AI workloads are reshaping data center infrastructure at an unprecedented scale. Rack densities exceeding 50 kW are becoming increasingly common. AI training clusters often operate near their peak power envelope for extended periods, placing sustained demand on facility infrastructure. At the same time, AI inference workloads exhibit different characteristics, often behaving more like traditional compute […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Capacity_allocation_next_gen_AI-era_KPIs-featured.jpg5401030Dr. Rand Talib, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, rtalib@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Rand Talib, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, rtalib@uptimeinstitute.com2026-05-20 15:00:002026-05-19 11:45:06Capacity allocation and the next generation of AI-era KPIs
Deployment of direct liquid cooling (DLC, as cold plate or immersion systems) remains overwhelmingly concentrated in applications where air cooling is no longer a practical alternative. As a wave of AI infrastructure was being built, DLC manufacturers invested their engineering resources in maximizing cooling performance for high-performance IT — namely AI training hardware. By comparison, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Liquid-cooling-not-outgrow-high-density-niche-featured.jpg5401030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.com2026-04-15 15:00:002026-04-14 15:06:46Liquid cooling will not outgrow its high-density niche
During 2024 and 2025, a new trend emerged: many large data center builders and operators reported increases in their Scope 2, location- and market-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories, reversing their efforts toward net-zero commitments. While this shift does not indicate a loss of commitment to those goals, it is an inevitable result of the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/As-emissions-soar-operators-look-to-carbon-capture-featured.jpg5401030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.com2026-03-25 15:00:002026-03-24 15:44:38As emissions soar, operators look to carbon capture
Many people do not use the term artificial intelligence correctly: vendors, investors, and even some operators label everything from basic automation scripts to deep learning controllers as AI. This inflation of the term has commercial and strategic motives. AI branding helps attract funding, creates differentiation in the market, and positions traditional analytics as cutting-edge solutions. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/AI-in-data-sorting-reality-from-hallucination-featured.jpg5401030Dr. Rand Talib, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, rtalib@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Rand Talib, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, rtalib@uptimeinstitute.com2026-02-20 15:00:002026-02-19 12:13:09AI in data: sorting reality from hallucination
AI is increasingly steering the data center industry toward new operational practices, where automation, analytics and adaptive control are paving the way for “dark” — or lights-out, unstaffed — facilities. Cooling systems, in particular, are leading this shift. Yet despite AI’s positive track record in facility operations, one persistent challenge remains: trust. In some ways, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AI-and-cooling-toward-more-automation-featured.jpg5401030Dr. Rand Talib, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, rtalib@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Rand Talib, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, rtalib@uptimeinstitute.com2026-01-29 15:00:002026-01-28 09:58:29AI and cooling: toward more automation
The digital infrastructure industry is under pressure to measure and improve the energy efficiency of the computing work that underpins digital services. Enterprises seek to maximize returns on cost outlay and operating expenses for IT hardware, and regulators and local communities need reassurance that the energy devoted to data centers is used efficiently. These objectives […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AIs-growth-calls-for-useful-IT-efficiency-metrics-featured.jpg5401030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.com2026-01-15 15:00:002026-01-14 11:41:16AI’s growth calls for useful IT efficiency metrics
AI training at scale introduces power consumption patterns that can strain both server hardware and supporting power systems, shortening equipment lifespans and increasing the total cost of ownership (TCO) for operators. These workloads can cause GPU power draw to spike briefly, even for only a few milliseconds, pushing them past their nominal thermal design power […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AI-power-fluctuations-strain-budgets-hardware-featured.jpg5401030Douglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, ddonnellan@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDouglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, ddonnellan@uptimeinstitute.com2025-12-17 15:00:002025-12-16 15:00:30AI power fluctuations strain both budgets and hardware
The training of large generative AI models is a special case of high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. This is not simply due to the reliance on GPUs — numerous engineering and scientific research computations already use GPUs as standard. Neither is it about the power density or the liquid cooling of AI hardware, as large HPC […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Electrical-considerations-with-large-AI-compute-featured.jpg5401030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2025-11-19 15:00:002025-11-18 10:08:46Electrical considerations with large AI compute
When the PUE metric was first proposed and adopted at a Green Grid meeting in California in 2008, few could have forecast how important this simple ratio — despite its limitations — would become. Few would have expected, too, that the industry would make so little progress on another metric proposed at those same early […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Is-this-the-data-center-metric-for-the-2030s-featured.jpg5401030Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2025-11-05 12:00:002025-11-04 10:40:36Is this the data center metric for the 2030s?
The pursuit of training ever-larger generative AI models has necessitated the creation of a new class of specialized data centers — facilities that have more in common with high-performance computing (HPC) environments than traditional enterprise IT. These data centers support very high rack densities (130 kW and above with current Nvidia rack-scale systems), direct-to-chip liquid […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Crypto-mines-are-turning-into-AI-factories-featured.jpg5401030Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMax Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.com2025-10-22 15:00:002025-10-20 16:20:24Crypto mines are turning into AI factories
In recent years, the environmental sustainability of IT has become a significant concern for investors and customers, as well as regulatory, legislative and environmental stakeholders. This concern is expected to intensify as the impact of climate change on health, safety and the global economy becomes more pronounced. It has given rise to an assortment of […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Cloud-when-high-availability-hurts-sustainability-featured.jpg5401030Dr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.com2025-09-24 15:00:002025-09-23 13:02:36Cloud: when high availability hurts sustainability
Each new generation of server silicon is pushing traditional data center air cooling closer to its operational limits. In 2025, the thermal design power (TDP) of top-bin CPUs reached 500 W, and server chip product roadmaps indicate further escalation in pursuit of higher performance. To handle these high-powered chips, more IT organizations are considering direct […]
Many grid operators are struggling to meet customer power demands — in both volume and quality. As demand rises, utilities must also monitor and account for customer usage patterns that can degrade power quality (and add costs) for others on the grid. A 2024 Bloomberg analysis revealed a concentration of residential power issues occurring near […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Are_data_centers_to_blame_for_power_quality_issues-blog_hero_image_1030x540px-1.jpg5401030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.com2025-07-16 15:00:002025-07-16 13:59:26Are data centers to blame for power quality issues?
When it comes to generative AI models, the belief that bigger is better is an enduring one — shaping a wide array of high-stakes decisions from corporate investments to energy and permitting policy to technology export controls. A defining technical feature in the pursuit of ever-bigger models is denser compute hardware. This makes sense: as […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Density-choices-for-AI-training-are-increasingly-complex-featured.jpg5401030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2025-06-25 15:00:002025-06-25 10:33:11Density choices for AI training are increasingly complex
Water use has become a benchmark metric for data center operational efficiency and sustainability, as well as a frequent target of community criticism. Operators should track and optimize their water use to protect the environment and secure the facility cooling’s autonomy when its capacity relies on water. However, water use does not fit into a […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Water-is-local-generalities-do-not-apply-featured.jpg5401030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.com2025-05-28 15:00:002025-05-27 14:03:14Water is local: generalities do not apply
Projections of data center capacity growth have exploded with the emergence of AI infrastructure and the continuing expansion and integration of standard IT functionality into the global economy. Electricity demand is growing in developed markets for the first time in more than a decade, led by proposed data center expansions and efforts to electrify the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IT-efficiency-untapped-power-resource-featured.jpg5401030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.com2025-03-12 15:00:002025-03-11 14:01:18IT efficiency: an untapped power resource
Amazon Web Services (AWS) was the world’s first hyperscale cloud provider, and it remains the largest today. It represents around one-third of the global market, offering more than 200 infrastructure, platform and software services across 34 regions. To efficiently deliver so many services at such a scale, AWS designs and builds much of its own […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AWS-silicon-software-cloud-scalability-featured.jpg5401030Dr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.com2025-02-12 15:00:002025-02-12 10:02:45How AWS’s own silicon and software deliver cloud scalability
Direct liquid cooling (DLC), including cold plate and immersion systems, is becoming more common in data centers — but so far this transition has been gradual and unevenly distributed with some data centers using it widely, others not at all. The use of DLC in 2024 still accounts for only a small minority of the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Water-cold-plates-lead-in-the-small-but-growing-world-of-DLC-featured.jpg5401030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.com2024-10-30 15:00:002024-11-13 10:21:48Water cold plates lead in the small, but growing, world of DLC
Cyberattacks on operational technology (OT) were virtually unknown until five years ago, but their volume has been doubling since 2009. This threat is distinct from IT-focused vulnerabilities that cybersecurity measures regularly address. The risk associated with OT compromise is substantial: power or cooling failures can cripple an entire facility, potentially for weeks or months. Many […]
An earlier Uptime Intelligence report discussed the characteristics of processor power management (known as C-states) and explained how they can reduce server energy consumption to make substantial contributions to the overall energy performance and sustainability of data center infrastructure (see Understanding how server power management works). During periods of low activity, such features can potentially […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Managing-server-performance-for-power-a-missed-opportunity-featured.jpg5401030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2024-09-18 15:00:002024-09-17 15:35:54Managing server performance for power: a missed opportunity
Research has shown that while data center owners and operators are mostly in favor of sustainability regulation, they have a low opinion of the regulators’ expertise. Some operators have cited Germany’s Energy Efficiency Act as evidence: the law lays down a set of extremely challenging power usage effectiveness (PUE) requirements that will likely force some […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Resiliency-v-low-PUE-regulators-a-catalyst-for-innovation-featured.jpg5401030Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2024-09-04 12:00:002024-09-06 14:47:55Resiliency v low PUE: regulators a catalyst for innovation?
Uptime Intelligence regularly addresses IT infrastructure efficiency, particularly servers, in our reports on data center energy performance and sustainability. Without active contribution from IT operations, facility operations alone will not be able to meet future energy and sustainability demands on data center infrastructure. Purchases of renewable energy and renewable energy certificates will become increasingly — […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Understanding-how-server-power-management-works-featured.jpg5401030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2024-07-10 15:00:002025-10-28 12:50:13Understanding how server power management works
Due to regulatory mandates and expanded stakeholder expectations, a growing share of operators are quantifying and publicly reporting a complete carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions inventory for their data center infrastructure. An organization’s direct on-site emissions (classified as Scope 1 according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) and emissions from purchased energy sources (classified as Scope […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/What-does-embedded-carbon-really-represent-featured.jpg5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.com2024-05-08 15:00:002024-05-07 10:02:05What does embedded carbon of IT really represent?
A growing number of data center operators and equipment vendors are anticipating the proliferation of direct liquid cooling systems (DLC) over the next few years. As far as projections go, Uptime Institute’s surveys agree: the industry consensus for the mainstream adoption of liquid-cooled IT converges on the latter half of the 2020s. DLC systems, such […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/DLC-will-not-come-to-the-rescue-of-data-center-sustainability-featured.jpg5391030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.com2024-04-25 15:00:002024-04-24 13:58:20DLC will not come to the rescue of data center sustainability
The idea of using liquids to cool IT hardware, exemplified by technologies such as cold plates and immersion cooling, is frequently hailed as the ultimate solution to the data center’s energy efficiency and sustainability challenges. If a data center replaces air cooling with direct liquid cooling (DLC), chilled water systems can operate at higher supply […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Performance-expectations-of-liquid-cooling-need-a-reality-check-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2024-03-20 15:00:002025-10-28 12:47:56Performance expectations of liquid cooling need a reality check
Cloud workloads are continuing to grow — sometimes adding to traditional on-premises workloads, sometimes replacing them. The Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2023 shows that organizations expect the public cloud to account for 15% of their workloads by 2025. When private cloud hosting and software as a service (SaaS) are included, this share rises […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/FinOps-gives-hope-with-cloud-costs-featured.jpg5391030John O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jobrien@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJohn O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jobrien@uptimeinstitute.com2024-03-06 15:00:002025-10-28 12:43:41FinOps gives hope to those struggling with cloud costs
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/What-role-might-generative-AI-play-in-the-data-center-featured.jpg5391030John O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jobrien@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJohn O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jobrien@uptimeinstitute.com2024-01-10 15:00:002024-01-08 11:35:25What role might generative AI play in the data center?
