Climate Change Could Rank Among Data Center’s Top Threats

While climate change been a hot topic of discussion among politicians and environmentalists, it could be one of the top things IT experts will be talking about in the upcoming years. At least that seems to be the opinion of one of New York’s chief technology officers.

In a CIO article, Cordell Schachter, who works for the New York’s transportation department, pointed out that weather events like Hurricane Sandy are occurring more frequently and, as a result, putting IT operations at risk.

“At one time, you could go through a whole career without facing one of those situations,” he said. Now, he said, it’s likely you could experience a couple of those type of events within a 10-year period.

Of course, weather-related concerns are not new for data center operators. They’re at the top of the list for causing grid outages and, as a result, data center outages. But the weather conditions that are attributed to climate change can add to those challenges.

For example, NASA has recently reported that there has been a streak of record-breaking high temperatures, with the period between 2000-2015 as having 15 of the 16 warmest years on record, which can put an additional strain on data centers.

Preparing for electromagnetic pulse (EMP)

In addition to climate change concerns, some data centers are providing an extra layer of protection by equipping their facilities to protect against electromagnetic pulse (EMP), which can be caused by other significant events like solar storms.

While EMP is not considered as great of a threat as weather events, experts at a recent Data Center World conference said that it is becoming an increasing concern — and, in the event of an EMP, the damage could be catastrophic. George Baker, CEO of BAYCOR, said, “Do not depend on electric utilities for protection.”

Lifeline Data Centers, a colocation center that serves companies in numerous industries, provides a high level of data center uptime. We also have extended our capabilities to include protection against EMP. Contact us to find what type of solutions we can provide your company.

Other resources:

• Infographic: The 22 Data Center Compliance Acronyms You Need to Know
• White Paper: Why Data Center Compartmentalization is Important
• Lifeline One Sheet: What You Need to Know About Lifeline Data Centers

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.