While airflow management is the process of managing the flow of air through a computer room (with solutions such as floor grommets, blanking panels, and containment), cooling optimization is the process of making adjustments to the cooling system controls (such as raising temperature set points or reducing fan speeds). Airflow management alone will improve IT equipment intake air temperatures, but it’s not until you optimize the cooling infrastructure that you’ll actually improve energy efficiency and reap the benefits such as reduced operating costs and improved cooling capacity.

Therefore, cooling optimization is the only way to achieve a return on investment from airflow management improvements, so it’s important to understand how the process of optimization works. An easy way to illustrate this through the concept of bypass airflow, as you’ll see below:

For more on the science behind airflow management and cooling optimization, check out our recent webinar titled, Data Center Containment Best Practices: Key Considerations to Maximize ROI.