The suitability of a data center environment is primarily judged by its effect on the long-term health of IT hardware. Facility operators define their temperature and humidity set points with a view to balancing hardware failure rates against the associated capital and operational expenditures, with the former historically prioritized. Over the past decade, this balance […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Looking-for-the-x-factor-in-data-center-efficiency-v2-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2023-12-13 15:00:002024-01-24 09:18:10Looking for the x-factor in data center efficiency
Over the past 12 months, Uptime Institute Intelligence has been closely following regulatory developments in the area of sustainability. These include mandates based on the Task force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure standard, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the UK’s Climate-related Financial Disclosure Regulations, and the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive. These legal […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Emerging-regulatory-requirements-tactics-for-riding-the-tsunami-featured.jpg5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.com2023-11-16 15:00:002023-11-15 13:55:30Emerging regulatory requirements: tactics for riding the tsunami
The topic of artificial intelligence (AI) has captured the public’s imaginations, and now barely a week goes by without reports of another breakthrough. Among the many, sometimes dramatic predictions made by experts and non-experts alike is the potential elimination of some, or even many, jobs. These expectations are partly — but only partly — mirrored […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AI-limited-role-for-now-featured.jpg5391030Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMax Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.com2023-09-06 15:00:002023-09-06 09:22:08AI will have a limited role in data centers — for now
ANALYST OPINION In a recent report on server energy efficiency, Uptime Intelligence’s Dr. Tomas Rahkonen analyzed data from 429 servers and identified five key insights (see Server energy efficiency: five key insights). All were valuable observations for better managing (and reducing) IT power consumption, but one area of his analysis stood out: the efficiency benefits […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The-strong-case-for-power-management-featured.jpg5391030Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2023-08-23 15:00:002023-08-22 09:25:21The strong case for power management
Cloud providers divide the technologies that underpin their services into two ”planes”, each with a different architecture and availability goal. The control plane manages resources in the cloud; the data plane runs the cloud buyer’s application. In this Update, Uptime Institute Intelligence presents research that shows control planes have poorer availability than data planes. This […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Cloud-resiliency-plan-to-lose-control-of-your-planes-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.com2023-06-14 15:00:002023-06-13 17:26:33Cloud resiliency: plan to lose control of your planes
Early in 2022, Uptime Intelligence observed that the return of Moore’s law in the data center (or, more accurately, the performance and energy efficiency gains associated with it) would come with major caveats (see Moore’s law resumes — but not for all). Next-generation server technologies’ potential to improve energy efficiency, Uptime Intelligence surmised at the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Server-efficiency-and-caveats-increases-again-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2023-06-07 15:00:002023-06-06 16:14:48Server efficiency increases again — but so do the caveats
Data center operators and IT tenants have traditionally adopted a binary view of cooling performance: it either meets service level commitments, or it does not. The relationship is also coldly transactional: as long as sufficient volumes of air of the right temperature and quality (in accordance with service-level agreements that typically follow ASHRAE’s guidance) reach […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Cooling-to-play-a-more-active-role-in-IT-performance-and-efficiency-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2023-05-24 15:00:002023-05-22 14:23:53Cooling to play a more active role in IT performance and efficiency
Data centers have become victims of their own success. Ever-larger data centers have mushroomed across the globe in line with an apparently insatiable demand for computing and storage capacity. The associated energy use is not only expensive (and generating massive carbon emissions) but is also putting pressure on the grid. Most data center developments tend […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Energy-efficiency-focus-to-shift-to-IT-at-last-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2023-05-03 15:00:002023-05-02 11:33:58Energy-efficiency focus to shift to IT — at last
A proposed permanent network of electromagnetic monitoring stations across the continental US, operating in tandem with a machine learning (ML) algorithm, could facilitate accurate predictions of geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs). If realized, this predictive system could help grid operators avert disruption and reduce the likelihood of damage to their — and their customers’ — infrastructure, including […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Forecasting-the-Solar-Storm-Threat-featured.jpg5391030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.com2023-04-19 15:00:002023-04-18 10:29:17Forecasting the solar storm threat
Up until two years ago, the cost of building and operating data centers had been falling reasonably steeply. Improving technology, greater production volumes as the industry expanded and consolidated, large-scale builds, prefabricated and modular construction techniques, stable energy prices and the low costs of capital have all played a part. While labor costs have risen […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Data-center-costs-set-to-rise-and-rise-featured.jpg5391030Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMax Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.com2023-03-29 15:00:002023-03-27 12:20:19Data center costs set to rise and rise
Standard IT hardware was a boon for data centers: for almost two decades, mainstream servers have had relatively constant power and cooling requirements. This technical stability moored the planning and design of facilities (for both new builds and retrofits) and has helped attract investment in data center capacity and technical innovation. Furthermore, many organizations are […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Too-hot-to-handle-Operators-to-struggle-with-new-chips-featured.jpg5391030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.com2023-03-15 15:00:002023-03-14 09:42:37Too hot to handle? Operators to struggle with new chips
Many digital infrastructure operators have set themselves carbon-neutral or net-zero emissions goals: some large hyperscale operators claim net-zero emissions for their current operating year. Signatories to the Climate Neutral Data Center Pact, a European organization for owners and operators, aim to be using 100% clean energy by 2030. All these proclamations appear laudable and seem […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Unraveling-net-zero-featured.jpg5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.com2023-02-22 13:00:002023-02-22 09:48:39Unravelling net zero
Uptime Institute’s outages database suggests data center fires are infrequent, and rarely have a significant impact on operations. Uptime has identified 14 publicly reported, high-profile data center outages caused by fire or fire suppression systems since 2020. The frequency of fires is not increasing relative to the IT load or number of data centers but, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Major-data-center-fire-highlights-criticality-of-IT-services-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2023-01-11 13:00:002023-01-10 15:40:40Major data center fire highlights criticality of IT services
The data center industry and other large power-consuming industries continue to feel pressure from skyrocketing electricity prices. In Germany and France, wholesale energy prices this August increased six-fold compared to prices from 2021. The US has fared better, but wholesale electricity prices have doubled this summer compared with last year’s prices. While leased data center […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Rising-Energy-Prices-featured.jpg6281200Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngLenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute2022-11-16 08:00:002022-11-08 15:09:24Will high energy prices push operators to direct liquid cooling?
The US Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued multiple geomagnetic storm watches throughout August and September 2022. Geomagnetic storms occur when solar storms interact with the Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field, risking disruption to satellites, radio communications and the power grid. The strongest predicted storm earned the agency’s rating of G3 (“strong”) on a five-level […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Solar-Storms-featured.jpg6281200Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.com2022-10-19 08:00:002022-10-05 16:14:07Data centers weather solar storms
Quantum computing promises a revolution in scientific discovery. Quantum computing’s main advantage over digital computing is in quickly solving highly complex problems that require significant time or resources to process. Currently, solutions to many complex problems can be estimated using supercomputers or pools of servers over days or weeks. Other problems are so complex that […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Quantum-Computing-featuring.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.com2022-10-05 08:00:002022-09-14 14:25:39Quantum computing is not a panacea yet
The thousands of gallons of diesel that data centers store on-site to fuel backup generators in the event of a grid outage are hard to ignore — and do little to assist operators’ drive toward tougher sustainability goals. In the past two years, an alternative to diesel made from renewable materials has found support among […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/HVO-hydrotreated-vegatable-oil-featured.jpg6281200Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMax Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.com2022-09-14 08:00:002022-09-12 15:46:56Vegetable oil promises a sustainable alternative to diesel
Nearly 15 years ago – in 2008 – Uptime Institute presented a paper titled “The gathering storm.” The paper was about the inevitability of a struggle against climate change and how this might play out for the power-hungry data center and IT sector. The issues were explored in more detail in the 2020 Uptime Institute […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Sustainability-Laws-featured.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2022-08-31 03:00:002022-08-22 10:20:36Sustainability laws set to drive real change
When Uptime Institute Intelligence surveyed data center infrastructure operators about supply chain issues in August 2021, more than two-thirds of respondents had experienced some shortages in the previous 18 months. Larger operations bore the brunt of disruptions, largely due to shortages or delays in sourcing major electrical equipment (such as switchgear, engine generators and uninterruptible […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Weak-Demand-featured.jpg6281200Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2022-08-24 08:00:002022-08-15 14:09:19Equipment shortages may ease soon — but not for good reasons
An extreme heat wave swept across much of Western Europe on July 18 and 19, hitting some of the largest metropolitan areas such as Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris — which are also global data center hubs with hundreds of megawatts of capacity each. In the London area, temperatures at Heathrow Airport surpassed 40°C / […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Extreme-heat-featured.jpg6281200Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2022-07-27 20:37:472022-07-28 10:23:38Extreme heat stress-tests European data centers – again
A single tweet in May 2021 brought unprecedented public attention to a relatively unknown issue. Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that because of the large energy consumption associated with the use of Bitcoin, Tesla would no longer accept it as currency. Instead, Tesla would favor other cryptocurrencies that use less than 1% of Bitcoin’s energy […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Crypto-data-centers-featured.jpg6281200Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngLenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute2022-07-27 08:00:002022-07-18 14:09:06Crypto data centers: The good, the bad and the electric
Direct liquid cooling (DLC) is a collection of techniques that removes heat by circulating a coolant to IT electronics. Even though the process is far more efficient than using air, the move to liquid cooling has been largely confined to select applications in high-performance computing to cool extreme high-density IT systems. There are a few […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Direct-liquid-cooling-pressure-is-rising-but-constraints-remain-featured.jpg6281200Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.com2022-07-06 08:00:002025-10-28 12:25:48Direct liquid cooling: pressure is rising but constraints remain
Uptime Institute’s data on power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a testament to the progress the data center industry has made in energy efficiency over the past 10 years. However, global average PUEs have been largely stalling at close to 1.6 since 2018, with only marginal gains. This makes sense: for the average figure to show […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Ultimate-liquid-cooling-featured.jpg6281200Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.com2022-06-29 07:00:002022-06-17 15:22:44The ultimate liquid cooling: heat rejection into water
Conditions will soon be ripe for widespread use of direct liquid cooling (DLC) — a collection of techniques that uses fluid to remove heat from IT electronics instead of air — and it may even become essential. Currently, air cooling is still dominant with DLC remaining a niche option — around 85% of enterprise IT […]
As the data center sector increases its focus on becoming more environmentally sustainable, regulators still have a part to play — the question is to what extent?
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Sustainability-Regulations-featured.jpg6281200Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.com2022-01-12 07:00:002022-01-12 01:14:52Bring on regulations for data center sustainability, say Europe and APAC
Many analysts have forecast an explosion in demand for edge data centers. After a long, slow start, demand is beginning to build, with small, prefabricated and mostly remotely operated data centers ready to be deployed to support a varying array of applications.
