It isn’t hard to imagine what the outcome would be if a mission critical facility lost power for even a minute. With so much depending on those significant businesses, it isn’t surprising that thousands of dollars in revenue would be lost with every minute of down time. It is crucial to make sure that mission critical facilities receive the back-up they require to remain functioning at all times since they have so many people depending on them. There are many different mission critical facilities that demand the highest level of technical expertise. These include call centers, command centers, microwave and radio tower facilities, web-hosting telecom sites, network operation centers, optic transport facilities, storage and distribution centers, and data centers. Furthermore, for these facilities to succeed, they must undergo maintenance to assure that they are not going to fall into unseen problems. Data centers, for instance, should undergo data center maintenance to prevent down time incidences.
Some down time situations can’t be avoided, such as in the case of weather induced circumstances. But there are many other instances where down time can be prevented which might affect the performance of the facility. One difficulty might be the failure of a cooling system or server. If the equipment is properly maintained, the difficulties can be prevented. It is estimated that about 30 percent to 40 percent of system breakdowns that were caused by infrastructure hardware failures could have been avoided had the systems been properly maintained. Facility performance is affected by lack of preventative data center maintenance and can have a larger impact than down time. For instance, when a task takes longer to accomplish because of lower performance from the equipment, this can have an accumulative effect on productivity, costing a great deal of money. The percentage of loss in the performance can equal greater loss in revenue than down time. Data center maintenance is often placed on the back burner for several reasons. Sometimes the task seems arduous and the daily demands of a facility are overwhelming. A company manager might blame a lack of time or resources to be the reason for putting off necessary procedures. However, data center maintenance can actually save money and time by preventing costly problems in the future.
There are many things in a data center that require maintenance on variable levels. Transformers, air and water distributions systems, and power distribution units require little maintenance. But fire alarm systems, chillers, and generators depend on a high level of care. Other devices such as an uninterruptible power supply is somewhere in between. Some apparatuses seem to get overlooked more than others such as switchgear, circuit breakers, power distribution units, UPS’s, batteries, and HVAC systems. A data center maintenance strategy can be implemented to help accomplish your maintenance goals. The first thing to do is to define your maintenance program goals and assign maintenance priorities. The next thing is to keep track of your maintenance history and other information. Another point is to make sure you are consistent with regular maintenance procedures. In addition, you should set safety and cleanliness standards. All in all, the benefits of preventative maintenance is truly an advantage to a data center or any other mission critical facility and can help to keep the company running, safe, efficient, and strong.
