Data Center Site: How Deep Can You Go? Efforts to retrofit subterranean bunkers into functional data center space have been underway for years. But as power requirements and security considerations have intensified, selecting underground sites that are specifically designed from day one to house mission critical infrastructure is a new trend.
Ultra-secure underground data center space is being fueled by projected energy, security and regulatory benefits relative to above ground alternatives.
Showing posts with label "World's Greenest" Data Center. Show all posts
Showing posts with label "World's Greenest" Data Center. Show all posts
Saturday, September 6, 2014
This Underground Data Center In Sweden Looks Like A Real-Life Bond Villain Lair
The Pionen White Mountains bunker is located 100 feet below
ground and shielded by 16-inch-thick metal doors, all within a few miles
of Stockholm, Sweden.
The bunker was used by Sweden’s Civil Defense in the 1970s
but was decommissioned and converted into a data center in 2008 by
Internet service provider Bahnhof.
It took more than two years to blast out 141,000 cubic feet
that Bahnhof needed to fit all their backup generators and server racks
into the caves.
One company that also used this space as a data center HQ was WikiLeaks...
In 2010 the bunker housed the servers for the website here
because the country has one of the world's strongest laws to protect
confidential source-journalist relationships.
And while most data centers are stationed in warehouses, this one looks almost like a Bond villain lair...
With its glass-walled conference room, 1970s memorabilia, and of course, its unique waterfall features.
Bahnhof Chairman Jon Karlung says the plants and waterfalls were inspired by the 1972 Bruce Dern sci-fi film "Silent Running."
The bunker even has greenhouses, simulated daylight, a huge
saltwater fish tank, and two huge submarine engines that act as backup
power generators.
The company says that their employees feel happier working in this environment, and are more productive.
Who wouldn't be more productive when they're working from a Bond-esque hideaway?
And if you're wondering how safe you are working here, this bunker was originally built to survive an atomic bomb.
Every evil genius deserves his own subterranean bunker with a
supercomputer to plot world domination. The economy being the way it is
these days, however, most can’t afford to build their own lair.
Fortunately, there are plenty of underground facilities that you can
share with other businesses and organizations. There is a coolness about
these locations, and not just because the ground temperature is in the
50s year round.
“There is a certain James Bond allure to the underground data
center,” said John Clune, president of Cavern Technologies. “Many of our
customers utilize the location in their marketing to show how seriously
they take data storage and protection.”
One of TelecityGroup’s five data centers in Helsinki, Finland, is housed under the Uspenski Cathedral. Credit: Shutterstock
Here are four companies in the U.S. and Europe that are running underground data centers.
Unorthodox location
London-based TelecityGroup
operates five data centers in Helsinki, Finland. One of them is located
in a former bomb shelter 100 feet below the 150-year-old Eastern
Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral. By using sea water and a heat exchanger, it
uses 80 percent less energy for cooling
than a typical data center. But not all the heat is sent to the sea.
The water first circulates to a heat exchanger serving the city’s
district heating system, with the servers providing enough heat for 500
homes. The data center won an Uptime Institute Green Enterprise IT award
in 2010.
Data mining
Cavern Technologies
built a 50-megawatt, 300,000-plus square-foot data center in a former
limestone mine near Lenexa, Kansas. Being 125 feet underground means
that the site is secure from the tornados, ice storms and hail that can
hit above-ground data centers in the region.
“From day one, we have a hardened F5 tornado-proof [261 to 318 miles
per hour] structure,” said Clune. “Above ground, it costs up to $150 per
square-foot for a hardened shell. On a 100,000-square-foot building,
that is a cost savings of $15 million that we can pass on to our
customers.”
Secure storage
The Green Mountain Data Center
is a Tier III+ facility located in a former NATO ammunition storage
facility on an island in western Norway. Three-hundred-foot-long tunnels
connect the data center rooms to the outside world. Although the site
is physically remote, high-speed connections mean it is only 4.5
milliseconds from Aberdeen, Scotland and 6.5 milliseconds from London.