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Mixed-Resiliency-Edge-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Tomas Rahkonen, Research Director of Distributed Data Centers, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Tomas Rahkonen, Research Director of Distributed Data Centers, Uptime Institute2021-11-17 08:00:002021-11-16 09:07:48Mixed resiliency at the edge
The power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric is predominant thanks to its universal applicability and its simplicity: energy used by the entire data center, divided by energy used by the IT equipment.
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DLC-featured.jpg6281200Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.com2021-11-05 08:30:002021-11-04 21:01:17Does the spread of direct liquid cooling make PUE less relevant?
Earlier in 2021, ASHRAE’s Technical Committee 9.9 published an update — the fifth edition — of its Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments.
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Edge-Data-Denter-Demand.jpg4281030Dr. Tomas Rahkonen, Research Director of Distributed Data Centers, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Tomas Rahkonen, Research Director of Distributed Data Centers, Uptime Institute2021-06-28 05:00:002021-06-25 09:35:48Eyeing an uptick in edge data center demand
Until recently, power purchase agreements (PPAs) and unbundled renewable energy certificates (RECs) were the primary means for data center operators or managers to procure renewable electricity and RECs for their operations. Many companies are not comfortable with the eight-to-20-year length and financial risks of a PPA. Unbundled RECs are an ongoing expense and do not […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Green-energy3.jpg6121638Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.com2021-05-10 06:04:002025-10-30 13:31:14Green tariff renewable energy purchases
The catastrophic fire that occurred at OVHcloud’s SBG2 data center in Strasbourg, France (see last week’s blog about it) has led many operators to question their vulnerability to fires. Fires at data centers are a constant concern, but are rare. In almost all cases of data center fire, the source is quickly located, the equipment isolated, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/fire3.jpg6921932Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2021-04-05 08:26:002025-10-30 13:30:46Datacenter Fire Frequency
The fire that destroyed a data center (and damaged others) at the OVHcloud facility in Strasbourg, France, on March 10-11, 2021, has raised a multitude of questions from concerned data center operators and customers around the world. Chief among these is, “What was the main cause, and could it have been prevented?” Fires at data […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/firefist2a.jpg6501819Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2021-03-29 06:01:002021-03-23 15:21:42Learning from the OVHcloud data center fire
Power failures have always been one of the top causes of serious IT service outages. The loss of power to a data center can be devastating, and its consequences have fully justified the huge expense and effort that go into preventing such events. But in recent years, other causes are catching up, with networking issues […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/dd2.jpg8992034Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2021-02-22 05:44:002025-10-30 12:55:00Network problems causing ever more outages
Data center operators (and enterprise IT) are generally cautious adopters of new technologies. Only a few (beyond hyperscale operators) try to gain a competitive advantage through their early use of technology. Rather, they have a strong preference toward technologies that are proven, reliable and well-supported. This reduces risks and costs, even if it means opportunities […]
Through 2021 and beyond, the world will begin to recover from its acute crisis — COVID-19 — and will turn its attention to other matters. Few if any of these issues will be as important as climate change, a chronic condition that will become more pressing and acute as each year passes. In the critical […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/sustainability2.jpg242700Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2021-01-11 05:42:002025-10-30 14:29:47Sustainability: More challenging, more transparent
One of the most widely anticipated trends in IT and infrastructure is significant new demand for edge computing, fueled by technologies such as 5G, IoT and AI. To date, net new demand for edge computing — processing, storing and integrating data close to where it is generated — has built slowly. As a result, some […]
What we can expect for mission-critical digital infrastructure in 2021? Each autumn Uptime Institute, like many other organizations, puts together a list of some of the big trends and themes for the year ahead. This time, we have focused on five big trends that might not have been so obvious 12 months ago. Heading into […]
Density is rising The power density per rack (kilowatts [kW] per cabinet) is a critical number in data center design, capacity planning, and cooling and power provisioning. There have been industry warnings about a meteoric rise in IT equipment rack power density for the past decade (at least). One reason for this prediction is the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/racks1.jpg6491923Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2020-12-07 06:00:562020-11-30 14:14:55Rack Density is Rising
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused concerns about data center HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) filtration. So many data center operators are adjusting filtration protocols, including upgrading to finer MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) 13 filters, to better filter out aerosols and COVID-19 virus carriers.1 But there is no free lunch. Depending on the design […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ch1aa.jpg5001350Todd Traverhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngTodd Traver2020-11-16 05:00:502025-10-30 15:01:09COVID-19, air filtration and energy use
There are few organizations that have had as big an impact on data center design as ASHRAE — and specifically, their Technical Committee (TC) 9.9. ASHRAE’s 2004 publication Thermal guidelines for Data Processing Environments (now in its fourth edition) described the optimal environmental operating conditions for the electronics in a data center, and in doing so, effectively […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Edge1.jpg9202185Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2020-11-09 04:54:042020-10-29 08:36:15Why ASHRAE is concerned about edge data centers
When Uptime Institute recently asked over 300 data center managers how the pandemic would change their operations, one answer stood out: Two-thirds expect to increase the resiliency of their core data center(s) in the years ahead. Many said they expected their costs to increase as a result. The reasoning is clear: the pandemic — or […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/type1a.jpg3551475Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2020-10-26 06:00:342025-10-30 14:25:59Why data center operators are investing in more redundancy
Periodically we get questions about data center temperatures and energy savings. The questions usually ask about possible energy savings in commercial data centers by raising the temperature of the data hall. Some form of this question surfaces regularly over time because it just seems to be a common sense opportunity. But there is alot to […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/thermo3.jpg7352420Mark Harrishttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMark Harris2020-10-12 06:00:522025-03-03 09:55:27Increasing data center temperatures to reduce energy costs
Data centers are built and sited to withstand all that Mother Nature can throw at them — or at least, is likely to throw at them — during their lifecycle. This has long been a given, practiced and understood by designers, planners and regulators. But climate change is changing everything. Recent weather events have led […]
As will be discussed in our upcoming note about managing data center with the severe weather caused by climate change, we continue to highlight the need for data center managers to not only review existing emergency plans but also anticipate previously unforeseen challenges. The need to understand the new ‘Normal’ Which brings us to wildfires… […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/pexels-sippakorn-yamkasikorn-3552472-blogsm.jpg13943764Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2020-09-16 06:00:542020-09-14 09:43:03Data Centers and Wildfires
One of the emerging trends in data centers is the use of lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries, both for distributed and centralized uninterruptible power supplies. Research by Uptime Institute and others predicts high levels of adoption in the years ahead. The primary reasons for this are technical, relating to energy density, rechargeability and management. But Li-ion […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Lithium-Element-Blog.jpg8302255Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2020-09-06 06:00:082020-08-27 10:49:33Lithium-ion batteries in the Data Center: An ethical dimension?
When the PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) metric for data centers was first agreed upon by the members of The Green Grid back in 2007, almost everyone in that crowded room in California agreed: This is not intended to be used as comparative metric across sites (as every situation is different) but it would be an […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/energy-Efficiency2.jpg8702500Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2020-08-24 06:00:242025-10-30 14:13:25Which regions have the most energy efficient data centers?
Mitigating Risk Now with Remote Delivery of Tier Certifications COVID-19 has changed the way we go about our lives and how we approach our work. We found ourselves—almost overnight—not traveling, not going into an office, figuring out how to stay home most of the time while continuing to work, and wondering why a respiratory infection […]
Demand for IT capacity continues to grow rapidly across the globe, which has driven the need for more industrialized approaches to data center provisioning including construction and component assembly. Large operators and their partners have scrambled to apply new processes and disciplines, expand and re-organize supply chains, deploy prefabricated components, and, where possible, reduce cost […]
A wave of new technologies, from 5G to the internet of things (IoT) to artificial intelligence (AI), means much more computing and much more data will be needed near the point of use. That means many more small data centers will be required. But there will be no sudden mass deployment, no single standout use […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/GettyImages-157394357-blog.jpg10242720Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2020-02-03 05:34:532025-10-30 15:20:40Micro data centers: An explosion in demand, in slow motion
Energy use by data centers and IT will continue to rise, putting pressure on energy infrastructure and raising questions about carbon emissions. The drivers for more energy use are simply too great to be offset by efficiency gains. Drivers Demand for digital services has seen sustained, exceptional growth over the past few years — and […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/GettyImages-1096717338-blog.jpg17624775Rabih Bashroushhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngRabih Bashroush2020-01-06 06:00:422025-10-30 15:42:30Data center energy use goes up and up and up
In 2012, Microsoft announced that it planned to eliminate engine generators at its big data center campus in Quincey, Oregon. Six years later the same group, with much the same aspirations, filed for permission to install 72 diesel generators, which have an expected life of at least a decade. This example illustrates clearly just how […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/datacenter-2-7.jpg15134085Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2019-12-02 06:30:252025-11-12 11:19:07Data centers without diesel generators: The groundwork is being laid…
We are often asked for our thoughts about the use of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries in data center uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems. This is a relatively new, evolving technology, and there are still a lot of unknowns. In our business, the unknown makes us nervous and uneasy — as it should, because we are tasked […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Batteries-2-7.jpg19235248Chris Brown, Chief Technical Officer, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngChris Brown, Chief Technical Officer, Uptime Institute2019-11-11 06:00:122019-11-07 17:14:31Lithium Ion Batteries for the data center. Are they ready for production yet?
With the recent expansion of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE’s) acceptable data center operating temperature and humidity ranges — taken as an industry-standard best practice by many operators — the case for free air cooling has become much stronger. Free air cooling is an economical method of using low external […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BLOG-Energy-Arrows.jpg8012202Rabih Bashroushhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngRabih Bashroush2019-09-09 06:30:542025-11-12 11:50:41Data Center Free Air Cooling Trends
We have heard for a dozen years about the Open Computing Project (OCP) and their non-traditional approach to computing hardware, from the racks to the servers, storage and networking. And over the last few years to the Open19 Foundation started to promote their alternative platform which resembles the more traditional 19-inch rack approach we have […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Open19-Rack-Photo-wide.jpg6881883Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-08-05 09:00:032025-11-12 12:09:35Open19 expects 2019 to be the year of “Accelerated Adoption”
In our October 2018 report, A mission-critical industry unprepared for climate change, Uptime Institute Intelligence urged data center operators and owners to plan for the effects of climate change. We specifically encouraged data center owners and operators to meet with government officials and utility executives to learn about local and regional disaster preparation and response plans. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/carr-fire-gty-er-180731_hpMain-999x375.png373989Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-07-29 08:00:292019-07-07 06:18:23PG&E Turns Power Off (a.k.a. Climate Change and the Data Center)
A furious — but late — response to the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA’s) proposed standard 855, Standard for the Installation of Stationary Energy Storage, should put the whole data center industry on notice that it needs to increase its participation in standards development worldwide. This is not the first time professional bodies outside of […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/DC-FIREv2.jpg10842994Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-06-27 10:00:142019-06-27 09:42:26Proposed NFPA 855 battery standard worries Data Center industry
Smart Energy is getting a lot of airplay in the data center world at present. New or planned products that fall under this broad banner include Energy-as-a-Service uninterruptible power supplies, software-defined power systems, and adaptable redundant systems that enable operators to raise or reduce their level of redundancy according to business needs. It might be […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/SMART-POWER.jpg5541177Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2019-06-18 09:00:262025-11-12 12:17:14The Business Case for Smart Energy is Still in the Making
In a recent presentation at the Energy Smart data center conference in Stockholm, Gary Cook, the Greenpeace activist who has tracked data center carbon emissions for a decade, showed a slide of logos, indicating companies that have made a commitment to use 100 percent renewable energy for their IT. Cook showed the commitment started with […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/RENEWABLE.jpg5681371Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-06-10 09:00:072025-11-12 12:22:57Renewed Pressure for Renewables to Power the Data Center
The public cloud is dampening demand for data center capacity and leading to closures, consolidation and a big rethink on data center ownership. Right? Not quite, according to the latest Uptime Intelligence research. In enterprise and colocation data centers, we found that virtualization helps free up data center capacity more than any other technology or […]
Sometimes it can be hard to get people to talk about their issues — other times, it can be hard to keep them quiet. A recent Uptime Institute Network member’s meeting began as an open discussion but was soon dominated by one issue: data center staffing. The members’ concerns reflect the growing disquiet in the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/SKILLS-SHORTAGE.jpg9762375Sandra Vailhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngSandra Vail2019-05-22 09:00:482025-11-12 12:30:00The Data Center Staffing and Skills Shortage is here NOW!
