Data Center Handbook, 2nd Edition

15CORROSION AND CONTAMINATION CONTROL FOR MISSION CRITICAL FACILITIES

Christopher O. Muller

Muller Consulting, Lawrenceville, Georgia, United States of America

15.1 INTRODUCTION

Data Center \ 'dāt‐ə ('dat‐, 'dät‐) 'sent‐ər \ (circa 1990) n (i) a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. It generally includes redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls (e.g., air conditioning, fire suppression), and security devices; (ii) a facility used for housing a large amount of computer and communications equipment maintained by an organization for the purpose of handling the data necessary for its operations; (iii) a secure location for web hosting servers designed to assure that the servers and the data housed on them are protected from environmental hazards and security breaches; (iv) a collection of mainframe data storage or processing equipment at a single site; (v) areas within a building housing data storage and processing equipment.

Data centers operating in areas with elevated levels of ambient pollution can experience hardware failures due to changes in electronic equipment mandated by several “lead‐free” regulations that affect the manufacturing of electronics, including IT and datacom equipment. The European Union directive “on the R estriction o f the use of certain H azardous S ubstances in electrical and electronic equipment” (RoHS) was ...