In data centers large and small, climate control continues to be a big problem. As we all can surmise, larger centers face major cooling expenses — even as hardware continues to shrink, it generates more heat than ever — but smaller facilities are challenged because the physical space tends to be smaller.
Heat is a major danger to hardware, estimated to be responsible for 60 percent of all electronic equipment failure.
Ziff-Davis Media has unearthed another aspect of the problem. According to a recent study, 21 percent of respondents said power and cooling issues are forcing them to leave some rack space vacant — up to 18 percent unused, to be exact. That may not sound too bad, but every vacant position in a rack is a hidden cost, especially if the data center is near capacity.