Avoiding IT service outages is a big concern for any operator or service provider, especially one providing a business-critical service. But when an outage does occur, the business impact can vary from “barely noticeable” to “huge and expensive.” Anticipating and modeling the impact of a service interruption should be a part of incident planning and is key […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Outage-red-image.jpg5201371Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.com2019-05-08 09:00:322025-11-12 12:32:12Comparing the severity of IT service outages: Uptime Institute’s Outage Severity Rating
The 1970s-era environmental phrase “Think globally, act locally,” is an apt way for data center operators to consider the best approach to understand and address the effects of climate change on their facilities and IT operations TODAY. Globally, we all hear that climate change threatens to bring warmer temperatures, stronger storms, rising sea levels, and […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Flooding-Hurricane-ClimateChange-851x360.jpg390851Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-01-16 15:13:322019-01-16 15:13:32“Think Globally, Act Locally”: Re-Evaluating Data Center Resiliency in the Face of Climate Change
This is a guest post written by Brett Ridley, Head of Central Operations and Facility Management for NEXTDC.NEXTDC is Australia’s leading independent data centre operator with a nationwide network of Uptime Institute certified Tier III and Tier IV facilities. NEXTDC provides enterprise-class colocation services to local and international organisations. If you are interested in participating in […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NextDC-B2-night_851x360.jpg360851Brett Ridleyhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngBrett Ridley2018-09-27 13:58:492019-04-22 10:54:43NEXTDC: Obsessed with the details so our customers’ business is always available
Software enabled application resiliency is now playing a significant and increasing role in bolstering applications availability and reliability across the enterprise, reducing risk to the business. No longer are clients solely reliant upon the stability provided by the electrical and mechanical systems in their data center. By utilizing new software techniques, enterprises are now able […]
True or false? When it comes to Tier Certification, just ask Uptime Institute By Uptime Institute Staff Uptime Institute’s Tier Classification System for data centers has reached the two-decade mark. Since its creation in the mid-1990s, Tiers has evolved from a shared industry terminology into the global standard for third-party validation of data center critical […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/tiers.jpg5941500Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2017-07-20 12:33:222017-07-20 12:33:22Myths and Misconceptions Regarding the Uptime Institute’s Tier Certification System
Luxconnect obtains different Tier Certifications to meet the needs of the changing market demands By Christine De Ridder LuxConnect, a multi-tenant, multi-tier data center and dark fiber network operator based in Luxembourg, developed an innovative strategy using Uptime Institute Tiers to differentiate the services and pricing it offers to key customer groups. In doing so, […]
HPC supercomputing and traditional enterprise IT facilities operate very differently By Andrey Brechalov In recent years, the need to solve complex problems in science, education, and industry, including the fields of meteorology, ecology, mining, engineering, and others, has added to the demand for high-performance computing (HPC). The result is the rapid development of HPC systems, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/moscow.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2016-01-29 08:57:492016-01-29 08:57:49Moscow State University Meets HPC Demands
Achieving the efficiency and cost savings benefits of economizers without compromising Tier level objectives By Keith Klesner In their efforts to achieve lower energy use and greater mechanical efficiency, data center owners and operators are increasingly willing to consider and try economizers. At the same time, many new vendor solutions are coming to market. In […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/klesner.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2016-01-03 10:15:262016-01-04 08:34:30Economizers in Tier Certified Data Centers
Municipal requirements imposed difficult space considerations for Italian insurance company’s Tier IV data center By Andrea Ambrosi and Roberto Del Nero Space planning is often the key to a successful data center project. Organizing a facility into functional blocks is a fundamental way to limit interference between systems, reduce any problem related to power distribution, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Unipol.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-10-28 13:08:132015-10-28 13:08:13Unipol Takes Space Planning to a New Level
NEXTDC deploys new isolated parallel diesel rotary uninterruptible power supply systems and other innovative technologies By Jeffrey Van Zetten NEXTDC’s colocation data centers in Australia incorporate innovation in engineering design, equipment selection, commissioning, testing, and operation. This quality-first philosophy saw NEXTDC become one of 15 organizations globally to win a 2015 Brill Award for Efficient IT. […]
Telecommunications company Swisscom AG builds a new data center in Berne, one of seven Tier IV data centers in Europe By Beat Lauber, Urs Moell, and Rudolf Anker Swisscom AG, a Switzerland-based telecommunications company, recently built a new data center in Berne, Switzerland. Swisscom spent three years and invested around US$62.5 million to build a […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/swisscom.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-09-14 13:47:022015-09-21 13:28:08Switzerland’s First Tier IV Certified Facility Achieves Energy Efficiency
IT services provider develops innovative cooling system for use in its own cloud computing data centers By Jong Wan Kim LG CNS is a major IT services and solutions provider in Korea. Since 1987, LG CNS has acted as the CIO for LG Group’s affiliates. As of the end of 2014, its data centers provided […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/LG.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-09-02 08:34:082015-09-02 08:34:08LG CNS Deploys Custom Cooling Approach in Korean Data Centers
Open heart surgery on the data center: Switchgear replacement in a live facility By Mark Johns U.S. Bank emerged during the 1990s from mergers and acquisitions among several major regional banks in the West and Midwest. Since then, the company continued to grow through additional large acquisitions and mergers with more than 50 banks. Today, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/johns.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-08-14 08:38:332015-08-14 08:38:33U.S. Bank Upgrades Its Data Center Electrical Distribution
Sabey optimizes air-cooled data centers through containment By John Sasser The sole purpose of data center cooling technology is to maintain environmental conditions suitable for information technology equipment (ITE) operation. Achieving this goal requires removing the heat produced by the ITE and transferring that heat to some heat sink. In most data centers, the operators […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sasser.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-07-30 09:52:132015-07-30 09:52:13A Look at Data Center Cooling Technologies
Experience, teamwork, and third-party verification are keys to avoiding data center construction problems By Keith Klesner In 2014, Uptime Institute spoke to the common conflicts between data center owners and designers. In our paper, “Resolving Conflicts Between Data Center Owners and Designers” [The Uptime Institute Journal, Volume 3, p 111], we noted that both the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/KlesnerTop.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-05-13 13:42:102015-05-13 14:29:11Avoiding Data Center Construction Problems
Rigorous testing of data center components should be a continuous process By Ryan Orr, with Chris Brown and Ed Rafter Many data center owners and others commonly believe that commissioning takes place only in the last few days before the facility enters into operation. In reality, data center commissioning is a continuous process that, when […]
System efficiency proves more important than equipment efficiency By Paolo Barberis, Leonardo Sergardi, and Ferdinando Ciardullo FastWeb is an Italian telecommunications operator, 100% owned by Swisscom, providing ultrabroadband services to the Italian consumer and corporate markets, in which it holds a 35% market share. Since its founding 15 years ago, FastWeb has invested in infrastructure. […]
On March 13, 2015, Data Center Knowledge published an article “ViaWest Accused of Misleading Customers in Las Vegas”. The following is excerpted from the article. ViaWest, the Shaw Communications-owned data center service provider, is being accused of misleading customers about reliability of its Las Vegas data center. Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s office has asked […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/1.jpg4751201Matt Stansberryhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMatt Stansberry2015-03-17 11:56:222015-03-17 12:43:12Data center design goals and certification of proven achievement are not the same
An imminent return of service causes a top-to-bottom examination of data center facilities and operations By Rocco Alonzi and Paolo Piro When Sun Life Financial completed a return of service for its data center operations in 2011, the Enterprise Infrastructure (IE) and Corporate Real Estate (CRE) teams immediately saw an opportunity to improve service stability, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/sunlife7.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-02-03 09:46:082015-02-11 14:16:59Sun Life Plots Data Center Facilities and Operations Roadmap to Meet Application Demands
CenturyLink incorporates lessons learned and best practices for high reliability and energy efficiency. By Alan Lachapelle CenturyLink Technology Solutions and its antecedents (Exodus, Cable and Wireless, Qwest, and Savvis) have a long tradition of building mission critical data centers. With the advent of its Internet Data Centers in the mid-1990s, Exodus broke new ground by […]
Petroleum Geo-Services increases its capabilities using innovative data center design By Rob Elder and Mike Turff Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) is a leading oil exploration surveyor that helps oil companies find offshore oil and gas reserves. Its range of seismic and electromagnetic services, data acquisition, processing, reservoir analysis/interpretation, and multi-client library data all require PGS to […]
Turning back the clock at Barclays Americas’ data centers By Jan van Halem and Frances Cabrera Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in personal banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Barclays has two major […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/barclays.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-12-05 12:56:552014-12-05 12:56:55Thinking Ahead Can Prevent the Mid-Life Energy Crisis in Data Centers
Achieving Concurrently Maintainable and Fault Tolerant cooling using various close coupled cooling technologies By Matt Mescall Early mainframe computers were cooled by water at the chip level. Then, as computing moved to the distributed server model, air replaced water. Typically, data centers included perimeter computer room air condition (CRAC) units to supply cold air to […]
The fourth annual Uptime Institute Data Center Industry Survey provides an overview of global industry trends by surveying 1,000 data center operators and IT practitioners. Uptime Institute collected responses via email February through April 2014 and presented preliminary results in May 2014 at the 9th Uptime Institute Symposium: Empowering the Data Center Professional. To immediately […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/17-header.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-11-21 15:56:262015-07-24 08:54:12Annual Data Center Industry Survey 2014
MTN’s new facility makes use of Kyoto Wheel By Olu Soluade, Robin Sloan, Willem Weber, and Philip Young MTN’s new data center in Centurion, Johannesburg, South Africa, includes a 500-square-meter (m2) space to support MTN’s existing Pretoria Switch. MTN provides cellular telecommunications services, hosted data space, and operations offices via a network of regional switches. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/MTN-cover-image.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-11-07 14:36:182014-11-07 14:36:18Cogeneration powers South Africa’s first Tier III Certified data center
Next Step: Preparing for Facility Certification By Alexey Karpov Mordovia Republic-Technopark Mordovia Data Center (Technopark Data Center) is one of the most significant projects in Mordovia (see Figure 1). The facility is a mini-city that includes research organizations, industry facilities, business centers, exhibition centers, schools, a residential village, and service facilities. One of the key […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Technopark-cover.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-11-06 08:14:192014-11-06 08:14:19Russia’s First Tier IV Certification of Design Documents
TELUS SIDCs provide support to widespread Canadian network. SIDCs showcase best-in-class innovation and efficiency By Pete Hegarty TELUS built two Super Internet Data Center (SIDC) facilities as part of an initiative to help its customers reap the benefits of flexible, reliable, and secure IT and communication solutions. These SIDCs, located in Rimouski, Quebec, and Kamloops, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/18.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-09-08 09:57:582014-09-08 09:57:58TELUS SIDCs provide support to widespread Canadian network
Compass sets the course with new modular data center approach. The term modular has been used to describe a variety of approaches to data center design. Historically, the first commercially available modular design was a 2007 Sun Microsystems container-based product called the Black Box. Today, the term describes products that range from shipping containers and […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/emert-cover-photo.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-09-04 07:57:362014-09-04 08:41:19Data Center Facility Owners See Modules as Efficient Way to Deploy Capital
Improving communication between the enterprise and design engineers during a capital project For over 10 years, Uptime Institute has sought to improve the relationship between data center design engineers and data center owners. Yet, it is clear that issues remain. Uptime Institute’s uniquely unbiased position—it does not design, construct, commission, operate, or provision equipment to […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Data-center-owners-v-designers.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-08-07 13:06:172015-02-06 13:06:39Resolving Conflicts between Data Center Owners and Designers
Telecom company Entel achieves first two Tier III Certification of Constructed Facility Awards in Chile Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones S.A. (Entel) is the largest telecommunications company in Chile. The company reported US$3.03 billion in annual revenue in December 2012, and an EBITDA around 40%. In Chile, Entel holds a leading position in traditional data services, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Entel.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-07-24 09:30:442016-06-02 06:50:23Lessons Learned from the Tier Certification of an Operational Data Center
