A well-developed "holistic" approach is required to understand current and future thermal management problems. Space cooling on one hand, and equipment cooling on the other, cannot be viewed as two isolated parts of the overall thermal challenge. The main purpose of an equipment facility's air-distribution system is to distribute conditioned air in such a way that the electronic equipment is cooled effectively. The overall cooling efficiency depends on how the air distribution system moves air through the equipment room, how the equipment moves air through the equipment frames, and how these airflows interact with one another. High heat-dissipation levels rely heavily on a seamless integration of equipment-cooling and room-cooling designs.