One of the main advantages of the site is its energy efficiency.
Located on the shoreline, it draws 46- degrees -Fahrenheit water from a
fjord, an arrangement that allows a 200-kilowatt pump to produce 26,000
kilowatts of cooling. The system is designed for high-density computing,
up to 60 kilowatts per rack. Since it is deep underground, the cooling
system never has to offset heating caused by the sun striking the walls
and roof. In addition, Norway has abundant hydropower, so the data
center operates without greenhouse gas emissions and the power costs
about 40 percent less than it does in London.
“We wanted to build the greenest data center
in the world and being underground helped in so many ways,” said
Jonathan Evans, Green Mountain’s international accounts director.
Cold War bunker
When InfoBunker
went looking for an ultra-secure location for a high-availability data
center, it wound up taking over a building that was already designed for
high-tech applications: a former military communications center near
Des Moines, Iowa, that was built to survive a direct nuclear hit.
“From a functionality standpoint the building is performing exactly
the same services it did while under military control, only now geared
towards the private sector,” said Jeff Daniels, InfoBunker’s executive
vice president. “From a cost perspective it was also far less expensive
than a greenfield data center project as we could make use of almost all
the existing base infrastructure and our [capital expenditure] was
limited to upgrading/modernizing systems and building the actual data
floor into what was essentially white-box space.”
Although at just 25 feet deep it is much closer to the surface than
some of the other underground data centers, the amount of steel and
concrete used gives it strength. Daniels said that to replace the
building today, with all its hardening and critical systems would have
cost over $100 million. But it did also require additional work to drill
holes for pipes and conduits.
“The floor is two foot thickness of 6,000 PSI-rated concrete and has
steel reinforcing bars the size of your wrist all through it,” said
Daniels. “It eats core drill bits like popcorn.”
The facility is designed for 10 kilowatts per rack and uses outside
air-cooling nine months of the year, using the heated air to warm the
offices. The building stays at about 55 degrees Fahrenheit year-round
and can act as a buffer to absorb some of the heat if the HVAC goes
down. Waste heat from the servers is used to keep the office spaces
comfortable.
Zombie apocalypse
Data centers such as these are even being touted as a place where people could potentially survive a “zombie apocalypse.” “Despite advertising ourselves as a 20-megaton nuclear-hardened data
center we do not anticipate ever being nuked,” said Daniels. “InfoBunker
was however nominated one of the top six ‘zombie-proof’ green data
centers worldwide.”
Green Mountain Data Center
Located inside the mountain in a former NATO ammunition depot (the largest in northern Europe)
Built for the highest military security level. Secured against electromagnetic pulses (EMP)
"Nuclear secure" facility, secured against sabotage and direct attack from the sea.
Green Mountain Data Center Green Mountain Data Center a prime piece of real estate tucked inside a scenic Norwegian mountain. Built next to a cool water fjord and surrounded by evergreens and lush rock-clinging mosses, the space boasts of bright, airy subterranean halls carved out of natural cave walls and almost transcendental settings above ground. This will be the comfortable new home for many of Norway’s data servers. The Green Mountain Data Center is one of the first pioneering data centers that will greatly reduce its costs by harnessing the cooling power of the environment, namely, the steady flow of cool water from an adjacent fjord. Alas, the grass seems to be consistently always greener in Scandinavia.
The Green Mountain Data Center contains nine ‘Mountain Halls’—each spanning well over 1,000-square-meters of space to host rows and rows of servers—a workshop, and an administration building. Its servers will be hooked up to an uninterrupted supply of power from a total of eight independent generators as well as three supply lines connected to the central Norwegian network, and its carbon footprint has been thoroughly eliminated.
