There’s a lot of talk these days about increased power consumption at data centers across the country. A simple roadmap compiled by Emerson Electric on server racks over the past 12 years brings it all home.
A fully populated server rack in 1996 could house 14 single-corded servers operating at 120 volts, for power consumption of about 4 kW. In 2001, a fully populated rack had 42 servers, most likely dual-corded at 208 volts. So, in those five years, the number of required receptacles jumped from 14 to 84, and consumption went from 4 kW to about 20 kW.
Now blade servers are making their presence felt and are increasing a standard rack’s capacity to six dual-corded blade chasses, operating at 208 volts, single phase, with power consumption of 24 kW – for a six-fold increase in a dozen years.
This is why data centers require flexible power infrastructures that can effectively adjust to changes in the number of devices, their density and where they’re located. Of course that’s on top of the fundamental issues of power availability and its management within the data center.