FAQS
what is a rack in a data center?
Within the context of information technology and the data center, we define a rack as a physical structure that houses hardware elements. In data center environments, racks typically hold hardware components like servers, networking devices and other IT equipment.
Racks enable organizations to store a lot of IT equipment in a relatively small space, without the need for bulky shelving units.
Racks typically come in two sizes. In the US, they usually measure nineteen inches across and are 73.5 inches tall. In Europe, the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) standard is 23 inches.
Knowing the measurements of your rack structures is critical to mounting equipment correctly. Each rack contains several mounting slots, also known as bays, in which you can place hardware units by screwing them into place.
A single rack can house multiple servers that are placed one on top of the other, enabling organizations to minimize floor space usage while unifying network capacity and simplifying cabling design.
When using a rack for numerous servers, organizations must implement cooling technologies to ensure the servers do not overheat, which is all too possible with many heat-generating components in a confined area.
Beyond that, embracing automated infrastructure management (AIM) is vital to bringing much-needed visibility, monitoring and control to network physical-layer components like racks. Discover how our tool, PatchView+, can help you today.
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As digital infrastructure evolves in scale, complexity, and strategic importance, many data centers remain hindered by fragmented practices.
The adoption of AI is driving data centers to reduce latency, boost reliability, and meet tighter energy efficiency targets. Meeting these demands requires breaking away from legacy operational models defined by siloed data, fragmented tooling, and slow, expertise-dependent processes. Real-time, contextual visibility across infrastructure is now essential, not just for performance optimization, but to enable coordinated, data-driven action across teams and avoid the risks of misalignment or delayed intervention. Why do traditional analytics models no longer meet operational demands? Traditional approaches to reporting and analytics are fundamentally tied to a siloed, static framework. Dashboards and metrics are often built by specialists using Business Intelligence (BI) tools, requiring significant expertise. Even with the most advanced BI platforms, generating a meaningful report often requires submitting requests to specialized teams, waiting for expert input, and then hoping the result aligns with the original brief. This can mean going days or even weeks without answers to urgent questions. This disconnect between data and action creates friction, leading to constraints on responsiveness, limiting innovation, and leaving decision-makers without the timely insight needed for strategic oversight. Delayed or outdated analytics limit a team’s ability to respond in real time, often resulting in missed opportunities for efficiency gains and early intervention. As organizations move toward more universal and intelligent infrastructure, this gap has become increasingly problematic, diminishing performance and limiting their ability to adapt in real-time. Can AI actually help alleviate the barriers between people and data? Ironically, the same force driving operational complexity, namely AI, will also prove the key to overcoming it. Organizations that integrate AI-driven analytics will gain a strategic edge by breaking down siloes and enabling direct access to actionable insights. Our upcoming AI analytics module demonstrates this shift, embedding natural language interfaces and intelligent automation into the infrastructure layer. Organizations will be able to obtain highly detailed analytics through a simple, plain language request (e.g., “Identify any potential cooling hotspots developing across the facility” or “Are any of our data halls approaching their power capacity limits?”). That kind of instant, intuitive access to analytics enables teams to respond to concerns in real time without relying on manual workflows defined by complex briefs and static dashboards, freeing users to focus their attention elsewhere and allowing organizations to operate with greater agility. By equipping teams to respond to evolving conditions without delays or dependencies, users can take a far more adaptive, data-centric approach to infrastructure management, marking a clear progression in how data is accessed, interpreted, and applied across the entire operational landscape. Our smarter approach to real-time insight Designed to support a more autonomous environment where questions can be explored at pace and decisions are shaped by real-time intelligence, our upcoming XpedITe AI Analytics module represents a shift away from static analysis and toward systems that adapt in step with evolving business and infrastructure priorities. Contact us today to find out more.
RiT Tech has once again been identified as a Sample Vendor in the 2025 edition of the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for Data Center Infrastructure Technologies, this time as a provider of Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) tools. We believe that this recognition reflects the critical need for data center operators to gain comprehensive visibility across their entire infrastructure. With increasing regulatory requirements and compliance obligations spanning different countries and industries, operators require sophisticated tools to effectively manage and optimize both their physical and IT assets. As a DCIM specialist , RiT Tech has invested significantly in developing XpedITe, a platform built on Universal Intelligent Infrastructure Management (UIIM) principles. Our modular solution integrates multiple data sources to provide a unified view that supports strategic planning, real-time monitoring, and predictive analytics for data center optimization. XpedITe serves dual purposes: delivering essential operational intelligence to teams across the data center while providing strategic insights for executive decision-making. In our opinion this recognition by Gartner underscores the continued innovation driving the DCIM industry forward. What makes DCIM essential in today’s data center landscape? This technological growth has created some critical challenges. The unprecedented energy demands of these advanced technologies have heightened industry concerns around sustainable growth, driving the need for improved efficiency and alternative power sources. This is precisely where proven DCIM solutions like XpedITe deliver value, supporting sustainable growth strategies by enhancing energy efficiency through accurate asset management, capacity planning and comprehensive physical asset inventory management. XpedITe responds to many of the key DCIM challenges that Gartner® highlights. Where Gartner notes challenges with complexity and training, our simple and intuitive DCIM Analytics Dashboards are designed for ease of use. To counter the risk of vendor lock-in, XpedITe is built to be vendor-agnostic. And to solve the critical obstacle of difficult integration, our platform excels at consolidating data from multiple third-party sources into a single, reliable view, reducing operational silos, data fragmentation, and system complexity in line with our broader Universal Intelligent Infrastructure Management (UIIM) model . But it also has a dual use when it comes to reporting on Service Level Agreements, ESG initiatives, and future-proofing investments through digital twin capabilities for proactive capacity planning. Built around vendor-agnostic interoperability, XpedITe has the unique capability of consolidating data from multiple third-party sources into one centralized platform, and this is what makes it one of the most valuable tools on the market. Making data center infrastructure management smarter for operators and their customers Recognized in Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for Data Center Infrastructure Technologies, 2025, we are committed to creating a bespoke platform for data center operators to give greater visibility of every asset and IT network, helping our customers support their customers. Discover what XpedITe can do for you by reading more about our XpedITe platform here or contacting us for a demo. Gartner, Hype Cycle for Data Center Infrastructure Technologies, 2025, Henrique Cecci , 30 June 2025 GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and HYPE CYCLE is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Disclaimer: Gartner® does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors. Gartner® research publications also consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization only and should not be construed as statements of fact.