What Money Pitfalls to Avoid When Building a Data Center

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Gento

Building a data center is a task that requires planning, precision, and financial consideration. If your organization's motto is "hurry up and get it done", then you are already suffering from at least one money draining data center mistake. Conversely, if you view your future data center as an energy-hungry beast, then you need to adopt a new mentality that will help you to create a data center that will serve your present and future needs. Avoiding the following three common mistakes will not only help you to avoid money pitfalls, but they will guide you in the construction of a high-functioning data center that can meet your organization's needs.

Mistake #1: Not Building to Scale.
Whether you are building a new data center or expanding an existing one, size matters. It is natural to want to build your data center for your future needs, however, this mentality can quickly lead to a money pit. This happens if you create a data center that will meet your "hopeful" needs rather than your "anticipated" needs. When you build a data center based off of "hopeful" needs, you will spend too much money on power and cooling systems that are drastically oversized for the actual IT loads. This mistake will lead to drastically increased electrical costs. 

Instead, you should build based on the ability to gradually add capacity needs. This solution will require you to create the right-sized data center by leveraging modular components and energy-efficient tools, such as the Raritan PX intelligent PDUs. Raritan's PX Series delivers reliable power distribution at both the PDU circuit breaker and inlet level, making it the ideal choice for monitoring energy efficiency so that you can make informed capacity planning decisions. By leveraging tools, you can build the data center infrastructure that simultaneously matches current demand and is primed for future expansion, so that your organization can enjoy significant savings. 

Mistake #2: Undermining the Importance of an End-to-End Data Center Strategy
Unless you want to create a money hole, a data center should never be constructed without an end-to-end strategy. This means that you need to have both a systematic and structural plan in mind that will guide you through the building process. Remember that everything from positioning the IT racks to determining the number of air conditioners needed will impact your electrical costs, which are one of the primary costs associated with a data center. Additionally, to avoid spending unnecessary funds, you should carefully consider the equipment that you install. For example, rack power distribution hardware is a tool that can remain in place for numerous technology refresh cycles over the course of multiple years. A Raritan PX Intelligent PDU will support both current and future growth demands, while simultaneously effectively distributing power to generate increased energy efficiencies that can result in significant cost savings.  

Mistake #3: Failing to Effectively Plan for Capacity
Whether you are expanding an existing data center or creating an entirely new center, you must effectively coordinate both your floor and rack space. To maximize efficiencies, you will need to assess your power, power distribution, cooling, and cooling distribution capabilities. If you fail to properly create and execute a capacity plan, then you can leave your data center stranded when this plan is most needed. The solution to this potential money hole is to leverage the power of a capacity management tool, such as Power IQ Software solution. Power IQ is a DCIM Operations Software that is designed to maintain continuously accurate and real-time views into the capacity of your entire data center. From measuring physical space to cooling availability to power and networking loads within the racks to provide insights needed for a data center to operate at maximum efficiency levels. 

The Bottom Line: Avoid Data Center Money Pitfalls With Proper Planning
Maximizing the profitability, efficiency, and effectiveness of your data center is made easier when you avoid the above three mistakes. By understanding your current and future business needs, leveraging the right technologies, and properly planning ahead, you can avoid money pitfalls and successfully enhance your existing or newly constructed data center.

Raritan's Xerus Technology Platform ensures a longer lifespan of your power infrastructure by leveraging this higher amount of computing power, together with a flexible and extensible software architecture. As your data center changes and new requirements are needed, Xerus will continue to add new features and functionalities to your existing PX PDU deployment. To learn more about Xerus Technology Platform visit our website here.