Overheated Data Center Costs Indiana Town

We've all heard stories about companies that put off installing new equipment because they've maxed out their data center cooling. It's rarer to hear accounts of equipment getting fried by inadequate cooling, but those stories exist. A cautionary tale is provided by the municipal data center in Jeffersonville, Indiana, where overheating has caused three "incidents" this year, including two heat events that damaged equipment (link via John Rath).

"The cooling in that area is not adequate," city IT Director Thomas Hardy told local media. "It's one of those things, in my heart of hearts, no one really would have known until the temperature changed." Portable air conditioners and a monitoring system have helped addressed some of the problems. The city is obtaining quotes for a 12-ton computer room air conditioning (CRAC) unit, but any purchase will require special funding from the city council, which is decidedly not pleased. "It needs to be fixed. It has to be fixed," said councilman Jack Perkins. "But the council is going to ask some questions. Why was it not engineered to cool that room? That's basically the nerve center of city government in that room."