Facility Management

  1. Cable Management Pro Tips

    Data Center Frontier shared a paper by Sunbird Software - 7 Best Practices for Simplifying Data Center Cable Management. The paper is presenting the benefits of utilizing a DCIM system in a data center, and while the paper is a quick and easy read, some of the pro tips caught my attention especially as it relates to power distribution cables...
  2. Not all copper wire is created the same

    You'd think that all copper wire is created the same. Right? Wrong! Recently our regular source for a less common gauge wire used in special applications couldn't meet the quantity needed for a new project, forcing us to buy wire from a secondary source. While the new wire met all the requirements to be considered an adequate substitute, it was...
  3. Addressing Equipment Failure and Performance Problems

    Improving Data Center Performance and The Need for Ground Bonding Telecommunications Equipment Itascapoint Advisory Services is a professional services firm specializing in data center and cloud technologies. It was hired to design a pair of data centers for a large financial institution that had been experiencing equipment failure and performance problems. Itascapoint performed an evaluation and found that inconsistent ground bonding...
  4. Prepping Power Whips for Installation

    "Thermoplastic insulation may stiffen at temperatures lower than -10°C (+14° F). NEC 402.3" Wire manufacturers recommend exercising caution when unspooling wire in freezing temperatures. Because copper wire memory is more prevalent in colder temperatures, installing cables when the temperature is too cold can damage the conductors PVC jacket during installation. Following are a few thoughts on preparing branch circuit power...
  5. Recycling & Opportunistic Fraud

    I was getting caught up on the news when I came across the following two articles. What do they have in common? Recycling and fraud. 5 Indicted in Alleged $80 Million California Recycling Fraud KC, Blue Springs Men Indicted in $388,000 Scrap Metal Scheme Semi filled with empty cans The first article dealt with a California recycling firm that was...
  6. Renewable Energy - Data Centers Doing Their Part

    A recent article in Clean Technica Renewables Could Generate 48% of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Industry's Power Supply by 2020, shares some interesting statistics compiled by the EPA's Green Power Partners program. Based on the reports small sample size, the percentage of renewable energy used to power tech and telecom (data centers) is over 30%. That's a pretty big...
  7. Is Being Mission Critical Necessary

    "Not every server is mission-critical. Not every data center needs to be, either." I saw that quote in a recent article about how some data centers are looking to offer options on power redundancy to clients who can get by with something less than five-nines. Branch Circuit Power Distribution Cables are a Critical Component of Successful Load Delivery For data...
  8. Electrical Device Torque Settings

    Electrical device manufacturers recommended torque settings that range from 12 to 90 inch pounds depending on the device type, when terminating conductors. Device torque settings can vary dramatically between manufacturers for the same device. As an example, for a CS8369 device one manufacturer recommends 25 to 30 pounds, while another recommends 45 to 54 pounds. That's a very broad range...
  9. KEN'S KORNER - Selecting a Hosting Data Center

    More and more businesses, large and small, are beginning to reach a point where their data needs have outstripped their in-house computing capabilities. Instead of spending the capital or devoting resources to upgrade their infrastructure, they are seriously considering contracting with a retail data center to host their data. Your concerns when outsourcing data hosting are the same as when...
  10. KEN'S KORNER - Taking Advantage of Free Cooling

    First off free cooling isn't free it would better described as reduced cooling. My data centers were located in Minnesota so we were able to take advantage of the outside temperatures for a good part of the year. Two of our sites utilized CRAC units with compressors to cool raised floor space. We set our wet cooling towers to make...

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