In this interview Miguel Coll, director of product management for Engineered Systems at Tyco Fire Protection, warns about the destruction that can be wrought upon the data center by gas suppression systems.

According to Coll, modern hard drives have increased their capacity at the expense of sensitivity to vibration and noise. When gas suppression systems release their contents, they can create a shockwave that can knock out entire storage arrays.

There are several ways to solve this problem: gas canisters can be regulated to reduce pressure, and outlets can be equipped with data center-friendly acoustic nozzles. Tyco has even created an acoustic calculator that can estimate the impact of the shockwave, considering various building types and materials.

The conversation took place at the DCD Zettastructure conference in London.