The results of a recent survey conducted by Enlogic which highlight that human error is still the biggest cause of downtime in the data centre, came as no surprise. This isn’t the first such result and certainly won’t be the last. For too long now, the industry has turned a blind eye to the potential for a crash as a result of human error. But of course this is unrealistic. And accidentally pulling a power cord from an IT asset or unknowingly adjusting the temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius is too easily done.   Unplanned downtime will continue to occur at the same rate if plans aren’t put in place to reduce it. This is a major concern considering that if a data centre suffers 60 minutes or more of downtime, it is likely to go out of business. A range of technology exists that can be implemented quickly and at little cost, to help prevent the problems caused by human error.   Mistakes such as inadvertently overloading a circuit by accidentally plugging in a server can be minimised by offering more training to data centre workers. But, ultimately, human error cannot be eliminated regardless of the amount of training a person receives.  Reliable technology is key for a data centre to run consistently, with minimal unplanned downtime. But there is no point investing in substandard technology. With a quarter of data centre professionals citing equipment failure as the main reason for downtime, it is important that data centre managers choose reliability over price when selecting technology.  If the same survey was conducted again in five years’ time, the results would hopefully be different.  This post was written by Eddie Desouza, Global Marketing Director, UK office, Enlogic, http://www.enlogic.com/