Make Sure Your Data Center’s Aisle Containment Project is Successful the First Time Around

Every data center or critical environment has installed one kind of an aisle containment solution or another. Everyone knows it’s a great way to achieve efficiency improvements and/or cost savings. Industry consultants, engineering firms and product vendors have been talking about it for years. What’s not talked about is the huge number of end users that never realize the full effect of the improvement, cost savings or capacity benefits they were promised.

Having been part of dozens of data center aisle containment projects over the past decade across all kinds of environments, CEG has seen the same patterns of issues or root causes regardless of the unique environment. Whether it be Hot-Aisle or Cold-Aisle, Raised Floor or Slab, New build or Retrofit, Partial or Full Containment, all too often the result seems to fall short of the initial expectation.  But it doesn’t have to be this way. For many end users, those promised goals can still be achieved and ROI can still be realized. And for those just getting started, read on to make sure your aisle containment project is successful the first time around.

Cutting through the Airflow Management Noise

If you’re in charge of data center operations or data center maintenance, you’re inundated with tons of content – news, studies, complex white papers, expert opinions – about airflow management. Cutting through all the technical jargon and airflow theory, successful aisle containment comes down to what’s often mentioned as Elements of Best Practices. They include:

• Having a sound project plan;
• Applying metrics to the data associated with your environment
• Selecting and implementing the best data center containment methodology
• Choosing the right vendor partner and installation team
• Make the necessary infrastructure changes after installation.

Unfortunately, one or more of these best practices are almost always neglected or ignored during the project lifecycle, resulting in the less-than-desirable results. Why? In our experience, a lack of discipline and follow through are often the root causes – environmental data isn’t tracked consistently; trying to save time and money with ‘one-size-fits-all’ containment methodology; blowing off recommended infrastructure changes.

Data Center Aisle Containment Done Right

At CEG, Airflow Management is a core competency for our company.  We have been recognized as a global leader in the field by numerous independent industry analysts. We understand the right way to manage a data center aisle containment project, providing turnkey solutions from best-in-class partners that enable our customers to realize their expected goals.  We like to get it right the first time!

But what if you’ve already gone down this road with less-than-stellar results? Good news! It’s never too late to turn things around. CONTACT US to improve efficiencies no matter where your environment is in the containment lifecycle.

We specialize in:

• Pre-Sale, on-site consultations with knowledgeable field sales and sales engineers.
• Infrastructure Assessments to benchmark and model various options using sophisticated software and data acquisition tools.
• All types of data center aisle containment solutions for any application from below the floor to above the ceiling including customer designs for applications where off-the-shelf solutions may not work.
• On-site installation services with our own installers.
• Complete project management including logistics coordination.
• Post-installation monitoring and maintenance.

What best practices do YOU swear by when starting an aisle containment project? Share your thoughts and ideas below!