The experiences of Christopher Johnston, Elie Siam, and Dennis Julian are very different. Yet, their experiences as Accredited Tier Designers (ATDs) all highlight the pace of change in the industry. Somehow, though, despite significant changes in how IT services are delivered and business practices affect design, the challenge of meeting reliability goals remains very much […]
Industry Perspective: Three Accredited Tier Designers (ATDs) discuss 25 years of data center evolution The experiences of Christopher Johnston, Elie Siam, and Dennis Julian are very different. Yet, their experiences as Accredited Tier Designers (ATDs) all highlight the pace of change in the industry. Somehow, though, despite significant changes in how IT services are delivered […]
Industry Perspective: Three Accredited Tier Designers discuss 25 years of data center evolution The experiences of Christopher Johnston, Elie Siam, and Dennis Julian are very different. Yet, their experiences as Accredited Tier Designers (ATDs) all highlight the pace of change in the industry. Somehow, though, despite significant changes in how IT services are delivered and […]
Topology and operational sustainability considerations must drive fuel system design. When Superstorm Sandy hit the Northeastern U.S., some data center owners and operators discovered that they hadn’t considered and treated their fuel systems as part of a mission-critical system. In one highly publicized story, a data center operator in New York City was forced to use a […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/keithmain2.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-06-18 10:22:442014-06-19 07:10:06Fuel System Design and Reliability
Three data center design professionals talk about their work and Uptime Institute’s ATD program. By Kevin Heslin, Uptime Institute Uptime Institute’s Accredited Tier Designer (ATD) program and its Tier Certification program have affected data center design around the world, raised standards for construction, and brought a new level of sophistication to facility owners, operators, and […]
Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designers address particulates and seismic activity in the Chilean capitol. By Panagiotis Laziridis, ATD and Jan Carlos Sens, ATD The city of Santiago, Chile, is a challenging place to site a data center. It has a history of strong earthquakes, it is close to dozens of active volcanoes, and the nearby […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/30.jpg4751201Matt Stansberryhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMatt Stansberry2014-05-08 12:12:552014-06-19 07:10:55Meeting Data Center Design Challenges in Santiago, Chile
Capacity allocation and the next generation of AI-era KPIs
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Dr. Rand Talib, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, rtalib@uptimeinstitute.comAI workloads are reshaping data center infrastructure at an unprecedented scale. Rack densities exceeding 50 kW are becoming increasingly common. AI training clusters often operate near their peak power envelope for extended periods, placing sustained demand on facility infrastructure. At the same time, AI inference workloads exhibit different characteristics, often behaving more like traditional compute […]
Liquid cooling will not outgrow its high-density niche
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comDeployment of direct liquid cooling (DLC, as cold plate or immersion systems) remains overwhelmingly concentrated in applications where air cooling is no longer a practical alternative. As a wave of AI infrastructure was being built, DLC manufacturers invested their engineering resources in maximizing cooling performance for high-performance IT — namely AI training hardware. By comparison, […]
As emissions soar, operators look to carbon capture
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comDuring 2024 and 2025, a new trend emerged: many large data center builders and operators reported increases in their Scope 2, location- and market-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories, reversing their efforts toward net-zero commitments. While this shift does not indicate a loss of commitment to those goals, it is an inevitable result of the […]
AI in data: sorting reality from hallucination
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Dr. Rand Talib, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, rtalib@uptimeinstitute.comMany people do not use the term artificial intelligence correctly: vendors, investors, and even some operators label everything from basic automation scripts to deep learning controllers as AI. This inflation of the term has commercial and strategic motives. AI branding helps attract funding, creates differentiation in the market, and positions traditional analytics as cutting-edge solutions. […]
AI and cooling: toward more automation
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Dr. Rand Talib, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, rtalib@uptimeinstitute.comAI is increasingly steering the data center industry toward new operational practices, where automation, analytics and adaptive control are paving the way for “dark” — or lights-out, unstaffed — facilities. Cooling systems, in particular, are leading this shift. Yet despite AI’s positive track record in facility operations, one persistent challenge remains: trust. In some ways, […]
AI’s growth calls for useful IT efficiency metrics
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comThe digital infrastructure industry is under pressure to measure and improve the energy efficiency of the computing work that underpins digital services. Enterprises seek to maximize returns on cost outlay and operating expenses for IT hardware, and regulators and local communities need reassurance that the energy devoted to data centers is used efficiently. These objectives […]
AI power fluctuations strain both budgets and hardware
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Douglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, ddonnellan@uptimeinstitute.comAI training at scale introduces power consumption patterns that can strain both server hardware and supporting power systems, shortening equipment lifespans and increasing the total cost of ownership (TCO) for operators. These workloads can cause GPU power draw to spike briefly, even for only a few milliseconds, pushing them past their nominal thermal design power […]
Electrical considerations with large AI compute
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comThe training of large generative AI models is a special case of high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. This is not simply due to the reliance on GPUs — numerous engineering and scientific research computations already use GPUs as standard. Neither is it about the power density or the liquid cooling of AI hardware, as large HPC […]
Is this the data center metric for the 2030s?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comWhen the PUE metric was first proposed and adopted at a Green Grid meeting in California in 2008, few could have forecast how important this simple ratio — despite its limitations — would become. Few would have expected, too, that the industry would make so little progress on another metric proposed at those same early […]
Crypto mines are turning into AI factories
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.comThe pursuit of training ever-larger generative AI models has necessitated the creation of a new class of specialized data centers — facilities that have more in common with high-performance computing (HPC) environments than traditional enterprise IT. These data centers support very high rack densities (130 kW and above with current Nvidia rack-scale systems), direct-to-chip liquid […]
Cloud: when high availability hurts sustainability
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.comIn recent years, the environmental sustainability of IT has become a significant concern for investors and customers, as well as regulatory, legislative and environmental stakeholders. This concern is expected to intensify as the impact of climate change on health, safety and the global economy becomes more pronounced. It has given rise to an assortment of […]
Self-contained liquid cooling: the low-friction option
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.comEach new generation of server silicon is pushing traditional data center air cooling closer to its operational limits. In 2025, the thermal design power (TDP) of top-bin CPUs reached 500 W, and server chip product roadmaps indicate further escalation in pursuit of higher performance. To handle these high-powered chips, more IT organizations are considering direct […]
Are data centers to blame for power quality issues?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comMany grid operators are struggling to meet customer power demands — in both volume and quality. As demand rises, utilities must also monitor and account for customer usage patterns that can degrade power quality (and add costs) for others on the grid. A 2024 Bloomberg analysis revealed a concentration of residential power issues occurring near […]
Density choices for AI training are increasingly complex
/in Design, Executive/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comWhen it comes to generative AI models, the belief that bigger is better is an enduring one — shaping a wide array of high-stakes decisions from corporate investments to energy and permitting policy to technology export controls. A defining technical feature in the pursuit of ever-bigger models is denser compute hardware. This makes sense: as […]
Water is local: generalities do not apply
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comWater use has become a benchmark metric for data center operational efficiency and sustainability, as well as a frequent target of community criticism. Operators should track and optimize their water use to protect the environment and secure the facility cooling’s autonomy when its capacity relies on water. However, water use does not fit into a […]
IT efficiency: an untapped power resource
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comProjections of data center capacity growth have exploded with the emergence of AI infrastructure and the continuing expansion and integration of standard IT functionality into the global economy. Electricity demand is growing in developed markets for the first time in more than a decade, led by proposed data center expansions and efforts to electrify the […]
How AWS’s own silicon and software deliver cloud scalability
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.comAmazon Web Services (AWS) was the world’s first hyperscale cloud provider, and it remains the largest today. It represents around one-third of the global market, offering more than 200 infrastructure, platform and software services across 34 regions. To efficiently deliver so many services at such a scale, AWS designs and builds much of its own […]
Water cold plates lead in the small, but growing, world of DLC
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comDirect liquid cooling (DLC), including cold plate and immersion systems, is becoming more common in data centers — but so far this transition has been gradual and unevenly distributed with some data centers using it widely, others not at all. The use of DLC in 2024 still accounts for only a small minority of the […]
OT protection: is air-gapping the answer?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Michael O’Neil, Consulting Analyst - Cybersecurity, Uptime Institute, moneil@uptimeinstitute.comCyberattacks on operational technology (OT) were virtually unknown until five years ago, but their volume has been doubling since 2009. This threat is distinct from IT-focused vulnerabilities that cybersecurity measures regularly address. The risk associated with OT compromise is substantial: power or cooling failures can cripple an entire facility, potentially for weeks or months. Many […]
Managing server performance for power: a missed opportunity
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comAn earlier Uptime Intelligence report discussed the characteristics of processor power management (known as C-states) and explained how they can reduce server energy consumption to make substantial contributions to the overall energy performance and sustainability of data center infrastructure (see Understanding how server power management works). During periods of low activity, such features can potentially […]
Resiliency v low PUE: regulators a catalyst for innovation?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comResearch has shown that while data center owners and operators are mostly in favor of sustainability regulation, they have a low opinion of the regulators’ expertise. Some operators have cited Germany’s Energy Efficiency Act as evidence: the law lays down a set of extremely challenging power usage effectiveness (PUE) requirements that will likely force some […]
Understanding how server power management works
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comUptime Intelligence regularly addresses IT infrastructure efficiency, particularly servers, in our reports on data center energy performance and sustainability. Without active contribution from IT operations, facility operations alone will not be able to meet future energy and sustainability demands on data center infrastructure. Purchases of renewable energy and renewable energy certificates will become increasingly — […]
What does embedded carbon of IT really represent?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comDue to regulatory mandates and expanded stakeholder expectations, a growing share of operators are quantifying and publicly reporting a complete carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions inventory for their data center infrastructure. An organization’s direct on-site emissions (classified as Scope 1 according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) and emissions from purchased energy sources (classified as Scope […]
DLC will not come to the rescue of data center sustainability
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comA growing number of data center operators and equipment vendors are anticipating the proliferation of direct liquid cooling systems (DLC) over the next few years. As far as projections go, Uptime Institute’s surveys agree: the industry consensus for the mainstream adoption of liquid-cooled IT converges on the latter half of the 2020s. DLC systems, such […]
Performance expectations of liquid cooling need a reality check
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comThe idea of using liquids to cool IT hardware, exemplified by technologies such as cold plates and immersion cooling, is frequently hailed as the ultimate solution to the data center’s energy efficiency and sustainability challenges. If a data center replaces air cooling with direct liquid cooling (DLC), chilled water systems can operate at higher supply […]
FinOps gives hope to those struggling with cloud costs
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by John O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jobrien@uptimeinstitute.comCloud workloads are continuing to grow — sometimes adding to traditional on-premises workloads, sometimes replacing them. The Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2023 shows that organizations expect the public cloud to account for 15% of their workloads by 2025. When private cloud hosting and software as a service (SaaS) are included, this share rises […]
What role might generative AI play in the data center?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by John O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jobrien@uptimeinstitute.comThis is the first in a series of reports on artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on the data center sector.
