Why is it important to monitor temperatures in a server room?

IT equipment gives off heat, even when idle or lowly loaded. High-end computing relies on powerful servers and in a server rack the amount of power drawn can be from 5-15kW or even higher. Even if the overall efficiency is 90%, that can still lead to 1.5kW of heat to clear through the rack via the cooling system. If the temperature rises too high, IT servers can fail and there is the potential for a fire to break-out in an un-cooled server cabinet.