Because air-intake temperature is a known significant factor in IT equipment reliability and availability, Upsite Technologies, Inc. commissioned an independent, third-party organization to study the effect of blanking (filler) panels on airflow patterns and IT equipment intake temperatures within equipment (server) cabinets. This study was conducted, in part, to expand on work previously completed by Robert F. Sullivan, Ph.D. with the Uptime Institute, Inc.

This white paper will describe the study results in detail and present some conclusions and implications. The work previously conducted by Dr. Sullivan will be summarized and compared to the results of this study. Also, plans for future research will be summarized.