Keysource, the data centre and design build specialist, has announced the publication of two whitepapers that share the findings of a round table consisting of the industry’s leading experts and commentators. The whitepapers address two key industry topics: the use of fresh air in data centres and raising inlet temperatures within a facility.

Representatives from The Uptime Institute, Operational Intelligence, Colt, Fujitsu, Vocalink, Norland and 451 Group joined Keysource for the round table. The event was designed to generate healthy debate based on real experiences within the marketplace. From its findings, the whitepapers identified potential industry-wide problems within these two key areas, whilst also offering potential solutions to help data centre and facilities managers overcome these challenges.

The Use of Fresh Air whitepaper suggests that there is very little to choose from between a direct fresh air system and a re-circulating indirect system, in terms of ongoing operational efficiency. Across the industry, there is an ever-increasing drive to remove the need for mechanical cooling such as chillers, which are widely used as a back-up to the direct system. However, it was found that there will always be operators that will not adopt a chiller-less environment, with data centre resilience being of far greater importance than energy efficiency.

In terms of raising inlet temperatures in data centres, the whitepaper explains that the industry is waiting for the IT sector to catch-up so it can take advantage of what can be achieved by adding a few more degrees on to the standard allowable range through a leniency on warranties. In addition, rather than constantly running higher inlet temperatures, operators can dynamically control certain set points to deal with higher external ambient temperatures, where a few more degrees of free cooling could be available.

Rob Elder, Director, Keysource, said: “With the continuing consumerisation of IT and the growth of cloud computing, demand for data centres continues to remain high. With so much demand for data, cooling remains high on the agenda and we see it as a priority to research new and innovative ways of cooling data centres. We want to offer the market ways of cutting back costs and reducing carbon footprint, whilst remaining competitive. Keysource and The Uptime Institute thought it was timely to bring together the industry’s thought leaders to share our experiences and opinions..”

To read and download the whitepapers in full, please visit http://www.keysource.co.uk/data-centre-white-papers.aspx