How to build your next data center

Design for Efficient Power and Cooling

Your next data center should feature power-saving technologies. DC power is one option to consider.

DC is an efficient alternative to traditional AC power, but several issues have kept it from being widely adopted. Among other things, DC power is potentially more dangerous than AC power because the voltage remains high instead of alternating according to need, Aaron says. It's also expensive to implement. "Not all [equipment] manufacturers offer DC power options, and it's expensive to buy a DC power rectifier," he adds. "But the cost over time will start to come down."

Explore 'Greener' Options

Data center designers are also weighing the benefits of flywheels vs. batteries as sources of backup power. "Flywheel is much greener -- you're not disposing of batteries, and it has a clear ROI for not having to do battery replacement," Toman says. One drawback is that today's flywheels provide less than a minute of power.

"If everything works as designed, that's enough time for you to power the equipment to bring on the generator," he says. "But experiences show that eventually something won't work as predicted. If you've got 30 seconds, it had better work perfectly. If it doesn't, you just lost the whole backup computer." Toman suggests re-evaluating flywheels as the technology improves.

Seek out Renewable Power Sources

Experts suggest looking at renewable power sources, like the sun, wind and timber, when you're building your next data center. Rackspace's UK data center is being supplied by a utility that burns wood chips to produce energy. San Antonio, the site of another new Rackspace data center, is one of the leading locales for wind-based power generation in the US.

Tomorrow's data centers will also have "2N" backup designs, in which each uninterruptible power supply has its own backup UPS module.

Perform a Balancing Act

Too much of a good thing can diminish efficiency returns, experts caution. Continually weigh the benefits of smaller footprints vs. cheap real estate, and power costs vs. alternative energy sources.

"I really do not see this as a destination but more of a journey," Monroe says. "As technologies change, we continually look for opportunities to refine [the data center]."

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