Of course its most compelling feature, aside from its generally pleasant, Hobbit-like atmosphere noted by Gizmodo, is the cooling system, which relies on the nearby Rennesøy fjord to provide an abundance of cold water year round to cool its resident motherboards. Facebook has gone a similar route by planting a server farm in the Arctic, but we wouldn’t be hard pressed to say that we like the hospitable environment of this data farm better, and it’s nice to see yet another Scandinavian mountain bunker to add to our favorites!
The Mountain Hall
Approx. 21,500 m2 floor space in the mountain
The areas consists of:
– 6 mountain halls each of 1,855 m2
(11 x 164 m each) in size
– 2 mountain halls of 1,546 m2 (19 x 82 m each) in size
- 1 Mountain hall with internal structure 1,370 m2 in size
- I.e. combined mountain halls of 15,692 m2
- Warehouse/workshop 520 m2
- Administration building 840 m2
- Quay w/"roll on-roll off" option
Fire safety and fire
protection
Closed caverns enable the use
of inert / hypoxic air ventilation
Reduced oxygen level to prevent fire and smoke
- 02 reduced to 15 -16 %
- Fire cannot arise as the combustion process
does not get enough oxygen
- Corresponds to an altitude of approx. 3,000 m
Hypoxic air ventilation/Inert ventilation system
- Reduces/limits smoke formation
- Prevents combustion/fire
- Ensures continuous operation
- No fire damage
- No secondary extinguishing damage (corrosion,
harm to the environment, poisoning, etc.)
- No problems with hard disks due to the triggering
of fire extinguishing equipment
Safe as a vault
Located inside the mountain in a former NATO
ammunition depot (the largest in northern Europe)
Built for the highest military security level
- Secured against electromagnetic pulses (EMP)
- "Nuclear secure" facility
- Secured against sabotage and direct attack
from the sea
"Best in class" data security
Communication
- redundancy
High capacity and redundancy
Local broad band operators
Good connectivity to the world
Multiple high capacity lines to Oslo
Multiple high capacity lines directly to the UK
Multiple high capacity lines to continental Europe
Carrier neutral availability
SubTech Data Center is a ground-level facility built inside solid limestone,
offering security unmatched by any other data center facility. SubTech is located in Kansas City, which provides one of the lowest utility costs in the country and is ranked #2 in the United States for enterprise data center operating affordability. SubTech's data center solutions are reliable and flexible, offering maximum power and connectivity for your robust data center needs. Site plans by
http://www.totalsitesolutions.com/
Expanding or needing data center space? SubTech has millions of square feet available for IT and raised floor area. The facility provides clients with data center space ranging from 5,000 - 100,000+ square feet with 16' clear ceiling heights throughout. The initial 100,000 s.f. can be built out in 20,000 s.f. modules. Click here to download our site plan. http://www.subtechkc.com/site_plan.pdf
Ora Reynolds (left), president of Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development, and Tammy Henderson, director of real estate marketing and governmental affairs, are preparing for when a portal (background) will be the front door to an underground data center.
