DCN February 2017 | Page 24

infrastrucure management

SAFE SPACE

Effective fire safety systems are a fundamental requirement in achieving maximum system uptime and availability .
Vital to business operations , a data centre ’ s reliability can impact consumers , customers , profits , services and even whole countries . Having the correct systems to protect such vital assets is a paramount consideration in any data centre building and infrastructure design , as Andreas Haas , product portfolio manager extinguishing at Siemens , explains .

Data centres house critical digital information that enables companies to operate effectively . That data and the software controlling it is the ‘ glue ’ that allows us to function in our modern world – from cash machines to telecommunications to online movies . If a data centre goes down it can cost an average of over $ 7,000 per minute .

Data centre infrastructure management ( DCIM ) systems need to manage the complex data centre environment effectively and efficiently .
Fire safety – quietly does it The diverse electrical systems within a data centre make fire possibly one of the most serious and potentially damaging threats to business continuity . Detection systems need to respond quickly and accurately to reduce widespread fire damage but care also needs to be taken in the specification of the extinguishing systems used to ensure that no damage to computer systems themselves . Inert gas extinguishing systems tend to be used in large data centres as the gas does not damage sensitive equipment .
After many occurrences of hard disk drive ( HDD ) failures following a discharge of inert gas extinguishing
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