American Power Conversion has announced its Thermal Guarantee Equipment Protection program that provides financial compensation for properly protected and certified installations that are damaged by a thermal event, an increasing risk in today's high density data center environment. APC's revolutionary InfraStruXure Hot-Aisle Containment System and its Rack Air Containment System deployed in new or existing environments can achieve program certification, which will ensure the repair of or reimbursement for up to US$150,000 of protected hardware damaged by a thermal event.
Data center professionals today face increasing challenges to ensure adequate distribution of cool air, removal of hot air and sufficient cooling capacity as compaction of IT equipment and simultaneous increases in processor power consumption rise. Changes in air intake temperature resulting from loss or inadequacy of cooling equipment, or non-performance of monitoring equipment to appropriately regulate adequate air temperature or alert appropriate first responders, can cause heat related IT equipment failure and damage, and result in costly downtime.
"While events like power surges and blackouts are well-known in the IT and facilities communities, many customers are just now comprehending that IT equipment also has a thermal envelope specified for proper operation, said Aaron L. Davis, chief marketing officer at APC. "Exceeding high or low temperature thresholds too quickly can create thermal surges, and complete loss of cooling, called cooling blackouts, and can lead to immediate and unintended server shutdown in the exact same manner as during power blackouts. A key difference is that power blackouts give ample notice through loss of lighting but loss of cooling may go unnoticed until it's too late.
To enable Thermal Guarantee certification at a customer site, APC utilizes a partnership approach toward managing a customer's power and cooling environment. A team of certified APC professionals design a customized plan for each customer that achieves IT system availability targets and provides substantial total cost of ownership (TCO) savings. To ensure a smooth implementation process, APC works closely with each customer to execute the plan so the installation does not interfere with day-to-day operations. To earn a Thermal Guarantee certification, a customer must agree to the following five steps:
Assessment - A comprehensive analysis of a customer's existing capacity with consideration of current and future power and cooling objectives.
Design - Utilize assessment results to develop a high density InfraStruXure solution to meet computing objectives at minimal TCO.
Implementation - Deployment and certification of designed InfraStruXure solution utilizing APC's cutting-edge Hot-Aisle Containment System or Rack Air Containment System.
Post-Implementation Monitoring - 24 hours/ 7 days a week of physical and environmental monitoring of a customer's NCPI environment.
Periodic Review - Semi-annual assessment and preventive maintenance of a customer's power and cooling, combined with next day on-site service, to ensure the implemented solutions continue to operate at optimal performance.
APC's Thermal Guarantee Equipment Protection Program is currently available in North America. To learn more about APC's award-winning InfraStruXure solutions and the Thermal Guarantee Program, please visit www.thermalguarantee.com