A new white paper from APC-Schneider Electric discusses the primary factors that affect transient temperature rise in data centers and provides practical strategies to manage cooling in facilities during power outages.

The paper contends that data center architecture and its IT load significantly affect the amount of time available for continued IT operation following a loss of cooling. In fact, the analysis suggests that some data center trends -- such as increasing power density, warmer supply temperatures, the “right-sizing” of cooling equipment, and the use of air containment -- may actually increase the rate at which data center temperatures rise.

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However, by placing critical cooling equipment on backup power, choosing equipment with shorter restart times, maintaining adequate reserve cooling capacity, and employing thermal storage, power outages can be managed in a predictable manner. The paper provides predictive models and design strategies that make it possible to ensure continued reliable operation of IT equipment following a power outage, or ample time to power it down.

View and download the white paper here.