Challenge:

Built in 1960’s IBM’s Boulder, CO campus has been known until recently to be the largest contiguous data center space in North America. With that extended history, it is no surprise that the facility holds legacy computer rooms, renovated computer rooms and completely renewed computer rooms.

While most of the data center space is raised floor, both the IT equipment itself and the infrastructure supporting that equipment is of varying ages and capabilities. Despite the age of any one room or the equipment within it, all of the equipment must function fully. We were faced with a heterogeneous environment containing different challenges to keep up the health of the data center.

Providing a best possible environment for the IT equipment in these varying computer rooms was both IBM and Instor’s goal. These data center rooms are dynamic, meaning, equipment is moved or replaced frequently, the result– partially full server racks. All of these combined factors were causing bypass airflow heat issues.
Cold air from HVAC units, which was supposed to be directed into cold aisles, was actually being pulled into hot aisles before it could effectively cool the servers. As a consequence, the facilities manager had to set CRAC units to a lower temperature in order to make up for both the loss of cold air in cold aisles and the cooling of hot air in the hot aisles.

Another issue that raised cooling costs and lowered efficiency was rack displacement and offset aisles. There were an unequal numbers of cabinets from row to row, and rows that were in line often had cabinets of different height beside one another, so containment had previously been impossible because the hot and cold aisles were not flush vertically or horizontally.

Solution:

The first step Instor took was to contain the empty rack spaces with Electrorack’s ScaleIt blanking panels in order to stop cold air from immediately being pulled into the hot aisles and losing its integrity. 25,000 1U blanking panels were installed in various 45-52U cabinets.

The next step was to seal off the 15 most vulnerable cold aisles with Seal-Tech’s clear vinyl curtains. This contained the cold air within the cold aisles and ensured the delivery of cold air to the servers.

Benefits:

The client informed Instor that the installation of the curtains with the specially engineered hinge was a breeze and they were very impressed with the design and look of it. In addition, the director of their division was very pleased with both the aesthetics and functionality of the curtains.
Between the 25,000 blanking panels and installation of custom cold-aisle containment, the data center was able to significantly improve cooling efficiency and reduce monthly energy costs.