It is no longer practical or cost-effective to completely engineer all aspects of a unique data center. Re-use of proven, documented subsystems or complete designs is a best practice for both new data centers and for upgrades to existing data centers. Adopting a well-conceived reference design can have a positive impact on both the project itself, as well as on […]

Small server rooms and branch offices are typically unorganized, unsecure, hot, unmonitored, and space constrained. These conditions can lead to system downtime or, at the very least, lead to “close calls” that get management’s attention. Practical experience with these problems reveals a short list of effective methods to improve the availability of IT operations within small server rooms and branch […]

Data center systems or subsystems that are pre-assembled in a factory are often described with terms like prefabricated, containerized, modular, skid-based, pod-based, mobile, portable, self-contained, all-in-one, and more. There are, however, important distinctions between the various types of factory-built building blocks on the market. This paper proposes standard terminology for categorizing the types of prefabricated modular data centers, defines and […]