Reducing the costs of network power and cooling

By comparison with equipment manufactured 30-40 years ago, the modern switch offers an enhanced level of functionality, and yet in real terms the price of the equipment has gone down. The cost of power and cooling equipment however has increased, not just in terms of plant costs, but also in terms of the ongoing maintenance costs to support these systems. Increasing pressure is therefore being applied to reduce the costs of the power and cooling infrastructure. This paper looks at an ongoing policy of reducing energy costs by the use of refrigerant free cooling systems, at the development of a cost reduced engine set and at the progress being made to replace some of the older DC centralised systems with modern switch mode power supplies; an approach that is both more reliable and energy efficient and additionally requires considerably less maintenance resources. The paper also suggests other ways of reducing costs.