Bob McFarlane
Industry ExpertRobert McFarlane is a principal in charge of data center design for the international consulting firm Shen Milsom and Wilke LLC. McFarlane has spent more than 35 years in communications consulting, has experience in every segment of the data center industry and was a pioneer in developing the field of building cable design. McFarlane also teaches the data center facilities course in the Marist College Institute for Data Center Professional program, is a data center power and cooling expert, is widely published, speaks at many industry seminars and is a corresponding member of ASHRAE TC9.9 which publishes a wide range of industry guidelines. McFarlane is one of several regular Industry Experts to SearchDataCenter's Advisory Board, a collection of experts working in a variety of roles across the IT industry.
31 articles by Bob McFarlane
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Understanding AI’s resource needs and sustainability challenges
Aug. 3, 2026 -
Top data center infrastructure management software in 2026
Jan. 27, 2026 -
Maximizing water recycling in modern data center design
Sept. 17, 2025 -
Data center migration: A best practices guide
July 16, 2025 -
Liquid and dry cooling in a water-stressed world
June 11, 2025 -
Complexities of integrating AI into legacy data centers
May 2, 2025 -
Data center migration checklist: A move to modern facilities
Jan. 21, 2025 -
Is TEC the next data center cooling breakthrough?
Jan. 13, 2025 -
Understand the power usage effectiveness metric
Nov. 18, 2024 -
Calculate UPS battery backup time to prepare for power failure
Sept. 18, 2024 -
Maximize data center cooling efficiency by controlling airflow
June 25, 2024 -
Maximize UPS capacity with three-phase power
June 18, 2024 -
How to maintain data center power systems
April 30, 2024 -
How to understand advancements in modern data centers
March 13, 2024 -
Importance of backup generator power for data centers
March 5, 2024 -
Data center air quality: The air servers breathe
Nov. 30, 2023 -
Data center humidity recommendation falls dramatically
Oct. 27, 2015 -
Take data center efficiency to the max on three-phase power
Feb. 19, 2015 -
Know your data center monitoring system
Oct. 22, 2014 -
Controversial hot aisle containment practices
June 24, 2014 -
Major changes in data center fire suppression standards NFPA 75 and 76
Nov. 13, 2013 -
Work from the ground up with a data center raised floor
April 3, 2012 -
Avoiding single point of failure design flaws
Nov. 11, 2011 -
Best practices for maintaining a data center CRAC unit
Sept. 26, 2011 -
Considering a raised floor in the data center
Aug. 2, 2011
