scope:

A metric that is paramount in today's datacom (data processing and telecommunications) facilities is reliability. It is a requirement that is often quant$ed by the facility decision makers. As load densities increase, the challenges to plan, implement, and operate reliable cooling systems to satis& the associated high density loads also increase and the performance of the cooling systems is required to be much more reliable.

Therefore, the need to understand the approach to developing reliable cooling systems also increases. The reliability of a cooling system for a datacom facility is not simply a quantitative statistical calculation but also involves many qualitative practical aspects involving the design, construction, implementation, and commissioning.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of thepractical aspects ofcooling system reliabilivand the approach that can be used to maximize it.