This might be controversial, but yes we should allow cellphones into the Data Center. Here’s the thinking behind the answer.
Way, way back many enterprise data center operators were having huge problems with Sun SPARC I servers, like the Sun 4500, unexplained crashes, hang-ups and other strange events. At the same time rumors started circulation about the strong cellular signals from cellphones being at the root of the problem. Funnily enough Zinc Whiskers were drawing some attention as well.
Actually it all turned out to be baloney and these unexplained incidents were related to the lack of a mirrored cache in the SPARC I design. Random bit error rates were causing memory parity errors in the processor core and resulting in system crashes.
Cellphones got a bum rap and have been banned from many data centers ever since. Never being able to get a hold of a Data Center Operator when they are on the raised floor area has always been a pain.
In my career, I have managed over 3500 data centers and always took off the cellphone ban, never regretted the decision once.
Pingback by Should mobile handsets be allowed in the data centre? Yes! | Mobile Industry Review on 7 December 2008:
[...] over at The Hot Aisle has supervised some of the planet’s largest data centres and reckons mobile handsets should be allowed — if only to get hold of the data centre operator who’s hiding on the [...]
Pingback by Should mobile handsets be allowed in the data centre? Yes! | Mobile News on 8 December 2008:
[...] over at The Hot Aisle has supervised some of the planet’s largest data centres and reckons mobile handsets should be allowed — if only to get hold of the data centre operator who’s hiding on the [...]
Comment by Ben on 9 February 2009:
3500 data centers?
Comment by thehotaisle on 13 February 2009:
Yes Ben, having been Global Head of Data Centers at British Telecom, I had a very large estate. We used 0.7% of all electricity generated in the UK.
Steve