Choosing Between Room, Row, and Rack-based Cooling for Data Centers

LEGACY CONTENT: This content is older yet still valid and provides valuable insights. However, it may contain data and/or messaging written under different technological or market circumstances. ------ Latest generation high density and variable density IT equipment create conditions that traditional data center cooling was never intended to address, resulting in cooling systems that are oversized, inefficient, and unpredictable. Room, row, and rack-based cooling methods have been developed to address these problems. This paper describes these improved cooling methods and provides guidance on when to use each type for most next generation data centers.