APC by Schneider Electric - Technical Articles

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• Accounting and Tax Benefits of Modular, Portable Data Center Infrastructure (WP 115) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  Well-informed accounting treatment of Network-Critical Physical Infrastructure (NCPI) assets provides significant opportunities to contribute to improving the financial performance of a business,... (View Full Article)
• Avoidable Mistakes that Compromise Cooling Performance in Data Centers and Network Rooms (WP 49) (Fans and Electronic Cooling)
  From this Article:

  Avoidable mistakes that are routinely made when installing cooling systems and racks in data centers or network rooms compromise availability and increase costs. These unintentional flaws create... (View Full Article)
• Avoiding Costs From Oversizing Data Center and Network Room Infrastructure (WP 37) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  The physical and power infrastructure of data centers and network rooms is typically oversized by more than 100%. Statistics related to oversizing are presented. The costs associated with oversizing... (View Full Article)
• Cooling Strategies for Ultra-High Density Racks and Blade Servers (WP 46) (Fans and Electronic Cooling)
  From this Article:

  Rack power of 10 kW per rack or more can result from the deployment of high density information technology equipment such as blade servers. This creates difficult cooling challenges in a data center... (View Full Article)
• Determining Total Cost of Ownership for Data Center and Network Room Infrastructure (WP 6) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  An improved method for measuring Total Cost of Ownership of data center and network room physical infrastructure and relating these costs to the overall Information Technology infrastructure is... (View Full Article)
• Different Types of UPS Systems (WP 1) (Power Supplies and Conditioners)
  From this Article:

  There is much confusion in the marketplace about the different types of UPS systems and their characteristics. Each of these UPS types is defined, practical applications of each are discussed, and... (View Full Article)
• Essential NCPI Service Requirements for Next Generation Data Centers (WP 12) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  Data Centers are a significant investment to the corporations and IT departments who they serve. Whether or not they actually achieve the availability of the design is highly dependent on the quality... (View Full Article)
• Essential Power System Requirements for Next Generation Data Centers (WP 4) (Power Supplies and Conditioners)
  From this Article:

  Effective mission critical installations must address the known problems and challenges relating to current and past data center designs. This paper presents a categorized and prioritized collection... (View Full Article)
• Guidelines for Specification of Data Center Power Density (WP 120) (Power Supplies and Conditioners)
  From this Article:

  Conventional methods for specifying data center density are ambiguous and misleading. Describing data center density using Watts / ft2 or Watts / m2 is not sufficient to determine power or cooling... (View Full Article)
• How and Why Mission-Critical Cooling Systems Differ From Common Air Conditioners (WP 56) (Fans and Electronic Cooling)
  From this Article:

  Today's technology rooms require precise, stable environments in order for sensitive electronics to operate optimally. Standard comfort air conditioning is ill suited for technology rooms, leading to... (View Full Article)
• Management Strategy for Network-Critical Physical Infrastructure (WP 100) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  When choosing a management solution for the physical infrastructure of IT networks, management of individual devices is necessary in order to have visibility to the many data points required for the... (View Full Article)
• Mean Time Between Failure: Explanation and Standards (WP 78) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  Mean Time Between Failure is a reliability term used loosely throughout many industries and has become widely abused in some. Over the years the original meaning of this term has been altered which... (View Full Article)
• Mitigating Fire Risks in Mission Critical Facilities (WP 83) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  This paper provides a clear understanding of the creation, detection, suppression, and prevention of fire within mission critical facilities. Fire codes for Information Technology environments are... (View Full Article)
• Network-Critical Physical Infrastructure for Enterprise Wireless LANs (WP 84) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  Wireless LAN (WLAN) deployments can result in unexpected or unplanned power, cooling, management and security requirements. Most wiring closets do not have uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and... (View Full Article)
• Network-Critical Physical Infrastructure: Optimizing Business Value (WP 117) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  To stay competitive in today's rapidly changing business world, companies must update the way they view the value of their investment in Network-Critical Physical Infrastructure (NCPI). No longer are... (View Full Article)
• Physical Security in Mission Critical Facilities (WP 82) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  Physical security - controlling personnel access to facilities - is critical to achieving data center availability goals. As new technologies such as biometric identification and remote management of... (View Full Article)
• Power and Cooling for VoIP and IP Telephony Applications (WP 69) (Power Supplies and Conditioners)
  From this Article:

