Much of the problem can be avoided, according to 8 Solutions CEO, Mark Plant, with proper care and attention, but the reality is that, sooner or later, any data centre will need some kind of a clean – whether it’s simply a surface clean, or a deep, clinical clean that goes under the raised floor, into the ceiling voids, under/over/into the cabinets themselves.
At the worst end of the scale, poorly trained subcontractors coming into a data centre environment can bring vast amounts of dust with them (the toolbox is a ‘favourite’ location), unpack new IT equipment in the data centre itself – and then leaving the packaging under the floor, where it joins a host of cable ties and bits of cable, discarded air filters and other rubbish.
Without a proper cleaning regime, contamination can end up blocking as much as 50 per cent of a servers air intake, for example – not, I suspect, something that is generally included in the average data centre power and cooling review.
And then there’s the cases where the person mopping the floor is none too careful, and water slops up the side of the cabinets, or the floor is polished to such an extent that it loses its anti-static property.
This blog is not intended to scaremonger, nor promote the services of 8 Solutions specifically, rather to raise the issue of data centre contamination, and to make sure that it’s on the data centre management list.
However, 8 Solutions is currently offering a free, 20 point Health Check, where it will come and look at everything from the sub-floor to the ceiling voids and write up a report. No doubt, other companies are also available to do likewise.
The point is, not so much who carries out the contamination assessment, but the fact that one is done at all. After all, your PUE might be approaching the sub zero level, and your ICT infrastructure the best that money can’t buy, but nobody yet found a way of magicking away dust…
