Emerson: Half of Operators to Upgrade Data Center Cooling Systems Next Year

The need for greater energy efficiency and more capacity has put cooling systems high on the list of priorities in 2016 for IT, facilities, and data center managers in North America, according to new research from Emerson Network Power. Results show that before the end of next year, more than half of all data center cooling systems will be upgraded, according to Emerson.

That's on top of the 40 percent of respondents that already did so in the past five years and another 20 percent in the process of doing so. While many are upgrading voluntarily, a combined 39 percent said the need to meet state energy codes or Energy Star LEED requirements were the catalysts.

The size of the data center seems to matter as 62 percent of the upgrades will occur in data centers under 10,000 square feet and 18 percent in those larger than 50,000 square feet. Inefficient cooling systems are an especially widespread problem in smaller data centers.

“Reliable performance and efficiency have always been critical to large data center performance. As the edge and cloud computing become ubiquitous, ensuring the health of cooling systems at smaller, localized data centers and computer rooms is crucial. Thermal upgrades are allowing companies to improve protection, efficiency and visibility within all these spaces,” said John Peter Valiulis, VP of thermal management marketing for Emerson in North America, in a press statement.