American Power Conversion Corp. (APC) Wednesday said it is expanding the online training program it began offering in January from 20 courses to 35. It also plans to offer a certification program by year's end that will include classroom training.

AFCOM is also planning to expand its training options for data center professionals this fall, said Len Eckhaus, founder of the Orange, Calif.-based data center professional association.

Eckhaus said increasing server growth and server densities, along with the need for more power and cooling, have led to a a gap in training. Power and cooling have emerged as top areas of concern for data center managers, he said.

Historically, facilities managers have been independent from data center IT staffers and typically had responsibility for power and cooling issues affecting other areas of a company. "The facilities manager didn't work for information systems, and little by little, the data center has become more responsible for this area," said Eckaus.

Consequently, according to Cristiana Quinn, director of worldwide customer education at West Kingston, R.I.-based APC, there's a need for systematic training on data center facility issues. Knowledge about power and cooling is typically passed along companies informally.