IDC-MCS Reveals Annual Top IT Infrastructure Hazards; Finds Majority of Companies Fail to Get Third-Party Evaluations When Purchasing or Upgrading Equipment.

SAN DIEGO -- Poorly managed cabling is the most common problem found in today's IT facilities, according to Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDC-MCS)'s first annual analysis of Top Data Center Dangers. The IT consultancy is urging companies to closely examine their essential physical infrastructure to ensure data centers, and other mission critical facilities, are as safe and efficient as possible.

Mission-critical facilities need to be actively managed by enforcing that all IT support systems are correctly installed, maintained and operated. As data centers age or as equipment density increases, it is not uncommon to find supporting infrastructure, such as power distribution, HVAC, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and cable management systems, becoming overburdened or stressed to the point of failure.

From conducting numerous site assessments over the past 12 months, IDC-MCS identified the following as the Top Data Center Dangers of 2004:

1. Lack of well managed cabling -- in some older data centers, new
   cable is deployed without removing older cable bundles. If these
   bundles are running beneath a raised floor, the accumulation of
   cable can dramatically reduce the efficiency of cooling systems.
   Other common problems include unlabeled patch cables, unsupported
   cables and bend radii less than those recommended by the cable
   manufacturer.

2. Confusion about UPS technologies -- with four types of UPS products
   available (standby, line interactive, true online double
   conversion or ferro resonant), the decision of which to install is
   often driven by price rather than critical function. If the
   correct UPS solution is not implemented, it can dramatically
   affect the operational capabilities of the center.

3. Contaminated slab or sub-floor -- if the plenum beneath a raised
   floor is not cleaned on a regular basis, galvanic 'grey whiskers'
   can propagate and contaminate data center air. If 'grey whiskers'
   are drawn into equipment by air circulation fans, they can cause
   short circuits at the microscopic level.

4. Lack of fire suppression systems -- often fire suppression systems
   are taken out of service due to maintenance costs or operational
   difficulties. Many businesses are unaware of modern
   mission-critical fire suppression systems, including specifically
   manufactured computer room fire extinguishers that can be
   installed at an affordable price and offer very simple
   maintenance.

5. Over heated data centers -- as older IT centers add new computing
   equipment, cooling systems can become strained as heat loads
   increase. Often dated facilities are designed for mainframe
   equipment and not intended to be used for high density PC-based or
   blade server technology.

6. Poor electrical grounding techniques -- IT administrators commonly
   install technology that allow system grounding resistance of over
   2 to 5 Ohms (resistance measurement), as recommended by the
   Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Keeping
   grounding grid resistance to a minimum in accordance with sound
   engineering principals can prevent almost all Transient Voltage
   Surges (TVS).

7. Poorly maintained standby generator sets (gensets) and Automatic
   Transfer Switches (ATS) -- if gensets or the ATS that connects them
   to a facilities power distribution system are not maintained
   perfectly, it is possible they will fail when needed most. Typical
   maintenance procedures are simple and inexpensive, including items
   such as regular oil changes, filter replacements, hose and belt
   replacements and test running the generator at least one hour per
   week.

8. Power distribution systems -- it is not uncommon to find power
   distribution systems that fall below current standards. Some
   examples include absence of Emergency Power Off (EPO) switches,
   whips not securely fastened to the deck or equipment added without
   recalculating total rack amperage requirements resulting in
   overloaded circuits.

9. Raised floor systems -- air bleeding through poorly sealed flooring
   can result in the loss of up to 25% of the pressure created to
   cool equipment cabinets. Similarly, large cable bundles located
   beneath a raised floor can block airflow and create turbulence
   that dramatically reduces the efficiency of precision cooling
   systems. This can result in 'hot spots' or high overall ambient
   temperatures within a data center.

10. Data center management -- regardless of how well a facility is
    designed and constructed, uptime is ultimately dependant on the
    people working in the center. All too often failures are
    attributable to the 'human factor'. This is a result of poor
    training or enforcement of operations protocols.

"From IDC-MCS' experience assessing many IT facilities, we find many enterprises fail to pay close attention to their data center's physical infrastructure, updating them at most once every five years," said Steve Ritzi, Director of Marketing at IDC-MCS, Inc. "This leaves their IT infrastructure in serious danger of exceeding temperature specifications or failing to meet cabling and power supply requirements. Infrastructure Development Corporation advises companies to spend the extra time and allocate sufficient budget to better manage server rooms in order to avoid the potential of equipment failures and data loss down the line."

About IDC-MCS, Inc.

Infrastructure Development Corp. provides consulting, design, facilities, assessment planning, program and project management expertise in the development and implementation of e-business applications, networks, telecommunication infrastructure, data centers and mission-critical facilities.

For further information on IDC-MCS' infrastructure consulting services, please visit www.idc-mcs.com.