As data centers take an ever larger bite of worldwide energy production, efficiency becomes an increasingly urgent topic. Much of the focus in recent years has been on areas like virtualization, improved cooling practices (like free cooling and bumping up the thermostat), consolidation of idle equipment and so on—and rightly so. In the background, however, has been a growing discussion about a fundamental topic:alternating-current (AC) versus direct-current (DC) power. AC power won the day when electrical infrastructure was first being deployed, but could DC be poised for a return from the dead? 

[The Data Center Journal]

> Read More

Separating the hot and cold air in a data center is one of the keys to improving energy efficiency.  Containment systems don't have to be fancy or expensive.  Containment systems have been in use at least since 2004, but there's an ongoing debate about whether it is best to contain the hot aisle or cold aisle.  

Do you use containment in your data center?  If so, do you contain the hot aisle or cold aisle?"

 EVault, a Seagate company, found in a 2011, 17 percent of IT decision-makers would rather have their teeth pulled without using painkillers than have to inform their bosses of a critical data loss.

Things in 2012 are not much better, the San Francisco-based cloud storage vendor found in its late-2012 survey of 650 IT decision-makers from companies ranging in size from 100 to over 3,000 employees in the U.S., the U.K, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

About 24 percent of respondents to the survey admitted to not telling their CEOs they are not backing up all files, especially those on mobile devices. About 38 percent admit they worry about their data not being saved securely or whether any work has been backed up at all.

They were right to worry. The IT decision-makers admitted that 53 percent of their companies had experienced data loss within the last 12 months, up significantly from the 31 percent that had that experience, according to the 2011 survey.

As 2012 draws to a close many of us are planning ahead for 2013, both for our professional and personal lives, formulating a list of goals, objectives, and even a vacation or two. With that in mind I started to create a top-ten list of ‘should do’ items for data center professionals in 2013. However as always I got a bit carried away and had to pare the list down to a manageable baker’s dozen.

One, Take care of yourself. Nothing difficult but an all too important concept many of us take for granted or leaves until we are ‘less busy’. There simply is no better time than the present to start an exercise program, weight and/or health management regime to put a little more energy back into our life. This also includes a little time for some R&R, education and self improvement, and other activities we’ll cover below. Start 2013 with a plan to take care of number one. The data center and IT systems communities wouldn't be the same without you.

Establish a baseline, Inventory your assets, etc...

> Click here to read the rest of the list 

(Originally posted on EfficientDataCenters.com by Jack Pouchet)