Raised Floors vs Hard Floors for Data Center Applications

Raised floors were once a standard feature of data centers, but over time a steadily growing fraction of data centers are built on hard floors. Many of the traditional reasons for the raised floor no longer exist, and some of the costs and limitations that a raised floor creates are avoidable by using hard-floor designs. This paper discusses factors to consider when determining whether a data center should use a raised floor or a hard floor design.