Filthy Data Centres Are Becoming A Major Problem

Data centres are running the grave risk of power outages due to shoddy cleaning schedules, said a European data centre healthcare business.

The unchecked build-up of dirt can cause the loss of critical data if regular cleans are not planned, said 8 Solutions, which said it has seen demand for its emergency cleaning service rocket 300 percent in the last 12 months.

Essential

“Planned cleaning schedules are essential to maintaining the health of a data centre, and identifying issues before they occur,” said David Hogg, MD of 8 Solutions.

Dust, dirt, and even human skin flakes are all adding to the grime plaguing data centre environments, environments that need to be kept critically pristine if they want to keep in full working order.

“When we are called out in an emergency, it may suggest that such schedules are not being followed, or worse that they do not even exist. It is a concerning trend and facilities managers need to understand how quickly a site can become contaminated especially during building or maintenance works,” said Hogg.

Dust and other damaging contaminants can emanate from various sources, said 8 Solutions, with the most obvious being dead skin or clothing deposits.

Hogg said it is crucial that data centre managers are aware of the environment they are operating in.

“Uncovering and discovering sources of contamination is a challenge. It is not uncommon, for example, for a data centre to believe that the contamination comes from one source, to find – after testing – that the contamination stems from another source altogether, and one that the data centre management had never even considered.”

Strangely, 8 Solutions also warned data centres about the risk of overcleaning. “Cleaning, when not properly conducted, can also cause an increase in contamination so it all needs to be very carefully planned and coordinated.”

Take our data centre quiz here!