The use of fences, trenches, berms or other manmade
or earthworks to create a perimeter or barrier around the
EDC site can further prevent access by unauthorized individuals.
Air conditioning condensing units, generators or
other auxiliary equipment should also be placed within
these barriers. Depending on location, no trespassing and
limited access signage is recommended to indicate private
property. Signage that highlights any potential risks from
exposures to electricity, light and radio waves and provides
contact information for site owners, administrators
or management is also recommended.
THERMAL MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE EDGE
Heat that is externally present or generated internally
by the device and not adequately removed is detrimental
to the performance and reliability of a communication
and computational electronic circuit. That is why thermal
management is one of the core subjects of any traditional
data center infrastructure and critical to protecting
active equipment.
Physically locating IT and cloud-based services closer
to end users and devices as described in the EDC concept
means that a high-capacity, data center-like environment
will often be required in public locations, such as office
buildings, shopping centers, school campuses, event arenas
and wireless cell sites. There are several considerations
when planning a cooling solution for an EDC that will
maximize compute, caching and networking performance,
including cost as it may not justify the benefit of an EDC
42 I ICT TODAY
or may not be physically feasible. Therefore, thermal
management of an EDC must be considered for each
level of cooling and heating, including:
• Component Level: The component is the base
of the heat source. It often relies on conduction
to a case mounted heatsink and printed circuit
board (PCB).
• Equipment (chassis, blade) Level: The equipment
must be designed to effectively remove heat from
the component. It often relies on fans and air to
remove the heat directly from heatsinks and PCBs
and, therefore, indirectly from the components.
• Rack/Cabinet/Container Level: Plan equipment
layout to provide a thermal path for removing heat
from the equipment according to the thermal
management design of the floor (e.g., equipment
stacking arrangement, heat baffle, thermal duct,
fans, liquid bath).
• Floor Level: Plan the floor to maximize the performance
of thermal management while minimizing
the cost.
• Overall Environment: Consideration of temperature
and humidity in and around the environment
should also be considered.
Considerations for the thermal management of data
storage and transport equipment includes the methods
and systems sufficient to maintain the equipment operating
environment (temperature and humidity) within the
physical operating condition range. Unless equipment has
requirements stating otherwise, EDC equipment with supply
air should be controlled to meet ASHRAE TC9.9 guidelines,
which include one recommended and four allowable
ranges (A1 to A4). ASHRAE’s recommended range for
all equipment is 18°C to 27°C (64.4°F to 80.6°F). Allowable
ranges A1 to A4 as compared to the recommended
range can enable potential cost savings for environments,
most notably those relying on the free cooling technologies.
Typically, these environments will operate at upper
ASHRAE limits, reducing cooling need and expense.
Server, storage, and switch
gear power levels are on the
rise, thereby driving higher
power dissipation in racks
and making cooling more
of a challenge.