Patent ID: 8219362

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for providing a layout of equipment in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks, and at least one cooling provider, the method comprising: receiving data regarding airflow consumption for each of the plurality of equipment racks and cooling capacity of the at least one cooling provider; storing the received data; determining a layout of the data center; displaying the layout of the data center; and wherein determining a layout includes: pairing each equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks with another equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks based on airflow consumption of each of the plurality of equipment racks to create a plurality of pairs of equipment racks such that a greatest airflow consuming equipment rack is paired with a least airflow consuming equipment rack, and a second greatest airflow consuming equipment rack is paired with a second least airflow consuming rack; determining a combined airflow consumption value for each of the pairs of equipment racks; arranging the pairs of equipment racks to form a two-row cluster of equipment racks based on the combined airflow consumption value of the equipment racks, wherein each pair includes an equipment rack in a first row of the cluster and an equipment rack in a second row of the cluster; and determining a location of the at least one cooling provider in the cluster.