eat and drink less. Do more exercise. Keep my inbox below 200 messages and stop being polite to people who don’t install blanking panels in their data centre racks.
I am not sure when, about 2 years ago I think, it became yesterday’s news to stop publishing and presenting the “10 no cost / low cost data centre efficiency improvements”. I think the original improvement list was much longer and came from the Green Grid but most commercial organisations adapted the original to meet their own needs and reduced it down to 10.
Almost every data centre conference, event, trade show and CPD training session used that list, or a variation of it, to hit home the data centre efficiency message. It got to the point where you could audibly hear the groans in the audience when the slide appeared. So I and everyone else stopped presenting and talking about it. The war was won. The message 100% received. Everyone in the industry knew hot aisle and cold aisle was the only way to lay out your racks. Aisle containment, whatever your preference for hot or cold, should be implemented. Not installing blanking panels in empty u spaces should carry a punishment of being the tea boy for a month.
But guess what? The war was not won at all. Everyone in the industry got weary of the message, nodded their heads. “Yes we know and we all do it, leave us alone”. It’s similar to using mobile phones while driving. Everyone knows it’s against the law. Everyone agrees it’s a bad thing to do and is dangerous but every single day you see people in their cars holding their phones. I see it every time I drive anywhere and in every country I visit.
It’s exactly the same with blanking panels and many of the other items on the list of basic energy efficiency improvements produced in 2008 by the Green Grid. This is not an exaggeration when I say this. Every single data centre I have ever visited, and I visit a lot in my line of work, is defective when it comes to the energy efficiency basics. I am happy to say most are small offenders. The odd blanking panel missing, the occasional floor tile not sealed correctly, but many are hardened criminals. I still see on a regular basis racks that all face the same direction. Entire rows of empty racks with no blanking or side panels. Medium to high density rows with no aisle containment.
These are the basics people. If you want to start implementing some of the more creative and complex energy efficiency solutions, reduce your energy consumption and save money, then you have to do the simple stuff first.
So my New Year’s resolution is clear. I am dusting off the old presentations. I am going to print out the original Green Grid guide and I am going on a mission. If you don’t want to see a 4 year old power point presentation on blanking panels then I suggest you dig deep into your 2015 budget and start getting the basics right.
Written By: Simon Brady, Emerson Network Power
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