The Kansas City-based company plans to build a 40,000-square-foot data center in Hunt Midwest SubTropolis. The massive underground business complex is roughly northeast of Interstate 435 and Missouri Highway 210 in Kansas City. Construction on the estimated $30 million SubTech project will begin once Hunt Midwest signs a tenant or tenants for the first 20,000 square feet, company President Ora Reynolds said. Reynolds said the company originally planned a 100,000-square-foot project but scaled back after an unsuccessful attempt in the summer to add state tax incentives for data centers to a bill aimed at retaining automotive jobs. Missouri is at a disadvantage, she said, because Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Oklahoma offer financial breaks for data centers. “The investment in a data center is so much more expensive than a regular building,” Reynolds said. “The investment is so large you can’t do ‘If you build it, they will come’ if you don’t think you can compete.” Reynolds said the company envisions a Tier 3 facility, meaning it has redundant power and cooling systems, with the ability to expand in 20,000-square-foot increments. “The thing that we’re saying is the biggest advantage, and what makes us different, is we have 8 million square feet that has been mined out and has not been developed at the present time,” Reynolds said. “Somebody who’s out there and says, ‘I need 20,000 square feet now, but I know I’m going to grow and need 100,000 square feet in the next five years,’ we can accommodate them while somebody who has an office building wouldn’t let half the building stay empty.” She said Hunt Midwest would be strictly a landlord, preferring to find a managed services/collocation firm to become the main tenant, subleasing rack and cabinet space to smaller companies or leasing entire data suites or powered shells — where the tenants install most of the technical infrastructure themselves. The data center business has taken off in recent years as companies have looked for options to remotely operate or back up data networks. New York-based Tier 1 Research said in a Sept. 23 report that demand has outstripped supply in many markets because the economy has slowed construction and financing of new data centers. The underground data center is relatively new in the industry, despite the obvious increase in security and resistance to natural disasters. Tier 1 analysts Jason Schafer and Michael Levy said in a separate report looking at the SubTech project that so-called data bunkers have had trouble attracting tenants in other markets because of the added complexity of supplying power and getting rid of excess heat and moisture. They said that SubTech does have size and the ability to grow in phases going for it but that it will run into the same skepticism other operators encounter. “This isn’t to say that there isn’t a market for a secure underground data center facility,” they wrote. “It just fits the needs of fewer types of tenants that are likely comparing all data center providers.” Cavern Technologies operates a 40,000-square-foot data center in the underground Meritex Lenexa Executive Park. Cavern President John Clune said the company has grown from four customers three years ago to 35. “Our market has really taken off,” he said, adding that not having to construct an actual building and underground’s cooler air temperatures let Cavern compete on cost. “The economics of the underground allow us to provide more space for the money.” Clune said that data centers typically charge as much as $1,200 a rack but that he charges $2,900 for 250 square feet — enough room for four racks. “It’s when people come down here that the light goes on,” he said. Numerous area companies operate their data centers, including some in underground space. Overland Park-based Sprint Nextel Corp. has three data centers supporting network operations, with two built into earthen embankments, spokeswoman Melinda Tiemeyer said. Other companies use underground caves to store computer data tapes.
What is SubTropolis?
SubTropolis was created through the mining of a 270-million-year-old limestone deposit. In the mining process, limestone is removed by the room and pillar method, leaving 25-foot square pillars that are on 65-foot centers and 40 feet apart.
The pillars’ even spacing, concrete flooring and 16-foot high, smooth ceilings make build-to-suit facilities time and cost efficient for tenants. A tenant requiring 10,000 to one million square feet can be in their space within 150 days. SubTropolis is completely dry, brightly lit, with miles of wide, paved streets accessed at street level.
Hunt Midwest SubTropolis sets the standard for subsurface business developments.
IBM Completes "World's Greenest" Data Center, Aims for World's Fastest Supercomputer BY Ariel SchwartzFri Dec 4, 2009 at 2:41 PM
datacenter
This past May, we reported that IBM broke ground on what was supposed to be the world's most efficient data center--a $12.4 million, 6,000-square-foot facility at Syracuse University that uses 50% less energy than typical data centers. And now, six months later, the data center is ready for action--just as the company also announced a new chip that will help power its Blue Waters supercomputer next year. It could become the world's fastest and would be housed in what will likely be a considerably less green building at the University of Illinois.
But back to that Syracuse data center. Is it really the world's greenest?
According to IBM, the data center differentiates itself by focusing on energy-efficient construction in addition to hardware and software. So instead of just paying attention to server efficiency, IBM also uses an on-site co-generation system with gas-fueled microturbine engines that generates electricity and also water-cools server racks. At the same time, heat from the engines cools data center hardware and uses extra heat to warm up campus buildings.
It's hard to say if these features come together to make IBM's data center the world's most efficient. The data center is at the very least being given a run for its money by Helsinki's new underground data center that also pipes heat to area homes. But it's still a model for future corporate and university data centers. Check out a video of the facility below.
