IT pros in Hong Kong and China are happy to run their data centers at a higher temperature, according to results of survey by Enlogic.
The survey, which quizzed attendees at the DatacenterDynamics Conferences (DCD) in Hong Kong in July and Shanghai in September, found that majority of operators felt safe to run their data centers at up to 25 degrees Centigrade (77 degrees Farenheit).
In Hong Kong, 60% of those surveyed said they felt safe running a data center at up to 25 degrees Celsius while 51% in Shanghai felt it was safe to operate at even higher temperature – up to 30 degrees Celsius – in a data center.
This is in stark contrast with the 2013 Uptime Institute Data Centre Industry Survey, where a tiny fraction -- just 7% of those surveyed around the globe--operated at 23.8 degrees C or higher, said Enlogic.
The temperatures the survey respondents named would be at the high end of the most recent ASHRAE TC9.9 specification, generally recognized as the global standard for data center environmental operating condition, the company noted. ASHRAE - a building technology society with more than 50,000 members worldwide - focuses on building systems, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, refrigeration and sustainability within the industry.
In the ASHRAE TC9.9 specification, the “allowable range” is between 15 and 32 degrees C while the “recommended range” is 18 and 27 degrees C, Enlogic added. “Proper training can help staff to manage data centers effectively,” said Mike Jansma, co-founder and chief marketing officer, Enlogic.
“However, respondents in the two surveys believed that redundancy and hot-swappable technology were more effective ways to reduce downtime in their data centers.”