IT Equipment Design Evolution & Data Center Operation Optimization

This is an archived recording of the 2021 online version of the course. The course materials and continuing education credits and/or professional development hours are not available. IT manufacturers are continually responding to customer demands. Depending on the market sector, the demands call for IT equipment that is lower cost, more energy efficient, provides more storage, and provides more computing capabilities. This results in continued, significant changes in hardware, including the hardware operating conditions. As IT equipment design evolves in response to customer needs, operational feedback is also received which, in turn, continues the evolution and optimization. In recent years, the amount of operational data received combined with its analysis by the IT manufacturers has led to some surprising and important discoveries. In some cases, even unintended consequences have resulted. These changes in the IT hardware operation will require operational changes to data centers to achieve the maximum efficiency within the ASHRAE environmental envelopes of relative humidity, temperature and IT equipment power. This course describes the changing IT equipment and its impact on data center operating conditions. The course also shares important insight resulting from the hard work in these areas by ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.9, Mission Critical Facilities, Data Centers, Technology Spaces, and Electronic Equipment.