Do you have an opinion or industry view you think is of interest to DCD readers?
Please contact the DCD Editorial team if you have a suggestion for a contributed content topic: [email protected]
Content must:
- Be vendor-neutral and product-neutral - If this is a problem, we can offer you paid promotional places, where you have more control over the content.
- Cover a topic relevant to the DCD audience
- Be “thought leadership” in nature and not directly endorse a company’s solutions or products
- If a submission is vendor-generated, it must be from a C-level, senior executive, or technology engineer. Please note, we no longer accept submissions from individuals in sales or marketing roles.
We reserve the right to edit articles, and all submissions will be edited to DCD’s style guidelines.
Submissions must be in US English and a minimum of 800 words.
All contributed articles must include:
- A byline with a single person’s name, title, author bio, and high-resolution headshot (minimum 580x387, landscape orientation)
- Please submit submissions in either a Google or Word document, not as a PDF file
Content must be exclusive to DCD and not have appeared on any other website.
No AI-generated content will be accepted.
DCD reserves the right to refuse to publish content if it is discovered to have been created using AI tools, such as ChatGPT. We are unlikely to accept future submissions from contributors found to have broken this rule.
We aim to review all submissions within two weeks.
All content is subject to final approval by DCD.
Note: Submission of contributed content does not guarantee publication of that content.
Aug. 11, 2026, 7:17 p.m. - Nabil DJAOUABLIA
When the Power Goes Out: What Keeps a Data Center Online? When we talk about data centers, we often think about servers, networks, cooling, UPS systems, generators and, today, AI. All these technologies are important. But from my experience in data center operations, reliability also depends on the people, the procedures and the way the infrastructure is maintained. A good example is a power failure. When the main power is lost, the UPS systems immediately keep the critical IT equipment running. The generator then starts and takes over according to the site’s electrical system. For someone outside the data center, nothing may seem to have happened. The servers are still running and the services remain available. For the operations team, it is a very important moment. We need to know exactly which equipment is connected to which power source, which UPS is involved and which PDU supplies each rack. This is why A/B power is so important. Equipment with two power supplies should use two separate electrical paths. For example, Power A can be identified with black power cables and Power B with red cables. One power supply is connected to Power A and the second to Power B. The goal is not just to have two cables. The goal is to have two independent power paths. If both paths depend on the same equipment somewhere upstream, the redundancy may not be real. Cable identification also helps during maintenance. If an engineer needs to work on Power A, it should be easy to identify the equipment still connected to Power B. But colour coding is not enough. The power paths must also be clearly labelled, documented and checked. The same principle applies to DCIM. A DCIM system gives us important information about racks, equipment, power connections, network ports and capacity. But if we change something in the data center and do not update the DCIM, the information can quickly become wrong. For me, one basic rule is simple: If you change something physically, update the documentation. This applies to equipment moves, PDU connections, network ports, fiber connections and rack layouts. Cabling is also important. A clean and well-labelled installation makes maintenance and troubleshooting much easier. During an incident, knowing where a cable goes can save valuable time. Finally, there is the human factor. Data centers are becoming more automated, but when something unexpected happens, someone still needs to understand the situation, find the cause and make the right decision. Technology provides redundancy. Good operations turn redundancy into real resilience. A reliable data center is not only built with technology. It is built with good procedures, accurate documentation, communication and experienced people. Nabil Djaouablia Data Center Engineer | Data Center Operations & Infrastructure