To manage today's tremendous data handling requirements, most enterprises employ some form of a data facility. Typical data facilities house data storage and processing equipment that can perform a variety of data storage and computational tasks. Data facilities may also host web servers, Internet services, and other enterprise-based services. While maintaining a data facility enables an enterprise to manage large quantities of data, the energy costs associated with running a data facility present a significant expenditure. A large percentage of data facility energy costs arise from the environmental controls required to ensure that the environment within the data facility is maintained within suitable parameters for the equipment contained in the facility. Examples of the environmental controls include cooling, air flow, humidity controls, power regulators, and so on. All of these controls work together to attempt to create an environment in which the data facility equipment can operate at maximum efficiency and thus decrease the overall energy costs of the data facility.
Problems can arise in a data facility when environmental conditions fail to remain within acceptable operating parameters. Hot spots can cause equipment to run at less than optimal efficiency and at extremes can result in equipment failure and service interruptions. Excess humidity can allow condensation to form in and around data facility equipment and result in data processing and storage errors and ultimately, equipment failure. To control environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity, a data facility administrator needs to be aware of both global and local environmental conditions within the facility.
To enable data facility designers and administrators to determine optimal placement and settings for environmental controls, some form of environmental monitoring is desirable. Most current forms of environmental monitoring are difficult to implement and tend to create an incomplete and inaccurate image of data facility environmental conditions.