Data center maintenance teams have a big share in safeguarding the critical resource that customers and businesses depend upon, but FLIR (Wilsonville, OR) thermal imaging technology enables them to spot issues in an early stage before they turn into big problems.
Downtime of a data center can have an enormous economic impact and needs to be avoided at all costs. In addition to financial loss, reputational damage can be equally impactful, especially when the data center is supporting customer-facing services.
Guaranteeing uptime has become increasingly complex for data centers. With so much mechanical, electrical and electronic infrastructure under one roof, overheating is a major concern, not only because the infrastructure is not using the energy efficiently, but also because overheating can cause a complete shutdown of servers, impacting users around the world, or even data or equipment loss. One of the most reported incidents is the 2013 overheating of a Microsoft data center operating some of its cloud services, including Outlook, which led to services being lost for 16 hours.
Regular inspections with thermal imaging cameras can help maintenance staff to:
- Find and fix hidden problems before they turn into unplanned downtime.
- Reduce the chance of component degradation going unnoticed due to overloaded circuits or loose connections.
- Prevent equipment breakdowns.
- Optimize energy management and space allocation.
