Extending UPS Operation  - 01-07-2010
Cutting back on preventive maintenance procedures for your uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems during tough economic times can spell disaster down the line.  Read more

Communication Key to Ensure Uptime in Mission-Critical Data Centers  - 05-01-2010
Ask anyone involved with mission-critical facilities to list steps that can be taken to increase reliability, and the answers are likely to involve technology: uninterruptible power supply systems, generators, redundant chillers and so on.  Read more

Data Centers: Poor Air Distribution Leads to Hot Spots  - 04-01-2010
Data centers contain various types of equipment, such as uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), firewalls, routers, switches, and other IT devices. With these additional pieces of equipment come an increased heat load and hot spots — potential problems for which managers must account.  Read more

Understanding the Metrics for Chilled Air in Data Centers  - 02-01-2010
Perhaps the only thing growing faster than energy use in data centers is new metrics and acronyms to measure and control them. One way to consider the problem of data center energy use is to view the data center as a giant air pump. In a perfect world, every cubic foot of air produced by the CRAC units would find its way to the server inlets.  Read more

Mission Critical Facilities Require Cooperation Between Facilities and IT  - 01-01-2010
Three decades ago, larger companies had glass- and drywall-enclosed data centers holding one or more enormous mainframe computers that read punched data cards to calculate and extrapolate data. Then technology shrunk computing to desktops and smaller mainframes. By the early 1990s, the in-house data center often was dismantled and reused for other functions.  Read more

Designing a More Energy Efficient Data Center  - 11-01-2009
The average data center can be many times more energy intensive than an office building, according to a recent EPA study.  Read more

Allstate Aims for Improved Reliability and Flexibility with New Data Center  - 08-01-2009
Sustainability is high on the agenda for many corporations today. So when Allstate Insurance Co., the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, set out to build a new data center, the project goals included improving the organization’s sustainability.  Read more

Small Steps Lead to Big Data Center Efficiency Gains  - 05-01-2009
When master improvement programs are developed for data centers, the recommendations often target ways to improve reliability and detail a plan to implement current industry best practices. Today, master improvement plans are being broadened to address energy efficiency as well. That approach makes sense. Steps to improve energy efficiency can also bolster reliability — for example, when evaluating and optimizing air distribution.  Read more

How One Hospital Improved Its Emergency Cooling Plan  - 05-01-2009
As hospitals expand and upgrade facilities, facility executives should carefully review the capacity of the physical plant’s basic infrastructure. Power and cooling capacity in particular are critical to daily operations. A review of power and cooling systems should include a focus on emergency power planning.  Read more

Ten Tips To Make A Legacy Data Center More Energy Efficient  - 02-01-2009
Many companies are aggressively pursuing energy-saving strategies, coalescing around a new marketplace paradigm to go, buy, and sell green — a message that often comes from the boardroom. Until recently, however, data centers remained a special case. The typical mission critical facility is a large consumer of energy, representing the lion’s share of facility operating costs. But reliability and availability requirements hampered efforts to improve energy efficiency.  Read more

Keeping UPS Up and Running - Preventive Maintenance Ensures Power Supply  - 08-01-2008
Simply providing an uninterruptible power system (UPS) does not necessarily ensure an institutional or commercial facility's equipment is protected from power-supply fluctuations and distortions. Maintenance and engineering managers must factor in regular testing and maintenance of a facility's UPS to ensure it remains in peak operating condition, protects critical systems, and keeps them reliably operating as designed.  Read more

Keeping UPS Up and Running - UPS Testing  - 08-01-2008
Frequent testing of UPS equipment will help technicians identify potential issues and minimize problems caused by devastating power interruptions. In the past, a UPS was more difficult to test, and the units often would not notify technicians of low battery capacity.  Read more

Keeping UPS Up and Running - UPS Maintenance Checklist  - 08-01-2008
Regular equipment testing should be part of a facility's UPS maintenance schedule. Such a schedule might include the following elements:   Read more

Keeping UPS Up and Running - Top Tools for UPS Maintenance  - 05-01-2008
To ensure safe and proper upkeep of UPS, technicians require a range of equipment, both simple and sophisticated. Among the low-tech maintenance tools each technician has are:  Read more