Data center infrastructure vendors Emerson and APC each introduced its own solution to the data center design problem posed by the sideways airflow requirements of Cisco's high-density networking switch Nexus 7018. The companies unveiled the new products at this week's Cisco Live! conference in Las Vegas.

Emerson's solution was an entire enclosure and APC introduced a ducting kit that adopts an existing enclosure to the switch's special cooling needs.

Emerson designs custom enclosures for Nexus 7000
Emerson unveiled new Knurr DCM enclosures for both members of the Nexus 7000 family of switches: the 10-slot and the 18-slot model (7018).

Both versions of the enclosure support hot-aisle-cold-aisle and cold-aisle-containment designs. The racks have baffles to prevent recirculation of exhaust air to the chassis intake.

The 18-slot version includes a side-to-side "breathing unit", which takes air in on a side to accommodate the switch's sideways airflow pattern. Its width creates clearance for inlet and exhaust air to prevent recirculation.

Enclosure for the 18-slot switch fits either one or two switches in 42U- , 45U- , or 52U-high racks, 1000mm wide and 1200mm deep.

Enclosure for the 10-slot model comes in 42U and 45U versions.

Jeff Sturgeon, VP of marketing and solutions for Emerson's line of data center products called Liebert, said the enclosures were developed in response to rising power densities associated with the use of server and switch virtualization.

"The preconfigured enclosure design provides fast deployment, flexibility for growth and durability for reduced downtime," he said.

APC designs bolt-on duct kit for NetShelter SX enclosures
APC's new duct kit attaches to the previously existing NetShelter SX networking enclosure to accommodate Nexus 7018's airflow needs.

As with Emerson's offering, the kit accommodates hot-aisle-cold-aisle segregation to prevent mixing of exhaust and intake air. Side airflow ducting allows the switch to pull air from the cold aisle only, creating the aisle isolation.

In addition to the new ducting kit, APC released three new design and configuration guides to help resellers and end users of Cisco gear configure power requirements, select appropriate racks and cable-management solutions, as well as address airflow issues for Cisco products.

The guides are for Cisco's Unified Computing System, Catalyst-series and Multilayer Director switches, as well as the Nexus 7000 switches. The guidance is for using APC products with Cisco gear.