AFCOM, an association for data center professionals, yesterday launched its 'Data Center Smart Tools' handbook series at the Data Center World Conference in Chicago. It distributed copies of the first installment, 'Data Center Safety', to data center professionals in attendance.

AFCOM's President, Jill Eckhaus stated that the goal of the 'Smart Tools' initiative is to help busy data center professionals streamline their problem solving processes by consolidating industry guidelines, standards, resource links, checklists and best practices into full color, easy to use handbooks.

The association claims that the handbooks, available to AFCOM members free of charge, in print and via the AFCOM web site, will address specific issues and challenges inherent to data center management. Future installments will cover topics such as facilities management, vendor relations, best practices and more.

"What makes the series revolutionary is that all of the content will be researched and generated by experienced and respected data center managers and industry analysts. Anyone using the handbooks can be assured that the content has been peer reviewed and battle tested," added Eckhaus.