Height of cabinets in the data center is growing

Over the past 15 years, much has changed in the data center. In the early 2000s, cabinets were usually 42U height, covered with a glass panel in front and behind. The average energy consumption was about 1 kW per cabinet. Cold air came from the bottom, released through the top. Compare this with today's data centers where 42U has become obsolete and difficult to find. New server and switch options for cabinets became available, requiring higher racks to be able to optimize installed equipment. The standard rack heights were 42U, 45U, 46U and 48U. Currently, it is easy to find solutions above 58U.

A variety of customer requirements creates a variety of cabinets in data centers. Let's take 45U as an example. This means that a 3U gap has been created above the cabinet, which needs to be filled to optimize air flow control in the corridor. When adding a higher cabinet, for example, version 48U, the roof of the corridor is squeezed out to 3U, creating an air pocket that is likely to interfere with your cooling.

Current and future trends

Modern data centers face a difficult task: while trends and customer requirements require cabinets above 48U, objects are limited by their ceiling height. This forces customers to rent additional cabinets and buy more devices than originally planned in their infrastructure design. This is why 54U cabs are increasingly being requested and even required for network optimization. A typical network switch has 48 ports, and a standard 48U cabinet: the result is a lot of ports.

Over the next few years, data centers will begin to follow or prepare their data centers to support the growing growth trend of cabinets. Higher cabinets will help customers optimize the operating process and reduce costs.