If data is the lifeblood of a business or organization, then the data center is the heart. After all, it's the dedicated space where all that data is stored and processed. This, of course, brings with it a whole slew of complications as you’re talking about a confined space with a lot of computer hardware that is constantly running. Said hardware generates a lot of heat and requires a lot of cooling to prevent it from overheating.

Many small businesses use enterprise data centers, where the facility and equipment (servers, storage systems, switches, routers, etc.) are owned and operated by the company itself. Enterprise data centers are generally onsite and consist of small bank of servers housed in a dedicated room and cooled with standard air conditioning (and perhaps a few strategically placed fans).

However, as businesses grow larger, they often find they need a data center solution that is going to scale up with the company. For some, this means renting or buying space, power, and cooling from a facility that provides this service to multiple clients (colocation data center). For others, it means building or buying a dedicated facility to house their servers and data storage.

While colocation and hyperscale centers are a great solution for large-scale data storage and processing, they aren’t without their complications. Colocation facilities usually house the hardware for hundreds (if not thousands) of individual clients, while hyperscale data centers are typically greater than 10,000 sq. ft. in size (with some into the millions of sq. ft.) and contain thousands of servers linked with an ultra-high-speed network. When you’re talking about cooling at this scale, air-conditioners and fans simply aren’t going to cut it. To keep the hardware chugging along efficiently, you have to make sure that the hot air and the cooled air are circulating properly and not mixing between the aisles.

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