  Voice Over IP (VoIP) deployments can cause unexpected or unplanned power and cooling requirements in wiring closets and wiring rooms. Most wiring closets do not have uninterruptible power available,... (View Full Article)
• Preventing Data Corruption in the Event of an Extended Power Outage (WP 10) (Power Supplies and Conditioners)
  From this Article:

  Despite advances in computer technology, power outages continue to be a major cause of PC and server downtime. Protecting computer systems with Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) hardware is part of a... (View Full Article)
• Reducing the Hidden Costs Associated with Upgrades of Data Center Power Capacity (WP 73) (Power Supplies and Conditioners)
  From this Article:

  Scaling the power capacity of legacy UPS systems leads to hidden costs that may outweigh the very benefit that scalability intends to provide. A scalable UPS system provides a significant benefit to... (View Full Article)
• Strategies for Deploying Blade Servers in Existing Data Centers (WP 125) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  When blade servers are densely packed, they can exceed the power and cooling capacities of almost all traditional data centers. This paper explains how to evaluate the options and select the best... (View Full Article)
• Ten Steps to Solving Cooling Problems Caused by High Density Server Deployment (WP42) (Fans and Electronic Cooling)
  From this Article:

  High-density servers offer a significant performance per watt benefit. However, depending on the deployment, they can present a significant cooling challenge. Vendors are now designing servers that... (View Full Article)
• An Improved Architecture for High-Efficiency, High-Density Data Centers(WP# 126) (.pdf) (Heating and Cooling Equipment)
  From this Article:

  Room cooling is an ineffective approach for next-generation data centers. Latest generation high density and variable density IT equipment create conditions that room cooling was never intended to... (View Full Article)
• Data Line Transient Protection (.pdf) (Surge Suppressors)
  From this Article:

  Electrical transients (surges) on data lines can destroy computing equipment both in the business and home office environments. Many users appreciate the risk of power surges but overlook data line... (View Full Article)
• Electrical Efficiency Measurement for Data Centers (WP# 154) (.pdf) (Heating and Cooling Equipment)
  From this Article:

  Room cooling is an ineffective approach for next-generation data centers. Latest generation high density and variable density IT equipment create conditions that room cooling was never intended to... (View Full Article)
• Electrical Efficiency Modeling for Data Centers (.pdf) (Cooling)
  From this Article:

  Conventional models for estimating electrical efficiency of data centers are grossly inaccurate for real-world installations. Estimates of electrical losses are typically made by summing the... (View Full Article)
• Energy Efficient Cooling for Data Centers: A Close-Coupled Row Solution (.pdf) (Cooling)
  From this Article:

  The trend of increasing heat densities in data centers has held consistent with advances in computing technology for many years. As power density increased, it became evident that the degree of... (View Full Article)
• Monitoring Physical Threats in the Data Center (WP# 102) (Heating and Cooling Equipment)
  From this Article:

  Room cooling is an ineffective approach for next-generation data centers. Latest generation high density and variable density IT equipment create conditions that room cooling was never intended to... (View Full Article)
• Network-Critical Physical Infrastructure for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems (.pdf) (Networking Equipment)
  From this Article:

  Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology helps automate a variety of business processes, improving their efficiencies. It generates a huge volume of data that needs to be filtered, processed... (View Full Article)
• Preventive Maintenance Strategy for Data Centers (WP# 124) (.pdf) (Heating and Cooling Equipment)
  From this Article:

  Room cooling is an ineffective approach for next-generation data centers. Latest generation high density and variable density IT equipment create conditions that room cooling was never intended to... (View Full Article)
• The Advantages of Row and Rack-Oriented Cooling Architectures for Data Centers (WP# 130) (.pdf) (Heating and Cooling Equipment)
  From this Article:

  Room cooling is an ineffective approach for next-generation data centers. Latest generation high density and variable density IT equipment create conditions that room cooling was never intended to... (View Full Article)