Cold aisle containment (CAC) works like this: instead of chasing heat, you trap cold air right where it's needed — at the front of the racks. You build barriers around the aisle, then feed it conditioned air from the raised floor or ducted units. Proper server rack cooling is essential to prevent overheating, improve performance, and extend equipment lifespan. In this guide, we'll break down how hot aisle and cold aisle configurations. The hot aisle /cold aisle data center layout was originated by IBM in 1992 and it is one of the oldest ways to save energy in the data center. 1 Hot aisle/cold aisle layout involves lining up server racks in alternating rows with cold air intakes – the fronts of servers – facing each other (the. The system simply aligns server fronts (air intakes) toward a shared cold aisle, and backs (exhausts) toward a shared hot aisle.
[PDF Version]