Many data centers, including most built before 2001, are at risk of outstripping their power and cooling capacities. Data centers already consume 10 to 30 times more energy per square foot than the typical office building — a figure that continues to grow. In fact, energy costs represent the single largest component of a data center’s operating expenses, and a potential barrier to future expansion. Compounding this challenge, today’s data centers are actively increasing agility and striving to maintain high standards of uptime while improving energy efficiency.
Several configurations are available for today’s topologies in the data center, and CIOs, data center professionals, and IT managers need to examine the pros and cons of each based on their specific needs and total cost of ownership (TCO).