3-D images help diagnose IT problems

Modeling tools, known as computational fluid dynamics, can be a cost-effective and accurate way for technology managers to visualize environmental conditions within a data center. The color, 3-D graphics that result from a CFD analysis are not only pretty, they can serve as a kind of X-ray or modeling map to help make help a data center manager diagnose problems and make key cooling or heating decisions.

In a Forbes.com article, Louis F. Ernst and Christian J. Bonilla, data center consultants at HP Technical Services Group, explain that quality modeling provides great value as a means of evaluating a data center's risks and strengths, and can assist in pinpointing exactly where air flow improvements are needed or where to help technology managers adjust capacity planning and budgeting for increased energy efficiency. They say the cost for a CFD analysis ranges from $30,000 to $70,000.

For more on CFD:
- see this Forbes.com article

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