Refresh UPS

There are five principle UPS system design configurations that distribute power from the utility source of a building to the critical loads of a data center. The selection of the appropriate configuration or combination thereof for a particular application is determined by the availability needs, risk tolerance, types of loads in the data center, budgets, and existing infrastructure. This paper will focus on these five configurations; the advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed. The impact on availability is addressed for each configuration and guidelines are provided for choosing the appropriate design.

Just as good genes do not guarantee health and well-being, a good design alone does not ensure a data center is well-built and will remain efficient and available over the course of its life span. For each phase of the data center’s life cycle, proper care and action must be taken to continuously meet the business needs of the facility. This paper describes the five phases of the data center life cycle, identifies key tasks and pitfalls, and offers practical advice to facility owners and management.

When faced with the decision of upgrading an existing data center, building new, or leasing space in a retail colocation data center, there are both quantitative and qualitative differences to consider. The 10-year TCO may favor upgrading or building over outsourcing, however, this paper demonstrates that the economics may be overwhelmed by a business’ sensitivity to cash flow, cash cross-over point, deployment timeframe, data center life expectancy, regulatory requirements, and other strategic factors. This paper discusses how to assess these key factors to help make a sound decision.

As energy resources become scarcer and more expensive, electrical efficiency is becoming a more important performance factor in the specification and selection of large UPS systems. There are three subtle but significant factors that can materially affect a company’s cost of operating a UPS system and particularly the electrical bill. Unfortunately, the people who specify systems often fail to recognize these factors, which leads to increased costs to the owner because operational efficiencies are not correctly considered. This paper discusses the common errors and misunderstandings in evaluating UPS efficiency. UPS efficiency curves are explained, compared, and their cost implications quantified.

Long term data center or network room capacity planning may seem impossible in the face of evolving IT technology and business requirements. Nevertheless, data center facilities have a lifetime that may span many generations of IT equipment, so planning – or lack of planning – can have a large impact on the effectiveness of investments. Many unnecessary costs can be avoided with simple planning strategies, and even uncertainty itself can be incorporated into a plan. This paper shows a simple and effective way to develop a capacity plan for a data center or network room.