Looking for the x-factor in data center efficiency
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comThe suitability of a data center environment is primarily judged by its effect on the long-term health of IT hardware. Facility operators define their temperature and humidity set points with a view to balancing hardware failure rates against the associated capital and operational expenditures, with the former historically prioritized. Over the past decade, this balance […]
Emerging regulatory requirements: tactics for riding the tsunami
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comOver the past 12 months, Uptime Institute Intelligence has been closely following regulatory developments in the area of sustainability. These include mandates based on the Task force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure standard, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the UK’s Climate-related Financial Disclosure Regulations, and the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive. These legal […]
AI will have a limited role in data centers — for now
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.comThe topic of artificial intelligence (AI) has captured the public’s imaginations, and now barely a week goes by without reports of another breakthrough. Among the many, sometimes dramatic predictions made by experts and non-experts alike is the potential elimination of some, or even many, jobs. These expectations are partly — but only partly — mirrored […]
The strong case for power management
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comANALYST OPINION In a recent report on server energy efficiency, Uptime Intelligence’s Dr. Tomas Rahkonen analyzed data from 429 servers and identified five key insights (see Server energy efficiency: five key insights). All were valuable observations for better managing (and reducing) IT power consumption, but one area of his analysis stood out: the efficiency benefits […]
Cloud resiliency: plan to lose control of your planes
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.comCloud providers divide the technologies that underpin their services into two ”planes”, each with a different architecture and availability goal. The control plane manages resources in the cloud; the data plane runs the cloud buyer’s application. In this Update, Uptime Institute Intelligence presents research that shows control planes have poorer availability than data planes. This […]
Server efficiency increases again — but so do the caveats
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comEarly in 2022, Uptime Intelligence observed that the return of Moore’s law in the data center (or, more accurately, the performance and energy efficiency gains associated with it) would come with major caveats (see Moore’s law resumes — but not for all). Next-generation server technologies’ potential to improve energy efficiency, Uptime Intelligence surmised at the […]
Cooling to play a more active role in IT performance and efficiency
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comData center operators and IT tenants have traditionally adopted a binary view of cooling performance: it either meets service level commitments, or it does not. The relationship is also coldly transactional: as long as sufficient volumes of air of the right temperature and quality (in accordance with service-level agreements that typically follow ASHRAE’s guidance) reach […]
Energy-efficiency focus to shift to IT — at last
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comData centers have become victims of their own success. Ever-larger data centers have mushroomed across the globe in line with an apparently insatiable demand for computing and storage capacity. The associated energy use is not only expensive (and generating massive carbon emissions) but is also putting pressure on the grid. Most data center developments tend […]
Forecasting the solar storm threat
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comA proposed permanent network of electromagnetic monitoring stations across the continental US, operating in tandem with a machine learning (ML) algorithm, could facilitate accurate predictions of geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs). If realized, this predictive system could help grid operators avert disruption and reduce the likelihood of damage to their — and their customers’ — infrastructure, including […]
Data center costs set to rise and rise
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.comUp until two years ago, the cost of building and operating data centers had been falling reasonably steeply. Improving technology, greater production volumes as the industry expanded and consolidated, large-scale builds, prefabricated and modular construction techniques, stable energy prices and the low costs of capital have all played a part. While labor costs have risen […]
Too hot to handle? Operators to struggle with new chips
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comStandard IT hardware was a boon for data centers: for almost two decades, mainstream servers have had relatively constant power and cooling requirements. This technical stability moored the planning and design of facilities (for both new builds and retrofits) and has helped attract investment in data center capacity and technical innovation. Furthermore, many organizations are […]
Unravelling net zero
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comMany digital infrastructure operators have set themselves carbon-neutral or net-zero emissions goals: some large hyperscale operators claim net-zero emissions for their current operating year. Signatories to the Climate Neutral Data Center Pact, a European organization for owners and operators, aim to be using 100% clean energy by 2030. All these proclamations appear laudable and seem […]
Major data center fire highlights criticality of IT services
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comUptime Institute’s outages database suggests data center fires are infrequent, and rarely have a significant impact on operations. Uptime has identified 14 publicly reported, high-profile data center outages caused by fire or fire suppression systems since 2020. The frequency of fires is not increasing relative to the IT load or number of data centers but, […]
Will high energy prices push operators to direct liquid cooling?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime InstituteThe data center industry and other large power-consuming industries continue to feel pressure from skyrocketing electricity prices. In Germany and France, wholesale energy prices this August increased six-fold compared to prices from 2021. The US has fared better, but wholesale electricity prices have doubled this summer compared with last year’s prices. While leased data center […]
Data centers weather solar storms
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comThe US Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued multiple geomagnetic storm watches throughout August and September 2022. Geomagnetic storms occur when solar storms interact with the Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field, risking disruption to satellites, radio communications and the power grid. The strongest predicted storm earned the agency’s rating of G3 (“strong”) on a five-level […]
Quantum computing is not a panacea yet
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Senior Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, orogers@uptimeinstitute.comQuantum computing promises a revolution in scientific discovery. Quantum computing’s main advantage over digital computing is in quickly solving highly complex problems that require significant time or resources to process. Currently, solutions to many complex problems can be estimated using supercomputers or pools of servers over days or weeks. Other problems are so complex that […]
Vegetable oil promises a sustainable alternative to diesel
/in Design, Operations/by Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, msmolaks@uptimeinstitute.comThe thousands of gallons of diesel that data centers store on-site to fuel backup generators in the event of a grid outage are hard to ignore — and do little to assist operators’ drive toward tougher sustainability goals. In the past two years, an alternative to diesel made from renewable materials has found support among […]
Sustainability laws set to drive real change
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comNearly 15 years ago – in 2008 – Uptime Institute presented a paper titled “The gathering storm.” The paper was about the inevitability of a struggle against climate change and how this might play out for the power-hungry data center and IT sector. The issues were explored in more detail in the 2020 Uptime Institute […]
Equipment shortages may ease soon — but not for good reasons
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comWhen Uptime Institute Intelligence surveyed data center infrastructure operators about supply chain issues in August 2021, more than two-thirds of respondents had experienced some shortages in the previous 18 months. Larger operations bore the brunt of disruptions, largely due to shortages or delays in sourcing major electrical equipment (such as switchgear, engine generators and uninterruptible […]
Extreme heat stress-tests European data centers – again
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comAn extreme heat wave swept across much of Western Europe on July 18 and 19, hitting some of the largest metropolitan areas such as Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris — which are also global data center hubs with hundreds of megawatts of capacity each. In the London area, temperatures at Heathrow Airport surpassed 40°C / […]
Crypto data centers: The good, the bad and the electric
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime InstituteA single tweet in May 2021 brought unprecedented public attention to a relatively unknown issue. Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that because of the large energy consumption associated with the use of Bitcoin, Tesla would no longer accept it as currency. Instead, Tesla would favor other cryptocurrencies that use less than 1% of Bitcoin’s energy […]
Direct liquid cooling: pressure is rising but constraints remain
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comDirect liquid cooling (DLC) is a collection of techniques that removes heat by circulating a coolant to IT electronics. Even though the process is far more efficient than using air, the move to liquid cooling has been largely confined to select applications in high-performance computing to cool extreme high-density IT systems. There are a few […]
The ultimate liquid cooling: heat rejection into water
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comUptime Institute’s data on power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a testament to the progress the data center industry has made in energy efficiency over the past 10 years. However, global average PUEs have been largely stalling at close to 1.6 since 2018, with only marginal gains. This makes sense: for the average figure to show […]
Direct liquid cooling bubbles to the surface
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime InstituteConditions will soon be ripe for widespread use of direct liquid cooling (DLC) — a collection of techniques that uses fluid to remove heat from IT electronics instead of air — and it may even become essential. Currently, air cooling is still dominant with DLC remaining a niche option — around 85% of enterprise IT […]
Bring on regulations for data center sustainability, say Europe and APAC
/in Design, Executive/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comAs the data center sector increases its focus on becoming more environmentally sustainable, regulators still have a part to play — the question is to what extent?
Mixed resiliency at the edge
/in Design, Operations/by Dr. Tomas Rahkonen, Research Director of Distributed Data Centers, Uptime InstituteMany analysts have forecast an explosion in demand for edge data centers. After a long, slow start, demand is beginning to build, with small, prefabricated and mostly remotely operated data centers ready to be deployed to support a varying array of applications.
Does the spread of direct liquid cooling make PUE less relevant?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, jdavis@uptimeinstitute.comThe power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric is predominant thanks to its universal applicability and its simplicity: energy used by the entire data center, divided by energy used by the IT equipment.
New ASHRAE guidelines challenge efficiency drive
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, dbizo@uptimeinstitute.comEarlier in 2021, ASHRAE’s Technical Committee 9.9 published an update — the fifth edition — of its Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments.
Eyeing an uptick in edge data center demand
/in Design, Executive/by Dr. Tomas Rahkonen, Research Director of Distributed Data Centers, Uptime InstituteData center end-user organizations and suppliers alike expect an uptick in edge data center demand in the near term.
