A better solution

A Better Solution for Preventing Water Damage

How much value do you place on a server room that supports 50 or more employees? I am not referring just to the hardware replacement cost if something catastrophic happened, but I include the labor costs that would be wasted if a network was down for an extended period. Whatever the exact cost, the cost of lost productivity would be significant.

It has become standard practice in the Information Technology world to install a variety of safety nets to minimize network downtime and the resulting losses, whether from paying employees to sit and wait or damaged customer relations due to delays or lost data. Now most of us pay for back up power (universal power supplies); back up tapes, network redundancy, fire suppression system, and more, but what have you done to address potential water damage from roof or water pipe leaks, or from overflowing toilets and sinks? Statistics show that water damage is second to only power loss in causing extended network outages. So why aren't more IT managers and facility personnel doing something to prevent this disaster?
Water damage occurs from above more often than from the floor level. Potential problem areas are sprinkler system and water line leaks, old or damaged roofs, and water from floors above. One company put their cafeteria above their server room, and were surprised when a kicked over mop bucket full of water was left alone until it went through the floor and into the server room. Moisture damage can come from many unexpected sources. Paying for water damage cleanup is expensive, both in direct charges and in time lost.

Until now the market offered a very limited selection of leak detection products covering water leaks from above. Many businesses had to gut their ceiling to install multiple aluminum panels that would direct a water leak to a central point where a standard flood sensing probe would hope to capture enough water to send an alarm. Other businesses resorted to adapting one of several common water sensing cables by wrapping the cable around pipes or laying cables on the ceiling grid in hopes that water would make contact with the cable before it penetrated through the acoustical tiles and onto the server equipment. These applications offered more challenges than solutions but it was the best the market could previously offer.

The Halotile® system (visit www.invetex.com) not only uses modern technology but addresses all of the issues a business faces when installing an effective water detection system in place. The Halotile® system incorporates both water sensing and temperature sensing within a 2ft by 2 ft lightweight foam pad that rest directly on top of an acoustical tile or directly on top of an equipment rack. Each Halotile® has 36 water sensing cups that, when filled with water, sends an immediate signal back to a controller that can alerts the customer through multiple means such as e-mail, contact closure, and audible alerts. The system can also be tied into most existing alarm system and environmental monitoring devices. Some clients have received insurance reductions of 10% due to their installation Halotiles®.

Now that an emerging technology is available to help prevent water damage there shouldn't be any reason that a business shouldn't protection its valuable resources. Water leaks can happen at any time and place without warning. Neglecting the second largest cause of network outages, water damage, is no longer acceptable. You don't have to dry out a basement if you can prevent flood water damage.