As IT departments work to keep pace with business growth, the cost of scaling and supporting a growing data center can be substantial. These costs extend far beyond the price of hardware and software. Data center expansion requires planning for adequate floor space, power distribution, backup generators, cooling requirements and more. And, as any IT manager will tell you, that's no easy feat.

According to analyst estimates, up to 50 percent of data centers will have insufficient power and cooling capacity this year. This leaves many companies scrambling for more efficient solutions that reduce both the total cost of ownership and the environmental impact of running their data centers, and are scalable enough to grow along with the company and its data needs. To meet rapidly