Are Data Centers a Valuable Asset to Business Agility?
Published on : Sunday 04-12-2022
Dr Vijay Chaudhry explains how quality air solutions play an important role in shaping the data-driven businesses.
Data Centres have become an inevitable part of the digital age. Easing up various functions like computation, data storage, and networking, along with various business applications, from big conglomerates to even medium and small enterprises are highly investing in data for access to critical and sensitive information.
Looking at the fast-paced adoption of data centres, Large Data Centres have become part of the mission-critical initiative that offers essential services across a wide range of sectors entailing banking, telecom, large firms, consultancies sectors, and even small businesses. But considering data centres hold such a crucial position in the industry, companies must be vigilant enough to look out for any threat looming around the centre. In order to protect the integrity of the facility, close vigilance must be conducted with the help of manual intervention for the early detection of threatening factors within the space.
According to industry experts, Airborne Molecular Contamination is a serious threat to data centres. It occurs when vapor gases like sulphur, oxides of nitrogen, chlorine, ammonia, etc., trigger chemical contamination. Airborne Molecular Contamination plagues the efficiency of the system by causing corrosion which can damage the sensitive information stored in it. Together in combination with atmospheric particulates like smoke and suspended dust in the air, it can cause the downtime of the machine. The impact is even more intense in miniaturised electronics, which are highly vulnerable to undergoing micro corrosion/e-corrosion in the presence of harmful gases.
It has been found that a harmful environment is the major factor triggering corrosion in data centres1. Infiltration of outdoor particulates and gaseous contaminants are the major causes contributing to the formation of harmful environments. The problem is magnified in facilities near landfill sites, sewerage/drains, high-density traffic, process industries, etc. There is a continuous release of highly corrosive gases like SO2, H2S, NO2, etc., which permeates through air conditioners into the server rooms, data centres/control rooms, switchgear rooms, process control, and signalling/switching rooms.
Looking at the damage, failing to control the contamination can escalate downtime in data centres and server rooms. The situation further becomes out of control in case high relative humidity comes in contact with gases, only to form a corrosive element on the electronic circuits. All the factors give rise to faulty operations, reliability issues, and meddle with the longevity of sensitive electronic process control equipment in industrial control rooms, besides data centres.
To curtail the menace of contamination, DataCenter Air Purifier2 (DAP) and advanced Gas Phase Filtration systems must be installed in the facilities to inhibit the process of contamination. The systems efficiently protect the data centres by simply directing contaminant-laden air streams through a gas adsorbent that contains neutralising chemicals. It filters out corrosive gases which inhibit damage to the microcircuitry of PCBs. Along with this, the air filtration systems also maintain the humidity at optimum levels, for preventing condensation on equipment.
Forming a better understanding of the process, it comes to light that media testing forms an important part of controlling corrosion in data centres. It comes with corrosion coupons that detect the influx of gases while identifying corrosion within the facility. Along with corrosion coupon ACM – Atmospheric Corrosivity Monitor is there to recognise the corrosive gases, which also specifies the percentage in which they are present. It categorises corrosivity into G1, G2, G3, G4, etc., levels after analysing the criticality of the gases. As part of the mission-critical initiative, India comes with the back-up of media testing and lab services that is well adept at conducting predictive maintenance for checking the process of corrosion.
As air filtration comes with the ability to efficiently remove contaminants from the vicinity of data centres, it must be installed for quality air solutions, helpful in controlling moisture and contamination in server rooms. It ensures the smooth functioning of data centres for enabling efficient working of business dependent on it.
References
1. https://www.bryair.com/industries-applications/applications-of-gas-phase-filtration-system/corrosion-prevention/data-centre-corrosion-control/
2. https://www.bryair.com/products-solutions/gas-phase-filtration-systems/data-center-air-purifier-dap-series/
Dr Vijay Chaudhry, President, International Business & Gas Phase Filtration business division of Bry-Air (Asia), has over 28 years of comprehensive experience in managing the entire business value chain including balance sheet and P&L management. His area of specialisation is in the field of Industrial Air & Gas Pollution Control (APC) and Purification Systems. He has held various key positions and roles for implementation of growth strategies and building businesses on a sustainable basis.
At Bry-Air, he leads the entire International business including wholly owned subsidiaries in China, Brazil, Malaysia, Nigeria and direct export of the company. He is responsible for increasing footprint in overseas markets and sustainable growth of top and bottom line. He is also instrumental in growing the gas phase filtration business across segments like data centres, petroleum and oil refineries, pulp and paper, server rooms, telecom, media broadcasting, etc. Dr Chaudhry is a Mechanical Engineer with an Advance Diploma in Marketing from All India Management Association, Delhi. He has also been honoured with Doctorate Degree in “Excellence in Management Practices” by Young Scientist University, USA.