Technology based companies are building new data centers in old mines, caves, and bunkers to host computer equipment below the Earth's surface.
Underground Secure Data Center Operations have a upward trend.
Operations launched in inactive gypsum mines, caves, old abandoned coal mines, abandoned solid limestone mines, positioned deep below the bedrock mines, abandoned hydrogen bomb nuclear bunkers, bunkers deep underground and secure from disasters, both natural and man-made.
The facility have advantages over traditional data centers, such as increased security, lower cost, scalability and ideal environmental conditions. There economic model works, despite the proliferation of data center providers, thanks largely to the natural qualities inherent in the Underground Data Centers.
With 10,000, to to over a 1,000,000 square feet available, there is lots of space to be subdivided to accommodate the growth needs of clients. In addition, the Underground Data Centers has an unlimited supply of naturally cool, 50-degree air, providing the ideal temperature and humidity for computer equipment with minimal HVAC cost.
They are the most secure data centers in the world and unparalleled in terms of square footage, scalability and environmental control.
Yet, while the physical and cost benefits of being underground make them attractive, they have to also invested heavily in high-speed connectivity and redundant power and fiber systems to ensure there operations are not just secure, but also state-of-the-art.
There initially focused on providing disaster recovery solutions, and backup co-location services.
Clients lease space for their own servers, while other provides secure facilities, power and bandwidth. They offers redundant power sources and multiple high-speed Internet connections through OC connected to SONET ring linked to outside connectivity providers through redundant fiber cables.
Underground Data Centers company augments there core services to include disaster recovery solutions, call centers, NOC, wireless connectivity and more.
Strategic partnering with international, and national information technology company, enable them to offer technology solutions ranging from system design and implementation to the sale of software and equipment.
The natural qualities of the Underground Data Centers allow them to offer the best of both worlds premier services and security at highly competitive rates.
Underground Data Centers were established starting in 1990's but really came into there own after September 11 attacks in 2001 when there founders realized the former mines, and bunker offered optimal conditions for a data center. The mines, and bunkers offered superior environmental conditions for electronic equipment, almost invulnerable security and they located near power grids.
Adam Couture, a Mass.-based analyst for Gartner Inc. said Underground Data Centers could find a niche serving businesses that want to reduce vulnerability to any future attacks. Some Underground Data Centers fact sheet said that the Underground Data Center would protect the data center from a cruise missile explosion or plane crash.
Every company after September 11 attacks in 2001 are all going back and re-evaluating their business-continuity plans, This doesn't say everybody's changing them, but everybody's going back and revisiting them in the wake of what happened and the Underground Data Center may be just that.
Comparison chart: Underground data centers
Five facilities compared
Robert L. Mitchell
Name
InfoBunker, LLC
The Bunker
Montgomery Westland
Cavern Technologies
Iron Mountain The Underground
Location
Des Moines, Iowa*
Dover, UK
Montgomery, Tex.
Lenexa, Kan.
Butler County, Penn.*
In business since
2006
1999
2007
2007
Opened by National Storage in 1954. Acquired by Iron Mountain 1998.
Security /access control
Biometric; keypad; pan, tilt and zoom cameras; door event and camera logging
CCTV, dogs, guards, fence
Gated, with access control card, biometrics and a 24x7 security guard
24-hour armed guards, visitor escorts, magnetometer, x-ray scanner, closed-circuit television, badge access and other physical and electronic measures for securing the mine's perimeter and vaults
Distance underground (feet)
50
100
60
125
220
Ceiling height in data center space (feet)
16
12 to 50
10
16 to 18
15 (10 feet from raised floor to dropped ceiling)
Original use
Military communications bunker
Royal Air Force military bunker
Private bunker designed to survive a nuclear attack. Complex built in 1982 by Louis Kung (Nephew of Madam Chang Kai Shek) as a residence and headquarters for his oil company, including a secret, 40,000 square foot nuclear fallout shelter. The office building uses bulletproof glass on the first floor and reception area and 3-inch concrete walls with fold-down steel gun ports to protect the bunker 60 feet below.
