Frequently Asked Questions

 

Why should I use a data center cleaning company?

The data center is the heart of an organization's mission critical infrastructure. Preventing interruptions with data center cleaning requires preventive maintenance and safeguarding. The subfloor plenum in a raised floor environment requires regular data center cleaning to keep it clean enough to prevent potentially costly downtime. Particulate build-up can cause failures in electronic circuits within computer equipment and is a main reason to perform computer room cleaning. This fact alone is the reason to perform data center cleaning, or computer room cleaning in a data center environment.

 

How does data center cleaning prevent downtime?
Internal components of electronic computer equipment can fail due to various factors. Heat and contamination are two that are caused from a dirty subfloor environment. Equipment is cooled in a raised floor environment from under the raised floor and the particulate build-up can be carried into the internal circuits and cause failures. The cost of prevention when using a qualified computer room cleaning company to perform data center cleaning is much lower than the cost of downtime when not cleaning. Computer room cleaning is insurance agaisnt possible problems due to not keeping your data center clean.

How often should I perform data center cleaning?

Most hardware and industry experts recommend a complete data center cleaning at least once per year, and a surface cleaning at least quarterly to maintain an acceptable level of cleanliness in your mission critical facility. If your facility does not have a raised floor, then you need to be concerned about ensuring that the flooring is static dissipative. We provide ESD floor finishing for non-raised floors.

 

How do I choose a qualified computer room cleaning company to perform data center cleaning?

A qualified computer room cleaning company will specialize in data center cleaning. They will have the proper equipment, trained technicans, and a great deal of experience in data center cleaning. They will have regional personnel in order to support the on-going needs of your facility. Only use a qualified, experienced computer room cleaning company. Your IT investment demands that you use only qualified companies that specialize in cleaning mission critical facilities.

 

When is the best time to perform data center cleaning?

The best time to perform data center cleaning is when traffic in the data center is at a minimum. For most companies, nights and weekends are the best time to perform maintenance in the data center. However, we can provide computer room cleaning services anytime to meet your specific needs. Data center cleaning does not cause any interruptions to service in your facility when performed by a qualified computer room cleaning company. We are flexible to meet your data center cleaning needs.

Do you use contract labor or company employees to perform data center cleaning?

ProSource will only utilize trained company owned employees to clean your data center. Each employee is carefully screened and trained how to perform computer room cleaning. Only a computer room cleaning that uses company employees should be allowed in your data center.

 

Is a particle count reading, by itself, enough to determine if data center cleaning is needed?

A particle count reading only measures the airborne particulate in a certain area at the time of sampling. It does not measure all particulate contamination that is settled under and above the raised access floor. Settled particulate should also be addressed whenn considering your data center cleaning preventive maintenance programs. Contact us in order to scheule an environmental audit for your data center.

 

Is encapsulating the subfloor necessary?

Subfloor encapsulation is crucial to maintaining an optimal environment for you mission critical data center. The natural and continuous oxidation of the concrete subfloor is a major cause of controlled environment contamination, introducing concrete dust into the air plenum which is blown directly into IT equipment via cooling intakes. The only way to eliminate this source of contamination is to seal the surface of the concrete with an encapsulant.  We offer services to encapsulate both existing and new data centers. Encapsulation should be part of a complete data center preventive maintenance program. Allow ProSource to help you maintain a world class facility.

 

Can a live data center be encapsulated? 

Yes, we can install an encapsulant in your live data center. We have the experience and knowledge to safely install an encapsulant in the subfloor plenum without disturbing your operation.