AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–According to a new study by Opengate Data Systems, a typical data center running at 5,000 watts per server cabinet will experience an automatic and thermal shutdown within three minutes and nine seconds during a power outage. Higher density data center applications experience even more rapid heat-up and shutdown times, with 10,000 watts or more of server equipment shutting down in less than one minute.
Commissioned by Active Power, the Data Center Emergency Cooling Study examines the impact of a power outage in a data center environment and the subsequent loss of cooling. According to a recent IDC report, 50 percent of businesses never recover after an outage and 90 percent go out of business within two years, a fact that prompted the need for the study. In the event of a power disruption, the ambient temperature can rapidly increase since a power outage will usually force the data center’s cooling system to shutdown. It typically takes two to three minutes before full cooling capacity is restored and all cooling systems cycle back on.
Opengate conducted studies on thermal runaways, a condition where servers overheat and shut down. Active Power’s CoolAir technology was also reviewed for its performance during power disruptions and its ability to solve these thermal overload conditions. CoolAir is the only commercially available uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system to provide both emergency power and cooling for data center operators.
I was browsing the web when I came along this press release, granted it’s talking about Active Power’s CoolAir technology, but it raises a few interesting comments about data center cooling, about what the impact could be if you lost power or cooling in the data center. The length of time is going to depend on a number of factors, but working out in your data center how the air flow is working, where the key systems are, what kind of start up plans you have in the event of a power or cooling failure, is a crucial part of service delivery, and in ensuring that if the worst does happen you’re in a state where you know what needs to be done in what order.