Limestone mine originally developed by an asphalt company that used the materials in road pavement
Limestone mine
Total data center space (square feet)
34,000
50,000
28,000 plus 90,000 of office space in a hardened, above-ground building.
40,000
60,000
Total space in facility
65,000
60,000
28,000
3 million
145 acres developed; 1,000 acres total
Data center clients include
Insurance company, telephone company, teaching hospital, financial services, e-commerce, security monitoring/surveillance, veterinary, county government
Banking, mission critical Web applications, online trading
The Editor:
My Name is Gary E.Weller; this is what I am thinking about in the time and space when I am writing this newsletter, you will never know what to expect from my mind or others. When I let my hair grow long some folk say I look like Albert Einstein what a compliment, I will try to keep my hair as long as I can. I prefer to Die on my feet than Live on my knees!"
ACAE - Air conditioning airflow efficiency, the amount of heat removed per standard cubic foot of airflow per minute
AHU - Air handling unit
Air Mixing - The unintended mixing of cold and hot air
Airside Economizer - An economizer that directs exterior air into the data center when the air temperature is at or below the cooling set point
Aisle - The open space between rows of racks. Best-practice dictates racks should be arranged with consistent orientation of front and back to create ‘cold'and ‘hot'aisles.
AMS - Asset management system
ASHRAE - American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers is an international technical society organized to advance the arts and sciences of air management.
BACnet - A data communication protocol for building automation and control networks BAS - Building automation system Blanking Panel - A device mounted in unused U spaces in a rack that restricts bypass airflow, also called blanking or filler plates BMS - Building management system, synonymous with BAS, AMS and other computer-based tools used to manage data center assets BTU - British thermal until, a standard measure of cooling equipment capacity Bypass Airflow - Conditioned air that does not reach computer equipment, escaping through cable cut-outs, holes under cabinets, misplaced perforated tiles or holes in the computer room perimeter walls. C - Degrees Celsius
C/H - Cooling/Heating Cabinet - Device for holding IT equipment, also called a rack CAC - Cold aisle containment system that directs cooled air from air conditioning equipment to the inlet side of racks in a highly efficient manner CADE - Corporate average data center efficiency CapEx - Capital expense, the cost of purchasing capital equipment Carbon Footprint - A measurement of the volume in pounds of Carbon Dioxide generated by business operations. CFD - Computational fluid dynamics, scientific calculations applied to airflow analysis CFM - Cubic feet per minute, an airflow volume measurement Close-Coupled Cooling - Cooling technology that is installed adjacent to server racks and enclosed to direct airflow directly to the rack without mixing with DC air Coefficient of Effectiveness (CoE) - Uptime Institute metric based on the Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient Cold Aisle - An aisle where rack fronts face into the aisle. Chilled airflow is directed into this aisle so that it can then enter the fronts of the racks in a highly efficient manner. Cold Spot - An area where ambient air temperature is below acceptable levels. Typically caused by cooling equipment capacity exceeding heat generation. CR - Computer room CRAC - Computer room air conditioner (pronounced crack) that uses a compressor to mechanically cool air CRAH - Computer room air handler (pronounced craah) that uses chilled water to cool air Critical Load - Computer equipment load delivered by PDU output CSI - Cold supply infiltration index, quantifies the amount of hot air mixing with cold inlet air prior to entering the rack. Cutout - An open area in a raised floor that allows airflow or cable feeds CW - Chilled water DC - Data center DCiE - Data center infrastructure efficiency is an efficiency measure that is calculated by dividing the IT equipment power consumption by the power consumption of the entire data center. This measure is the inverse of PUE. Dead Band - An HVAC energy saving technique whereby sensitivity set points of equipment are set more broadly to improve coordination of the equipment and avoid offsetting behaviors, also dead band control strategy Delta T - Delta temperature, the spread between the inlet and outlet air temperatures of