(11.19.09) Today's data center managers are struggling to balance organizational pressure to deliver both efficiency and availability.

Looking ahead to the next 10 years, organizations that maximize the value of their technology infrastructure will be successful in driving costs out of data center design, management and operation through improved efficiency while continuing to deliver high availability.

In a new white paper released today, Emerson Network Power reviews four distinct opportunities within the data center infrastructure that will drive this transformation.

White Paper: The Four Trends Driving the Future of Data Center Infrastructure Design and Management http://liebert.hubspotcms.com/ Portals/ 1577/ docs/ m06252_ewc_wp.pdf

Efficiency Without Compromise: Four Trends Driving the Future of Data Center Infrastructure Design and Management

1.Density Equals Efficiency. Industry estimates put the average cost to build a data center shell at $200-400 per square-foot. By building a data center with 2,500 square feet of raised floor space operating at 20kW per rack versus a data center with 10,000 square feet of raised floor space at 5 kW per rack, the capital savings could reach $1 - $3 million. Operational savings also are impressive - about 35 percent of the cost of cooling the data center is eliminated by the high-density cooling infrastructure. Data center professionals are discovering the efficiency gains enabled by high-density environments. Sixty-three percent of the respondents to the fall 2009 Data Center Users' Group (DCUG) survey indicated they plan to make their next data center new build or expansion a high-density (>10kW/rack) facility. The white paper outlines proven approaches to power and cooling in high-density IT spaces.

2.Availability Makes a Comeback. In the wake of a number of high-profile data center outages, the importance of availability is taking hold once again. The fall 2009 DCUG survey reports that availability has vaulted back to the top of the key issues list - now a major concern for 56 percent of respondents versus just 41 percent in the spring 2009 DCUG survey. Understanding that a large percentage of outages are triggered either by electrical or thermal issues, the challenge is optimizing the efficiency gains related to power and cooling approaches while understanding IT criticality and the need for availability. The white paper examines some of the choices to be made and the impact of trade-offs between efficiency and availability.

3.Change Remains a Constant. IT demand can fluctuate depending on everything from short-term holiday buying seasons or volatile stock transactions to strategic organizational changes and new applications. Responding to those swings without compromising efficiency requires infrastructure technologies capable of dynamically adapting to short-term changes while providing the scalability to support long-term changes. These technologies are highlighted in the white paper.

4.Visibility and Control Enable Optimization. If you can't monitor and control infrastructure performance, you can't improve it. Management systems that provide a holistic view of the entire data center are key to ensuring availability, improving efficiency, planning for the future and managing change. The white paper looks at how decision-making and performance can be improved by managing the data center infrastructure from this holistic perspective.