HVAC

Almost all physical hardware devices come with environmental requirements that include acceptable temperature and humidity ranges. Environmental requirements are usually described in a product specifications document or in a physical planning guide.

A separate space, called a plenum, is often allocated to house and allow air circulation for HVAC and communication cabling, typically in the space between the structural ceiling and a drop-down ceiling or under a raised floor.

Learn more about Data center cooling

ASHRAE data center special report: ASHRAE hosted its annual conference in Dallas last month. This special report contains ASHRAE's latest data center information.
Data center cooling strategies audiocast: This audio cast series tackles the latest data center cooling issues with Liebert Corporation's data center cooling expert Steve Madara.
Cooling data centers with outside air gets the go-ahead: Using outside air to cool your data center can save you money. But what about those nasty contaminants that might come in?
Liquid cooling buyers' guide: Data centers are welcoming liquid cooling into their infrastructures for better cooling efficiency. This guide to liquid cooling in the data center looks at a few products.
Data Center Facilities IT Handbook: Learn how to bridge the communication gap between data center facilities teams and IT staff in order to maintain a productive and efficient data center.
Data Center Library: Enterprise Data Center Design and Methodology: A review of Enterprise Data Center Design and Methodology by Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Enterprise Architect Rob Snevely.
Data Center Decisions Session Downloads: Power and Cooling Track (Chicago 2006): This track looks at how data center designs can maximize air flow, A/C considerations, new techniques in cooling and the looming issue blade servers bring to cooling.
	Bob McFarlane: Blogs and more: Expert Bob McFarlane recently hosted a blog that tackled the full array of problems that face anyone managing a data center's physical environment. The best of the blog is here.
Heating and cooling playbook: Need help keeping your new blades and ultra-high density server racks from overheating your data center? Our heating and cooling playbook will show you the ropes to keep things cool.

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More resources from around the web: - HVAC-Talk is a public discussion dealing with HVAC questions and advice. - ThePlanet.com, an ISP in Dallas, Texas, describes its data centers (including HVAC) in detail. - Siemon provides a white paper about a data center solution. - IBM offers CATIA software for planning HVAC installation.

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RELATED CONTENT IT wish list: Better ways to analyze data center environmental metrics Data center managers are under pressure to collect data center metrics about the physical environment -- and to do something with them. End users still cool on Iceland as a data center site Iceland's financial collapse, limited labor pool and lack of proximity to metropolitan areas give users pause about targeting the country for data... Air-side economizers reduce energy use at NetApp data center A new NetApp data center relies on air-side economizers and outside air -- in North Carolina -- to reduce energy consumption and cost.

RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary ambient temperature  (SearchDataCenter.com) ASHRAE  (SearchDataCenter.com)