Green tariff renewable energy purchases
/in Design, Executive/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, jdietrich@uptimeinstitute.comUntil recently, power purchase agreements (PPAs) and unbundled renewable energy certificates (RECs) were the primary means for data center operators or managers to procure renewable electricity and RECs for their operations. Many companies are not comfortable with the eight-to-20-year length and financial risks of a PPA. Unbundled RECs are an ongoing expense and do not […]
Datacenter Fire Frequency
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comThe catastrophic fire that occurred at OVHcloud’s SBG2 data center in Strasbourg, France (see last week’s blog about it) has led many operators to question their vulnerability to fires. Fires at data centers are a constant concern, but are rare. In almost all cases of data center fire, the source is quickly located, the equipment isolated, […]
Learning from the OVHcloud data center fire
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comThe fire that destroyed a data center (and damaged others) at the OVHcloud facility in Strasbourg, France, on March 10-11, 2021, has raised a multitude of questions from concerned data center operators and customers around the world. Chief among these is, “What was the main cause, and could it have been prevented?” Fires at data […]
Network problems causing ever more outages
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comPower failures have always been one of the top causes of serious IT service outages. The loss of power to a data center can be devastating, and its consequences have fully justified the huge expense and effort that go into preventing such events. But in recent years, other causes are catching up, with networking issues […]
A Surge of Innovation
/in Design, Executive/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteData center operators (and enterprise IT) are generally cautious adopters of new technologies. Only a few (beyond hyperscale operators) try to gain a competitive advantage through their early use of technology. Rather, they have a strong preference toward technologies that are proven, reliable and well-supported. This reduces risks and costs, even if it means opportunities […]
Sustainability: More challenging, more transparent
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comThrough 2021 and beyond, the world will begin to recover from its acute crisis — COVID-19 — and will turn its attention to other matters. Few if any of these issues will be as important as climate change, a chronic condition that will become more pressing and acute as each year passes. In the critical […]
Edge Computing – The Next Frontier
/in Design, Executive/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteOne of the most widely anticipated trends in IT and infrastructure is significant new demand for edge computing, fueled by technologies such as 5G, IoT and AI. To date, net new demand for edge computing — processing, storing and integrating data close to where it is generated — has built slowly. As a result, some […]
Five Trends for 2021: accountability, automation, edge, sustainability, innovation
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteWhat we can expect for mission-critical digital infrastructure in 2021? Each autumn Uptime Institute, like many other organizations, puts together a list of some of the big trends and themes for the year ahead. This time, we have focused on five big trends that might not have been so obvious 12 months ago. Heading into […]
Rack Density is Rising
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comDensity is rising The power density per rack (kilowatts [kW] per cabinet) is a critical number in data center design, capacity planning, and cooling and power provisioning. There have been industry warnings about a meteoric rise in IT equipment rack power density for the past decade (at least). One reason for this prediction is the […]
COVID-19, air filtration and energy use
/in Design, Executive/by Todd TraverThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused concerns about data center HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) filtration. So many data center operators are adjusting filtration protocols, including upgrading to finer MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) 13 filters, to better filter out aerosols and COVID-19 virus carriers.1 But there is no free lunch. Depending on the design […]
Why ASHRAE is concerned about edge data centers
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comThere are few organizations that have had as big an impact on data center design as ASHRAE — and specifically, their Technical Committee (TC) 9.9. ASHRAE’s 2004 publication Thermal guidelines for Data Processing Environments (now in its fourth edition) described the optimal environmental operating conditions for the electronics in a data center, and in doing so, effectively […]
Why data center operators are investing in more redundancy
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comWhen Uptime Institute recently asked over 300 data center managers how the pandemic would change their operations, one answer stood out: Two-thirds expect to increase the resiliency of their core data center(s) in the years ahead. Many said they expected their costs to increase as a result. The reasoning is clear: the pandemic — or […]
Increasing data center temperatures to reduce energy costs
/in Design, Executive/by Mark HarrisPeriodically we get questions about data center temperatures and energy savings. The questions usually ask about possible energy savings in commercial data centers by raising the temperature of the data hall. Some form of this question surfaces regularly over time because it just seems to be a common sense opportunity. But there is alot to […]
Data Centers and Thunder, Lightning, Wind and Rain
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Chris Brown, Chief Technical Officer, Uptime InstituteData centers are built and sited to withstand all that Mother Nature can throw at them — or at least, is likely to throw at them — during their lifecycle. This has long been a given, practiced and understood by designers, planners and regulators. But climate change is changing everything. Recent weather events have led […]
Data Centers and Wildfires
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comAs will be discussed in our upcoming note about managing data center with the severe weather caused by climate change, we continue to highlight the need for data center managers to not only review existing emergency plans but also anticipate previously unforeseen challenges. The need to understand the new ‘Normal’ Which brings us to wildfires… […]
Lithium-ion batteries in the Data Center: An ethical dimension?
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comOne of the emerging trends in data centers is the use of lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries, both for distributed and centralized uninterruptible power supplies. Research by Uptime Institute and others predicts high levels of adoption in the years ahead. The primary reasons for this are technical, relating to energy density, rechargeability and management. But Li-ion […]
Which regions have the most energy efficient data centers?
/in Design, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comWhen the PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) metric for data centers was first agreed upon by the members of The Green Grid back in 2007, almost everyone in that crowded room in California agreed: This is not intended to be used as comparative metric across sites (as every situation is different) but it would be an […]
Certifying the Tier performance data center… Remotely? Yes!
/in Design/by Chris Brown, Chief Technical Officer, Uptime InstituteMitigating Risk Now with Remote Delivery of Tier Certifications COVID-19 has changed the way we go about our lives and how we approach our work. We found ourselves—almost overnight—not traveling, not going into an office, figuring out how to stay home most of the time while continuing to work, and wondering why a respiratory infection […]
Best-in-class data center provisioning: Simplify, Standardize, Repeat
/in Design, Executive/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteDemand for IT capacity continues to grow rapidly across the globe, which has driven the need for more industrialized approaches to data center provisioning including construction and component assembly. Large operators and their partners have scrambled to apply new processes and disciplines, expand and re-organize supply chains, deploy prefabricated components, and, where possible, reduce cost […]
Micro data centers: An explosion in demand, in slow motion
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comA wave of new technologies, from 5G to the internet of things (IoT) to artificial intelligence (AI), means much more computing and much more data will be needed near the point of use. That means many more small data centers will be required. But there will be no sudden mass deployment, no single standout use […]
Data center energy use goes up and up and up
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Rabih BashroushEnergy use by data centers and IT will continue to rise, putting pressure on energy infrastructure and raising questions about carbon emissions. The drivers for more energy use are simply too great to be offset by efficiency gains. Drivers Demand for digital services has seen sustained, exceptional growth over the past few years — and […]
Data centers without diesel generators: The groundwork is being laid…
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comIn 2012, Microsoft announced that it planned to eliminate engine generators at its big data center campus in Quincey, Oregon. Six years later the same group, with much the same aspirations, filed for permission to install 72 diesel generators, which have an expected life of at least a decade. This example illustrates clearly just how […]
Lithium Ion Batteries for the data center. Are they ready for production yet?
/in Design/by Chris Brown, Chief Technical Officer, Uptime InstituteWe are often asked for our thoughts about the use of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries in data center uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems. This is a relatively new, evolving technology, and there are still a lot of unknowns. In our business, the unknown makes us nervous and uneasy — as it should, because we are tasked […]
Data Center Free Air Cooling Trends
/in Design, Executive/by Rabih BashroushWith the recent expansion of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE’s) acceptable data center operating temperature and humidity ranges — taken as an industry-standard best practice by many operators — the case for free air cooling has become much stronger. Free air cooling is an economical method of using low external […]
Open19 expects 2019 to be the year of “Accelerated Adoption”
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinWe have heard for a dozen years about the Open Computing Project (OCP) and their non-traditional approach to computing hardware, from the racks to the servers, storage and networking. And over the last few years to the Open19 Foundation started to promote their alternative platform which resembles the more traditional 19-inch rack approach we have […]
PG&E Turns Power Off (a.k.a. Climate Change and the Data Center)
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinIn our October 2018 report, A mission-critical industry unprepared for climate change, Uptime Institute Intelligence urged data center operators and owners to plan for the effects of climate change. We specifically encouraged data center owners and operators to meet with government officials and utility executives to learn about local and regional disaster preparation and response plans. […]
Proposed NFPA 855 battery standard worries Data Center industry
/in Design, News/by Kevin HeslinA furious — but late — response to the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA’s) proposed standard 855, Standard for the Installation of Stationary Energy Storage, should put the whole data center industry on notice that it needs to increase its participation in standards development worldwide. This is not the first time professional bodies outside of […]
The Business Case for Smart Energy is Still in the Making
/in Design/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comSmart Energy is getting a lot of airplay in the data center world at present. New or planned products that fall under this broad banner include Energy-as-a-Service uninterruptible power supplies, software-defined power systems, and adaptable redundant systems that enable operators to raise or reduce their level of redundancy according to business needs. It might be […]
Renewed Pressure for Renewables to Power the Data Center
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinIn a recent presentation at the Energy Smart data center conference in Stockholm, Gary Cook, the Greenpeace activist who has tracked data center carbon emissions for a decade, showed a slide of logos, indicating companies that have made a commitment to use 100 percent renewable energy for their IT. Cook showed the commitment started with […]
For most, virtualization reduces data center capacity demand more than anything else
/in Design/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteThe public cloud is dampening demand for data center capacity and leading to closures, consolidation and a big rethink on data center ownership. Right? Not quite, according to the latest Uptime Intelligence research. In enterprise and colocation data centers, we found that virtualization helps free up data center capacity more than any other technology or […]
The Data Center Staffing and Skills Shortage is here NOW!
