Rack Systems Are Strategic Assets For Uptime, DC Availability

Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson and a global player in maximising availability, capacity and efficiency of critical infrastructure, has released a whitepaper discussing rack enclosure trends and best practices. As rack densities have increased along with overall facility power requirements, taller, wider and deeper racks are required to effectively accommodate these changes.

The whitepaper, titled “Data Center Rack Systems Key to Business-Critical Continuity,” takes a close look at the need for datacentre planners to be flexible and adaptable in rack selection.

“Taking a best practices approach when specifying racks – planning and investing to meet today’s needs with the thought of expansion tomorrow – helps to ensure that datacentre needs won’t readily outgrow capabilities,” said Ron Bednar, Director, Solutions Technologies, Emerson Network Power. “Flexibility allows a datacentre to respond quickly to changing business needs. And while the racks themselves need to adapt to the room in which they are housed, the datacentre must be able to adapt to individual rack environments and zones.”

The Emerson Network Power whitepaper notes that racks are now available that improve equipment installation speed via tool-less, “slide in, slide out” procedures. Taller racks take advantage of the datacentre’s headroom, while rack depth has increased to accommodate equipment. Side breathing needs have increased rack width to meet new manufacturers’ specifications and to enhance equipment performance and life through hot-aisle/cold-aisle arrangements.