The raised floor has been ubiquitous feature of data centers, but the recent convergence of telecommunications and IT systems has led to questions of its necessity. With this convergence, many of the reasons that led to the application of the raised floor no longer exist. With the absence of a compelling requirement combined with the problems associated with raised floors suggest that their widespread use is no longer economically or technically justified, particularly in smaller data centers. Nevertheless, data centers are likely to use raised floors for some time due to large base of experience with raised floor design, and the intangible issues of perception and image.

This white paper will review:

• The benefits and functions of the raised floor
• The problems of using a raised floor
• Barriers to eliminating the raised floor
• Designing a cooling system without a raised floor