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Sandra VailSometimes it can be hard to get people to talk about their issues — other times, it can be hard to keep them quiet. A recent Uptime Institute Network member’s meeting began as an open discussion but was soon dominated by one issue: data center staffing. The members’ concerns reflect the growing disquiet in the […]
Comparing the severity of IT service outages: Uptime Institute’s Outage Severity Rating
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, alawrence@uptimeinstitute.comAvoiding IT service outages is a big concern for any operator or service provider, especially one providing a business-critical service. But when an outage does occur, the business impact can vary from “barely noticeable” to “huge and expensive.” Anticipating and modeling the impact of a service interruption should be a part of incident planning and is key […]
“Think Globally, Act Locally”: Re-Evaluating Data Center Resiliency in the Face of Climate Change
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinThe 1970s-era environmental phrase “Think globally, act locally,” is an apt way for data center operators to consider the best approach to understand and address the effects of climate change on their facilities and IT operations TODAY. Globally, we all hear that climate change threatens to bring warmer temperatures, stronger storms, rising sea levels, and […]
NEXTDC: Obsessed with the details so our customers’ business is always available
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Brett RidleyThis is a guest post written by Brett Ridley, Head of Central Operations and Facility Management for NEXTDC.NEXTDC is Australia’s leading independent data centre operator with a nationwide network of Uptime Institute certified Tier III and Tier IV facilities. NEXTDC provides enterprise-class colocation services to local and international organisations. If you are interested in participating in […]
Application Resiliency vs. Infrastructure Resiliency
/in Design, Executive/by Todd TraverSoftware enabled application resiliency is now playing a significant and increasing role in bolstering applications availability and reliability across the enterprise, reducing risk to the business. No longer are clients solely reliant upon the stability provided by the electrical and mechanical systems in their data center. By utilizing new software techniques, enterprises are now able […]
Myths and Misconceptions Regarding the Uptime Institute’s Tier Certification System
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinTrue or false? When it comes to Tier Certification, just ask Uptime Institute By Uptime Institute Staff Uptime Institute’s Tier Classification System for data centers has reached the two-decade mark. Since its creation in the mid-1990s, Tiers has evolved from a shared industry terminology into the global standard for third-party validation of data center critical […]
Luxembourg Colo Provides Multi-Tier Options
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinLuxconnect obtains different Tier Certifications to meet the needs of the changing market demands By Christine De Ridder LuxConnect, a multi-tenant, multi-tier data center and dark fiber network operator based in Luxembourg, developed an innovative strategy using Uptime Institute Tiers to differentiate the services and pricing it offers to key customer groups. In doing so, […]
Moscow State University Meets HPC Demands
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinHPC supercomputing and traditional enterprise IT facilities operate very differently By Andrey Brechalov In recent years, the need to solve complex problems in science, education, and industry, including the fields of meteorology, ecology, mining, engineering, and others, has added to the demand for high-performance computing (HPC). The result is the rapid development of HPC systems, […]
Economizers in Tier Certified Data Centers
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinAchieving the efficiency and cost savings benefits of economizers without compromising Tier level objectives By Keith Klesner In their efforts to achieve lower energy use and greater mechanical efficiency, data center owners and operators are increasingly willing to consider and try economizers. At the same time, many new vendor solutions are coming to market. In […]
Unipol Takes Space Planning to a New Level
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinMunicipal requirements imposed difficult space considerations for Italian insurance company’s Tier IV data center By Andrea Ambrosi and Roberto Del Nero Space planning is often the key to a successful data center project. Organizing a facility into functional blocks is a fundamental way to limit interference between systems, reduce any problem related to power distribution, […]
Australian Colo Provider Achieves High Reliability Using Innovative Techniques
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinNEXTDC deploys new isolated parallel diesel rotary uninterruptible power supply systems and other innovative technologies By Jeffrey Van Zetten NEXTDC’s colocation data centers in Australia incorporate innovation in engineering design, equipment selection, commissioning, testing, and operation. This quality-first philosophy saw NEXTDC become one of 15 organizations globally to win a 2015 Brill Award for Efficient IT. […]
Switzerland’s First Tier IV Certified Facility Achieves Energy Efficiency
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinTelecommunications company Swisscom AG builds a new data center in Berne, one of seven Tier IV data centers in Europe By Beat Lauber, Urs Moell, and Rudolf Anker Swisscom AG, a Switzerland-based telecommunications company, recently built a new data center in Berne, Switzerland. Swisscom spent three years and invested around US$62.5 million to build a […]
LG CNS Deploys Custom Cooling Approach in Korean Data Centers
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinIT services provider develops innovative cooling system for use in its own cloud computing data centers By Jong Wan Kim LG CNS is a major IT services and solutions provider in Korea. Since 1987, LG CNS has acted as the CIO for LG Group’s affiliates. As of the end of 2014, its data centers provided […]
U.S. Bank Upgrades Its Data Center Electrical Distribution
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinOpen heart surgery on the data center: Switchgear replacement in a live facility By Mark Johns U.S. Bank emerged during the 1990s from mergers and acquisitions among several major regional banks in the West and Midwest. Since then, the company continued to grow through additional large acquisitions and mergers with more than 50 banks. Today, […]
A Look at Data Center Cooling Technologies
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinSabey optimizes air-cooled data centers through containment By John Sasser The sole purpose of data center cooling technology is to maintain environmental conditions suitable for information technology equipment (ITE) operation. Achieving this goal requires removing the heat produced by the ITE and transferring that heat to some heat sink. In most data centers, the operators […]
Avoiding Data Center Construction Problems
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinExperience, teamwork, and third-party verification are keys to avoiding data center construction problems By Keith Klesner In 2014, Uptime Institute spoke to the common conflicts between data center owners and designers. In our paper, “Resolving Conflicts Between Data Center Owners and Designers” [The Uptime Institute Journal, Volume 3, p 111], we noted that both the […]
Improve Project Success Through Mission Critical Commissioning
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinRigorous testing of data center components should be a continuous process By Ryan Orr, with Chris Brown and Ed Rafter Many data center owners and others commonly believe that commissioning takes place only in the last few days before the facility enters into operation. In reality, data center commissioning is a continuous process that, when […]
Case Study: Italy’s First Tier IV TCCF
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinSystem efficiency proves more important than equipment efficiency By Paolo Barberis, Leonardo Sergardi, and Ferdinando Ciardullo FastWeb is an Italian telecommunications operator, 100% owned by Swisscom, providing ultrabroadband services to the Italian consumer and corporate markets, in which it holds a 35% market share. Since its founding 15 years ago, FastWeb has invested in infrastructure. […]
Data center design goals and certification of proven achievement are not the same
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Matt StansberryOn March 13, 2015, Data Center Knowledge published an article “ViaWest Accused of Misleading Customers in Las Vegas”. The following is excerpted from the article. ViaWest, the Shaw Communications-owned data center service provider, is being accused of misleading customers about reliability of its Las Vegas data center. Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s office has asked […]
Sun Life Plots Data Center Facilities and Operations Roadmap to Meet Application Demands
/in Design, Operations/by Kevin HeslinAn imminent return of service causes a top-to-bottom examination of data center facilities and operations By Rocco Alonzi and Paolo Piro When Sun Life Financial completed a return of service for its data center operations in 2011, the Enterprise Infrastructure (IE) and Corporate Real Estate (CRE) teams immediately saw an opportunity to improve service stability, […]
Improving Performance in Ever-Changing Mission-Critical IT Infrastructures
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinCenturyLink incorporates lessons learned and best practices for high reliability and energy efficiency. By Alan Lachapelle CenturyLink Technology Solutions and its antecedents (Exodus, Cable and Wireless, Qwest, and Savvis) have a long tradition of building mission critical data centers. With the advent of its Internet Data Centers in the mid-1990s, Exodus broke new ground by […]
Operational Upgrade Helps Fuel Oil Exploration Surveyor
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinPetroleum Geo-Services increases its capabilities using innovative data center design By Rob Elder and Mike Turff Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) is a leading oil exploration surveyor that helps oil companies find offshore oil and gas reserves. Its range of seismic and electromagnetic services, data acquisition, processing, reservoir analysis/interpretation, and multi-client library data all require PGS to […]
Thinking Ahead Can Prevent the Mid-Life Energy Crisis in Data Centers
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinTurning back the clock at Barclays Americas’ data centers By Jan van Halem and Frances Cabrera Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in personal banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Barclays has two major […]
Close Coupled Cooling and Reliability
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinAchieving Concurrently Maintainable and Fault Tolerant cooling using various close coupled cooling technologies By Matt Mescall Early mainframe computers were cooled by water at the chip level. Then, as computing moved to the distributed server model, air replaced water. Typically, data centers included perimeter computer room air condition (CRAC) units to supply cold air to […]
Annual Data Center Industry Survey 2014
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinThe fourth annual Uptime Institute Data Center Industry Survey provides an overview of global industry trends by surveying 1,000 data center operators and IT practitioners. Uptime Institute collected responses via email February through April 2014 and presented preliminary results in May 2014 at the 9th Uptime Institute Symposium: Empowering the Data Center Professional. To immediately […]
Cogeneration powers South Africa’s first Tier III Certified data center
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinMTN’s new facility makes use of Kyoto Wheel By Olu Soluade, Robin Sloan, Willem Weber, and Philip Young MTN’s new data center in Centurion, Johannesburg, South Africa, includes a 500-square-meter (m2) space to support MTN’s existing Pretoria Switch. MTN provides cellular telecommunications services, hosted data space, and operations offices via a network of regional switches. […]
Russia’s First Tier IV Certification of Design Documents
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinNext Step: Preparing for Facility Certification By Alexey Karpov Mordovia Republic-Technopark Mordovia Data Center (Technopark Data Center) is one of the most significant projects in Mordovia (see Figure 1). The facility is a mini-city that includes research organizations, industry facilities, business centers, exhibition centers, schools, a residential village, and service facilities. One of the key […]
TELUS SIDCs provide support to widespread Canadian network
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinTELUS SIDCs provide support to widespread Canadian network. SIDCs showcase best-in-class innovation and efficiency By Pete Hegarty TELUS built two Super Internet Data Center (SIDC) facilities as part of an initiative to help its customers reap the benefits of flexible, reliable, and secure IT and communication solutions. These SIDCs, located in Rimouski, Quebec, and Kamloops, […]
Data Center Facility Owners See Modules as Efficient Way to Deploy Capital
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinCompass sets the course with new modular data center approach. The term modular has been used to describe a variety of approaches to data center design. Historically, the first commercially available modular design was a 2007 Sun Microsystems container-based product called the Black Box. Today, the term describes products that range from shipping containers and […]
Resolving Conflicts between Data Center Owners and Designers
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinImproving communication between the enterprise and design engineers during a capital project For over 10 years, Uptime Institute has sought to improve the relationship between data center design engineers and data center owners. Yet, it is clear that issues remain. Uptime Institute’s uniquely unbiased position—it does not design, construct, commission, operate, or provision equipment to […]
Lessons Learned from the Tier Certification of an Operational Data Center
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinTelecom company Entel achieves first two Tier III Certification of Constructed Facility Awards in Chile Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones S.A. (Entel) is the largest telecommunications company in Chile. The company reported US$3.03 billion in annual revenue in December 2012, and an EBITDA around 40%. In Chile, Entel holds a leading position in traditional data services, […]
ATD Perspectives From Mainframes to Modular Designs
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinThe experiences of Christopher Johnston, Elie Siam, and Dennis Julian are very different. Yet, their experiences as Accredited Tier Designers (ATDs) all highlight the pace of change in the industry. Somehow, though, despite significant changes in how IT services are delivered and business practices affect design, the challenge of meeting reliability goals remains very much […]
ATD Interview: Elie Siam, Pierre Dammous & Partners
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinIndustry Perspective: Three Accredited Tier Designers (ATDs) discuss 25 years of data center evolution The experiences of Christopher Johnston, Elie Siam, and Dennis Julian are very different. Yet, their experiences as Accredited Tier Designers (ATDs) all highlight the pace of change in the industry. Somehow, though, despite significant changes in how IT services are delivered […]
ATD Interview: Christopher Johnston, Syska Hennessy
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinIndustry Perspective: Three Accredited Tier Designers discuss 25 years of data center evolution The experiences of Christopher Johnston, Elie Siam, and Dennis Julian are very different. Yet, their experiences as Accredited Tier Designers (ATDs) all highlight the pace of change in the industry. Somehow, though, despite significant changes in how IT services are delivered and […]
Fuel System Design and Reliability
/in Design/by Kevin HeslinTopology and operational sustainability considerations must drive fuel system design. When Superstorm Sandy hit the Northeastern U.S., some data center owners and operators discovered that they hadn’t considered and treated their fuel systems as part of a mission-critical system. In one highly publicized story, a data center operator in New York City was forced to use a […]
Accredited Tier Designer Profiles: Adel Rizk, Gerard Thibault and Michael Kalny
/in Design/by Matt StansberryThree data center design professionals talk about their work and Uptime Institute’s ATD program. By Kevin Heslin, Uptime Institute Uptime Institute’s Accredited Tier Designer (ATD) program and its Tier Certification program have affected data center design around the world, raised standards for construction, and brought a new level of sophistication to facility owners, operators, and […]
Meeting Data Center Design Challenges in Santiago, Chile
/in Design/by Matt StansberryUptime Institute Accredited Tier Designers address particulates and seismic activity in the Chilean capitol. By Panagiotis Laziridis, ATD and Jan Carlos Sens, ATD The city of Santiago, Chile, is a challenging place to site a data center. It has a history of strong earthquakes, it is close to dozens of active volcanoes, and the nearby […]