Successful datacenter projects are being jeopardized by the disconnect between the greater demands of IT and the power and cooling needed to optimize their operation amid a warning that poor design will cause millions of dollars to be wasted.

According to the man responsible for building the AUS$220 million Polaris datacenter in Queensland, Australia, "Chinese walls of secrecy surround projects and IT companies lack facilities expertise.

Mike Andrea is a director of Strategic Designs told the Canberra Times that computer vendors were selling higher-capacity storage systems, but lacked expertise when it came to the large amounts of power and water or the buildings needed for them. Andrea said millions of dollars risk being wasted because governments and user companies don't understand the issue.

The Canberra Times reported that Technical Real Estate, part of the Canberra Technology City consortium which has planned a $1 billion data centre and gas-fired power station for Canberra, said computer suppliers paid no heed to real estate issues. The company's director, Bruce McEwen, said the crucial issue was coping with high-density computing equipment from a power consumption and cooling point of view.