Rack fire suppression - What are the advantages?]

Most data centres and server rooms are protected by a system that is integral to the room. This usually provides good general protection of all elements of the data centre. In smaller data centres this is often not economic and many IT managers choose to rely on the system integral to the building, often designed to keep people safe but not hardware and data.

Wagner has developed a range of units that bring detection and extinguishing capabilities inside the cabinet. There are a number of advantages to providing protection from fire in this way:

• Quicker detection: The system is aware of the problem before any smoke has left the cabinet providing vital seconds for a coordinated response.
• Targeted response: The application of extinguishant is closer to the source of the problem than with room based system ultimately leading to a faster MTTR
• Less disruptive: Segmenting the suppression capabilities in the data centre means that less disruption is caused in the event of an alarm being triggered. The response is limited to the affected cabinets allowing operations in the rest of the data centre to continue without disruption
• Reduced cost of alarm: In the event of fire being detected (or falsely detected) the amount of gas discharged is far smaller than with room based systems. A false alarm in a cabinet would cost around £100’s in gas as opposed to £1000’s
• Less disruptive installation: The Wagner units are customer installable and can be done easily and quickly without causing disruption