If your company is like most organizations, virtualization has become a fact in your data center. Also, it is transforming many aspects of the data center, resulting in better system utilization, application availability, and cost savings in hardware and energy use. For these reasons and others, virtualization technologies are being deployed to drive the efficiency and effectiveness of data center resources.

Although virtualization tops most priority lists for enterprises in 2010, the technology also presents challenges in terms of managing a dynamic environment. One of the greatest obstacles of virtualization is the assignment and allocation of appropriate network resources, as virtual machines (VMs) are provisioned among diverse network locations. Virtualizing a single data center introduces a number of challenges—not the least of which necessitates moves, adds, and changes of virtual images—thereby adding network provisioning complexity and increasing IT administration workload.

Data centers are set to be simplified, and several companies have been providing solutions for converged data centers consisting of a single networking layer rather than multiple layers. Cisco started this trend, followed by Juniper, and now its Brocade's turn, the company having recently launched a technology known as Brocade One. All of these companies aim to provide a simple solution for otherwise multi-layered networking technology in data centers, thereby making them simpler and more effective.

Brocade, the latest company to enter this foray, offers Brocade One, which uses a technology known as Virtual Cluster Switching. This technology runs on top of the new operating system, and it sits between the network and virtual machines.

In the past few decades, companies have relied upon Ethernet to power their LAN networks and technology. Small wonder then that the data center of the future will also rely heavily on and demand more of this technology.


So what are the factors that have led to the rise in the demand for this technology? An ever increasing concern to reduce costs, a higher concern of keeping up with the times and changing technology and a greater demand for optimal usage of resources to name just a few. The data center Ethernet will need to keep up with these factors and more and in all probability it will undergo a change from the old or existing technology to a form that will cater to the growing demands of the data center markets.

Unsealed concrete is a serious source of contamination in computer rooms. Concrete dust consisting of calcium, silica and other by-products in the air stream, create a variety of hazards to sensitive equipment, facilities and people. Concrete dust is highly abrasive and when mixed with water (humidity) is highly corrosive. Therefore, sealing the subfloor should be standard practice in any mission critical environment.

The floor of a data center is an important parameter of the overall design. Basically there are two types of floors used in data centers namely raised flooring as well as solid flooring. Each of these have their own set of advantages and drawbacks and careful consideration is required on the part of a design engineer to find out which one is better suited for a particular requirement.

Size does matter, they say, but when it comes to the world of computing and electronics, this axiom seems to fit the other way round. This means to say that companies strive for smaller sized products so that more equipment could fit in a small space, using less power and minimizing the need for cooling.

As computer components get smaller, they become more susceptible to failures caused by contamination. Everyday dirt can build up causing short circuits, overheating, and other problems. 

Random static discharge will wreak havoc inside your data or call center causing lost or corrupted data, dropped calls, pc lockup and blown headsets. Designers of 24/7/365 mission critical spaces such as data centers, 911 call centers, command centers, server rooms and flight control towers routinely design their spaces to withstand external threats such as weather, power outages, earthquakes and, in some cases, even biological threats. An invisible internal threat that is sometimes overlooked, electrostatic discharge (ESD) can wreak havoc inside any mission-critical space. Dropped calls, blown headsets, PC lockup and lost or corrupted data represent just a few of the problems.