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2Data Center Manager of the Year
For the first time, Data Center World and co-sponsor eWEEK asked for nominees and selected a national Data Center Manager of the Year at the 2010 conference from more than 40 candidates. The finalists were Michael Greeney, data center facilities team leader at Chevron; Joseph Perillo, vice president of technology operations at MetLife; and Tom Roberts, manager of data center facilities at Trinity Information Services. Greeney was selected as the first Data Center Manager of the Year.
3Methode Electronics: Jack of Many IT Trades
4Biometric Access Controls
Methode Data Solutions Group showed a new biometric access package (thumbprint) for data centers that enable managers to see specific temperatures in different sectors, to provide access to specific doors for specific personnel and to monitor how long each door has been opened or closed. For example, the two blue lines on the center box represent the two doors that are currently available to be opened by one person inside the data center. If there turns out to be a problem, the manager can close the door at any time. The system is all RFID/sensor based.
5Whats in Back of the Rack
Connectivity Technologies is a premium provider of high-quality services and products for the data center physical layer infrastructure. Established in 1997, Connectivity Technologies makes hardware that addresses port density, panel access, cabling, automated cable/asset management and custom designs.
6All-Access Passport
7SmartAisle Improves DC Cooling
Fred Stack, vice president of marketing for the Liebert Precision Cooling business of Emerson Network Power, shows off his company’s new SmartAisle configuration. Sensor-driven SmartAisle finds specific hot sections of the aisle and automatically directs more air to them, in order to keep temperatures in line and power costs down. No wasted power or air here.
8The Data Center Become Transparent
9Independent Heat-Containment System
10Fiber-Optic Cabling
11Hooking Everything Up Efficiently
12Looks Like Water, but Its Not
Perhaps the coolest technology at Data Center World 2010 was a demonstration of Sapphire, a new version of 3M’s Novec 1230, which looks and feels like water but is really a nox-toxic chemical that can put out difficult data center fires without hurting valuable equipment. Touch the liquid, and your finger goes cold for a couple of seconds, and the liquid vaporizes. It does not penetrate electronics, so an entire video screen can be submerged with no effect. The gas emitted by the chemical puts fire out immediately. A couple of cans of Novec 1230 can protect a good size section of a data center, with no worry about water short-circuiting sensitive electronics in case of fire.