Key requirements colocation or multi-tenant data centers (MTDCs) consider in their offerings are: affordability, low operating cost, sustainability, reliability and agility. But, they have three common challenges to which we’ve outlined the solutions.

1. 3 solutions for colocation
data center challenges

2. Issue #1:
Low UPS loading
To preserve reliability, many MTDCs utilize redundant
UPS and/or 2N architectures in which multiple units
operate at partial loads, so if one device fails or requires
maintenance, the others can quickly compensate.
These types of deployment schemes guard against
downtime, but also lower energy-efficiency. Lightly
loaded UPSs waste more power and produce more heat
than fully loaded UPSs.

3. Solution #1A:
Use variable, modular energy-efficiency UPSs
Variable, modular UPSs allow data center operators
to load a few modules heavily rather than several
ones lightly for maximum energy efficiency.
The unneeded modules are on standby. If an issue
cause load requirements to jump suddenly, the UPS
automatically and immediately activates the standby
modules for continuous uptime.

4. Multi-mode UPSs support two operating modes. In
normal operation, the UPS runs in a highly-efficient
energy saver mode up to 99% efficient, but if power
conditions fall outside pre-determined tolerances,
the device automatically and immediately transitions
back to double-conversion mode. When power
quality returns to acceptable levels, the UPS
transitions back into energy saver mode.
Solution #1B:
Use multi-mode energy-efficiency UPSs

5. Issue #2:
Extreme operating temperatures
MTDC data center clients make extensive
use of virtualization and blade servers.
Though both technologies radically
increase a data center’s compute density,
they also generate enormous amounts of
heat in smaller spaces. Dispersing that
heat can be a difficult and expensive task.

6. Solution #2:
Utilize economizers
MTDC owners are increasingly deploying smaller
computer room air conditioning (CRACs), eliminating
them altogether or using them only as backups for more
energy-efficient cooling technologies such as
economizers. The two basic kinds of economizers are
water-side economizers and air-side economizers.
Which kind of economizer an MTDC uses is based on
variables like location, but almost every MTDC will
benefit from the “free cooling” economizers provide.

7. Issue #3:
Inefficient cooling
MTDCs housed in older buildings often rely on “chaos” air
distribution to keep temperatures within acceptable limits.
In such cooling schemes, CRAC units around the
perimeter of the server room pump out massive volumes
of chilled air that cools IT equipment and helps push hot
server exhaust air toward the facility’s return air ducts.
Chaos air distribution decreases cooling efficiency and
drives up electrical bills.

8. Solution #3:
Implement an air containment solution
By deploying an air containment solution, MTDC
operators can lower their cooling costs by some
30% or more. As an added benefit, air containment
solutions improve reliability by protecting servers
from thermal shutdown caused by hot exhaust air.
They also enhance flexibility by giving facility
operators the freedom to position server racks in the
way best suits their needs, rather than in rigidly-
aligned, uniformly-arranged rows required by hot
aisle/cold aisle arrangements.

9. Read more about energy-efficiency in
multi-tenant data centers in this white paper.