air conditioning equipment, measured as the maximum achievable difference between inlet (return) and outlet (supply) temperatures. This is not the astronomical measurement of Terrestrial Dynamical Time minus Universal Time. Dewpoint - The temperature at which air reaches water vapor saturation, typically used when examining environmental conditions to ensure they support optimum hardware reliability D/H - Dehumidifying/Humidifying Dry-Bulb Temperature - The temperature of the air measured using a dry-bulb thermometer, typically taken in conjunction with a wet-bulb reading in order to determine relative humidity EFC - Equivalent full cabinets, the number of full cabinets that would exist if all the equipment in the data center were concentrated in full cabinets ESD - Electrostatic discharge, more commonly ‘static discharge' F - Degrees Fahrenheit Ft2 - Square feet or foot GPM - Gallons per minute HAC - Hot aisle containment system that directs heated air from the outlet side of racks to air conditioning equipment return ducts in a highly efficient manner Harmonic Distortion - Multiples of power frequency superimposed on the power waveform that causes excess heating in wiring and fuses Heat Exchanger - A device used to transfer heat energy, typically used for removing heat from a chilled liquid system HDG - Hot dipped galvanized Hot Aisle - An aisle where rack backs face into the aisle. Heated exhaust air from the equipment in the racks enters this aisle and is then directed to the CRAC return vents. HPDC - High-performance data center, a data center with above average kW loading, typically greater than 10kW/rack Hot Spot - An area, typically related to a rack or set of racks, where ambient air temperature is above acceptable levels. Typically caused by heat generation in excess of cooling equipment capacity. Hp - Horsepower Hr - Hour HVAC - Heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, the set of components used to condition interior air including heating and cooling equipment as well as ducting and related airflow devices In-Row Cooling - Cooling technology installed between server racks in a row that delivers cooled air to equipment more efficiently Inlet Air - The air entering the referenced equipment. For air conditioning equipment this is the heated air returning to be cooled, also called return air. For racks and servers this is the cooled air entering the equipment. IP - Internet protocol, a communications technology using the internet for communications. IR - Infrared spectrum used by thermal imaging technologies JVM - Java virtual machine, Java interpreter. Software that converts the Java intermediate language into executable machine language. kBTU - Kilo British thermal unit, one thousand BTU, a unit of measurement for the cooling capacity of a CRAH kCFM - Kilo-cubic feet per minute, 1000 CFM kV - Kilovolt kW - Kilowatts kWc - Kilowatts of cooling, alternate unit of measurement for the cooling capacity of a CRAH kWh - Kilowatt hours kVA - Kilovolt amperes = voltage x current (amperage) KVM - Keyboard, video, mouse; an interface technology that enables users to access multiple servers remotely from one or more KVM sites. More obscurely, can also mean K Virtual Machine: a version of the Java Virtual Machine for small devices with limited memory. Latent Cooling Capacity - Cooling capacity related to wet bulb temperature and objects that produce condensation Line Noise - Distortions superimposed on the power waveform that causes electromagnetic interference Liquid Cooling - A general term used to refer to cooling technology that uses a liquid circulation system to evacuate heat as opposed to a condenser, most commonly used in reference to specific types of in-row or close-coupled cooling technologies Load - The kW consumption of equipment, typically installed in a rack. Also, the heat level a cooling system is required to remove from the data center environment MAH - Makeup air handler, a larger air handler that conditions 100% outside air. Synonymous with MAU. Make-Up Air - The conditioned air delivered by a MAU or MAH MAU - Makeup air unit, a larger air handler that conditions 100% outside air. Synonymous with MAH. Maximum Temperature Rate of Change - An ASHRAE standard established to ensure stable air temperatures. The standard is 9 degrees F per hour. MERV - Minimum efficiency reporting value , ASHRAE 52.2, for air filtration measured in particulate size. N+1 - Need plus one, a redundancy concept where capacity is configured to include planned capacity plus one additional device to enable continued operations with the