Abstract: An isolated work space is created within a confined area used as an airflow plenum to inhibit the spread of debris and/or contamination. For example, a work area can be formed in an under-floor space of a datacenter. Forming the work area includes erecting an airflow barrier to surround a work area portion of the under-floor space, forming a lower-perimeter seal to seal a bottom edge of the airflow barrier, forming an upper-perimeter seal to seal a top edge of the airflow barrier, operatively connecting a vacuum source with the work area portion, and operating the vacuum source to reduce the air pressure within the work area portion relative to the remaining portion of the under-floor space.

Abstract: A modular cooling apparatus for cooling one or more rack-mounted electronic component enclosures in a datacenter includes a base duct section and a duct assembly. The base duct section includes an inlet to receive a cooling airflow and an outlet to transfer to the cooling airflow to the duct assembly. The duct assembly is connected to the base duct section. The duct assembly includes one or more modular duct sections. Each of the one or more modular duct sections has a vent and is configured such that the vent aligns with an exterior opening in the respective one of the one or more electronic component enclosures.

Abstract: Techniques are described for providing an automatic transfer switch (ATS), such as in a data center, to switch between a primary power system and a reserve power system based on a priority of the computing systems to which the ATS is supplying power. The ATS obtains the priority from a centralized database and obtains an existing load on the reserve power system. If the existing load is too high and the priority of the computing systems coupled to the ATS is too low, then the ATS may not switch to utilizing the reserve power system upon a failure in the primary power system.