Is putting end-users first a business philosophy
or a design philosophy, or both? Saying that end-users come first is easy, but
system designers and equipment suppliers find that putting end-users first can
be hard to do.
Data center managers are under the gun. Companies realize that to compete in the global marketplace, they need a strong data center to back them up. This puts the role of the data center manager front and center, as he holds the key to increasing infrastructure performance, cutting operational costs, and maximizing data center and power efficiencies.
Will our growing reliance on all varieties of
digital information coupled with the recent extraordinary natural disasters,
deliberate assaults on IT infrastructure, and the increased obsolescence of the
electric grid lead to the perfect storm on steroids?
IT technology has increased in density over the
past decade to the point where individual racks can now require more than
30,000 watts of energy. In 2007, an article by John Niemann, product line
manager at APC-MGE, reported that new server technologies were driving power
densities in excess of 30 kilowatts per cabinet.
A 2006 AFCOM membership survey revealed that one
out of every four data centers will experience a business disruption serious
enough to affect the company’s ability to continue business-as-usual.