Preventable Data Center Power Outages
Data Center Managers live in fear of power outages, and rightly so. With the growing interdependency of IT and business to meet the real-time needs of customers, any unplanned downtime from power loss can be disastrous to business continuity, reputation and budget.
In its 2020 survey results, Uptime Institute notes that 75% of Data Center owners reported that significant downtime events were preventable. The single biggest cause of Data Center downtime? Loss of power, causing 37% of the outages reported.
When the power grid – or your connection to it – fails, whatever the cause, you hope the UPS battery continues to provide runtime and the backup generator takes over until the normal power source is restored.
So, it is critical to understand your Data Center’s power system—how it connects to the grid, how it works and what back-up systems you have protecting your critical infrastructure:
- Do you understand your mission critical energy loads as well as which equipment you must absolutely protect to avoid a business disaster?
- Are you aware of the biggest power-related threats to your Data Center?
- Do you clearly understand where your single points of failure are and the level of risk?
- Do you know how your systems are connected and backed up?
- Do you have the proper level of redundancy for the UPS, Batteries, Generator, and ATS switches?
- Are your electrical systems being properly maintained?
- How about the current state of your back-up power supplies and how often they are tested?
- Will your backup generator even work if it had to start during an emergency?
- Do you have adequate fuel supplies and emergency fuel delivery contracts in place?
- Are your mechanical cooling systems properly protected?
- Do you have the proper monitoring systems in place to provide alerts if your electrical system is weak or not ready to respond to power outages?
Data Specialties offers power readiness services that will give you a comprehensive assessment of your electrical loads, identification of gaps, and proper implementation to ensure you will not be one of the one-third of Data Center Managers reporting downtime caused by loss of power in the next Uptime Institute survey. Please contact Data Specialties: Request an Assessment
