The world’s infrastructure is becoming more electric, driven by technology and the need for more sustainable solutions. As demand for the internet and the cloud rises, data center managers are responsible for mission critical systems that enable these services. Equipping a data center is a dynamic process—one that requires implementing a variety of solutions to connect and protect.
nVent can supply solutions that add critical protection and resilience to essential systems throughout data center facilities. From directly supporting advanced IT equipment to keeping facilities running smoothly, many nVent solutions can work together to support mission critical processes at every level of the operation.
Within data center facilities, nVent offers a broad portfolio of networking and server racks, cooling systems and rack level power distribution, monitoring and access control technology. Our solutions protect infrastructure, provide resilience and ensure ongoing connectivity. We offer our customers the ability to choose from standard, modified or completely custom-built solutions. Furthermore, the facilities that house data centers need protection and, without the proper systems in place to keep equipment safe, the entire data center can be at risk of failure.
In a world of increasingly complex and sophisticated facilities, lightning is a constant risk. A single direct strike can result in physical damage to buildings and catastrophic equipment failure. It can start fires, cause major breakdowns and cause substantial revenue loss. In some areas of the world, data center managers also need to consider earthquake protection. nVent’s lighting protection solutions and seismic protection solutions help secure critical infrastructure and assets, and ensure maximum safety for facility staff. Specific protection needs vary according to each facility, and nVent has expertise protecting a wide variety of unique buildings with custom solutions.
While protecting facilities from environmental threats is important, not every threat to data center operations comes from the outside. For instance, although liquid and sensitive electronics do not mix, liquid cooling is starting to play an integral role in data centers. Data center operators need to constantly be aware of where and how liquids flow through facilities. To this end, data centers deploy a wide range of monitoring systems that help staff pinpoint and react to potential problems as quickly as possible. Any liquid coming into the data center needs to be connected to a leak detection system so that staff can quickly identify and react to leaks to minimize damage and downtime.
While newly built data centers are designed with leak detection and prevention in mind, many data centers are located in standard commercial buildings or retrofitted warehouses where staff may be challenged by unknown or less understood leak sources. In those cases, careful leak detection and prevention designs become even more important.
Running a data center is a delicate operation to begin with, but data centers located in Northern Europe and other cold locations are faced with the additional challenge of dealing with the hazards of winter weather. Water and coolant liquids often flow through pipes located on the roofs of facilities and those pipes need to be protected from frost in order to ensure a consistent flow of liquid and prevent pipes from breaking. Snow and ice buildup can pose threats to data center operations as well, blocking bifold vents that circulate fresh air into data centers. Also, this can make driveways and walkways slippery, creating safety hazards for delivery and maintenance workers.
nVent provides a wide range of solutions that keep liquids flowing and prevent snow and ice buildup. Heat tracing cables keep pipes and walkways warm and frost free, leak detection solutions pinpoint leaks, and everything connects to the same centralized system that easily connects to building management systems. This provides critical awareness and protection for data center staff. In the event of a liquid leak, nVent’s systems can automatically trigger equipment shutdowns, sound an alarm or alert staff by email message.
At nVent, we have experts in many different data center needs that work together to bring solutions that connect and protect everything from individual chips to entire buildings. With nVent solutions, IT systems like cooling and facility systems like lightning protection and leak detection can all be integrated, adding resilience to mission critical systems and creating peace of mind for data center operators.
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