failure of one system in the configuration. This presumes immediate detection and remediation of the failed unit. NEBS - Network equipment-building system design guidelines applied to telecommunications equipment No. - Number Nominal Cooling Capacity - The total cooling capacity of air conditioning equipment, includes both latent and sensible capacities. Due to humidity control in data centers, the latent capacity should be deducted from nominal capacity to determine useful capacity OpEx - Operating expense, the ongoing expenses related to operating the data center Overcooling - A situation where air is cooled below optimum levels. Typically used in reference to rack inlet temperatures. PDU - Power distribution unit Pole - A row of power receptacles with power supplied from a PDU Pole Position - A power receptacle on a pole Pressure Differential - The difference in pressure between two locations in the data center used to analyze air flow behaviors PH - Phase, electrical phase 1-3 Plenum - A receiving chamber for air used to direct air flow PU - Packaged unit, an air handler designed for outdoor use. PUE - Power usage effectiveness, a measure of data center energy efficiency calculated by dividing the total data center energy consumption by the energy consumption of the IT computing equipment. This measure is the inverse of DCiE. Rack - Device for holding IT equipment, also called a cabinet RAH - Recirculation air handler, a device that circulates air but does not cool the air Raised Floor - Metal flooring on stanchions that creates a plenum for airflow and cabling, synonymous with RMF Recirculation - Chilled airflow returning to cooling units without passing through IT equipment, also referred to as short cycling Return Air - The heated air returning to air conditioning equipment RFI - Radio frequency interference Rh - Relative humidity RMF - Raised metal floor, an alternate term for the more commonly used term ‘raised floor' ROI - Return on investment, a measure of the amount of time required to recover an investment RPM - Revolutions per minute, used to measure fan speeds RPP - Remote power panel RTU - Rooftop unit, an air handler designed for outdoor use mounted on a rooftop. A typical application of a PU. S+S - System plus system SCFM - Standard cubic feet per minute, the volumetric flow rate of a gas corrected to standardized conditions of temperature, pressure and relative humidity Sensible Cooling Capacity - Cooling capacity related to dry bulb temperature and objects that do not produce condensation Sensitivity - An equipment setting that bounds the set point range and triggers a change in device function when exceeded. Most commonly referring to CRAC/CRAH temperature and humidity set points. Set Point - Typically used in reference to air conditioning equipment thermostat temperature and humidity settings Short Cycling - Chilled airflow returning to cooling units without passing through IT equipment, also referred to as recirculation STS - Static transfer switch Sub-Floor - The open area underneath a raised computer floor, also called a sub-floor plenum Supply Air - The cooled airflow emitted from air conditioning equipment TCE - Triton Coefficient of EffectivenessSM, synonymous with UCE Thermistor - A type of resistor with resistance varying according to its temperature U - Rack mount unit, the standardized height of one unit is 1.75" UCE - Upsite Coefficient of EffectivenessSM, synonymous with TCE UPS - Uninterruptible power supply, device used to supply short-term power to computing equipment for brief outages or until an alternate power source, such as a generator, can begin supplying power. VFD - Variable frequency drive W - Watt(s) Waterside Economizer - An economizer that redirects water flow to an external heat exchanger when the exterior ambient air temperature is at or below a temperature required to chill water to a given set point, simultaneously shutting down the mechanical chiller equipment. Wet-Bulb Temperature - The temperature of the air measured using a wet-bulb thermometer, typically taken in conjunction with a dry-bulb reading in order to determine relative humidity Wg - Inches of water column, an approximate unit of measurement for static air pressure Work Cell - The area of a rack and the related area immediately in front of and behind the rack. Standard racks are 2 feet wide and 4 feet deep. Standard aisles are 4 feet wide, so half of that space is workspace for a given rack. This results in a standard work cell of 16 square feet. Actual work cell size varies with data center design. WPSF - Watts per square foot
