About eight different kinds of equipment make up the infrastructure of a typical IT Equipment Room. For the computers and systems in the IT room to work, all of the systems that support them must be in good shape. Most, if not all, of the systems will be sold with a Maintenance Contract that covers regular maintenance and repairs in case of a breakdown.
Some or all of the following infrastructure equipment can be found in an IT Equipment Room:
Stan...
About eight different kinds of equipment make up the infrastructure of a typical IT Equipment Room. For the computers and systems in the IT room to work, all of the systems that support them must be in good shape. Most, if not all, of the systems will be sold with a Maintenance Contract that covers regular maintenance and repairs in case of a breakdown.
Some or all of the following infrastructure equipment can be found in an IT Equipment Room:
Standby Generator, UPS system, Electrical Switchgear and Distribution, Fire Suppression System, Air Conditioning, Building Monitoring System, Data Cabling, Building Services, and general cleaning.
Managing all of these maintenance contracts with different suppliers on a day-to-day basis takes a lot of time and takes the person away from their main job in the organisation. For each supplier, it's important to plan and keep an eye on contract renewals, maintenance visits, and breakdowns. Most site visits don't happen during regular work hours.
This is why more and more IT Facility Management is being done outside of companies. All of these things can be done for your organisation by a good contractor. For all of your maintenance and break-down contracts, you should have a single person to call 24/7.
The outside contractor takes over contracts that are already in place, or they can suggest a Service Provider from their list of approved suppliers.
Take the UPS system for the computers as an example. The outside IT facilities management company will help you decide how much security your system needs.
Modern computer processors are very sensitive to voltage spikes from the mains power supply. If there isn't a properly regulated supply, the processor could even break because it gets too hot.
People think that if they pay for a 115v or 230v (UK) supply, they will get that. No way. The quality and consistency of the electricity supply depend on how much load and how it changes that local businesses put on the supply.
Installing an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) System can protect your computers and the systems that depend on them. UPS systems can be anything from a simple plug-in device that costs a few dollars to full standby generators that cost tens of thousands of dollars.
If your business computer crashes, the simple plug-in devices are a waste of time and money. These low-cost "UPS" systems are really just simple filters that keep the worst voltage spikes from getting through.
If you want any kind of protection, you should think about getting a system with enough battery power as a backup to let you shut down your system by hand if the power goes out. The cost of a UPS system depends a lot on how much backup battery power it has.
