Cold Corridors for a new generation of data centres

The Minkels White paper 07 - Cold Corridors for a new generation of data centres, is one in a series of White papers sharing valuable data centre knowledge on managerial and technical levels.

Cold Corridors / Aisle containment

Cold Corridors form the solution to a challenge that data centres have been presented with for many years: optimising the cooling and energy-efficiency through optimal separation of hot and cold airflows. However, in the current data centre world optimisation of cooling and energy-efficiency are not the only challenges that data centre managers and owners face.

Flexibility

Because of a shorter life cycle for IT-equipment, data centre managers and owners have been faced with a higher rate of change in the centre. Traditional Cold Corridors offer insufficient flexibility and modularity to deal with this dynamic of a higher rate of change. Next to this, data centre managers and owners are more and more often being faced with systems - like storage equipment - which are not provided with standard housing and are therefore difficult to fit into a traditional Cold Corridor. Furthermore, traditional systems offer insufficient opportunities for optimal integration of, for example, sensors for adequate management, or of the multiple cooling systems.

Challenges 

The presented challenges require Corridor solutions which offer a higher flexibility and modularity, as well as more integration options. With the Next Generation Corridor and the Free Standing Corridor, Minkels offers data centre managers and owners ‘future proof’ solutions which offer flexibility and modularity to be able to anticipate the dynamic of the data centre of today. Through the continuous innovation, furthermore, data centres are capable of even more energy-efficient operation than was possible with the traditional Cold Corridors, partly because of optimal integration of, for example, sensors for management and the cooling techniques that are being applied within the data centre.

With the Next Generation Corridor and the Free Standing Corridor, Minkels offers the best solution for every situation. This white paper is created to support data centre managers, data centre owners, architects and consultants in making the optimal choice.