Facility-centric

Behind the power draw of IT equipment, cooling the data center frequently consumes the largest amount of energy. As such, it represents a significant opportunity to improve efficiency.

One of the more complex data center challenges is managing airflow distribution. The electricity consumed by all systems in the data center converts to heat that is exhausted into the data center by internal fans within the IT equipment. The heat and moisture exhausted from the IT equipment directly impacts HVAC performance. If your HVAC cooling and fans are working overtime, it is likely an airflow problem that needs to be corrected. If left unchecked, it can take a serious toll on the energy bill.

Optimizing airflow distribution is an on-going battle, especially in dynamic environments like data centers where invisible “change agents”, such as asset turnover, system power density, and variable system processing loads, can disrupt temperature and airflow patterns.

If you suspect challenges with cooling or airflow distribution are being caused by factors you can’t see, then you need to take steps to bring visibility and decision support into the data center environment so you can get better control of your facility--or you will be forever chasing ghosts.

Stop Chasing Ghosts in the Data Center

OpenData software by Modius provides the visibility you need to see device- and system-level performance factors that impact environmental conditions and, in turn, create unexpected airflow challenges. OpenData continually measures all data points from all equipment and environmental sensors. The software monitors your facility so you can see how temperature and humidity cycle up and down in response to changing conditions. Real-time dashboards make is easy to see equipment status together with environmental conditions, and examine trends as they vary throughout the day and across days. Both facility and IT managers use OpenData to identify potential issues before they turn into real problems, to assess root cause, and to continually optimize the extended power and cooling chain—from the grid to the chassis.

Start Saving Now

By improving airflow, Sybase (now SAP) was able to better manage its environmental conditions to reduce the total work required by the chiller. This optimization allowed Sybase to raise the temperature setpoints on its chilled water loop, thereby realizing an energy savings of $11,500 annually on the chiller alone. Sybase turned to Modius OpenData to help achieve this savings.

With OpenData’s operational intelligence, you get deeper and more comprehensive insight to your facility’s infrastructure than can be captured or managed by a BMS on its own. Ask yourself: What would it take to solve an airflow problem solely using a building management system (BMS)? 

Modius currently supports integrations to variety of BMSs, including:
• ALC
• JCI
• Honeywell
• Seimens
• Any other system that supports either Modbus or BACnet

To learn more, please download the Sybase case study published by the Uptime Institute and the Modius data center brief titled Using the Right Tool for the Job: Modius OpenData vs. a BMS.

Watch our OpenData demo now or contact us to learn more about how we can help.