There are no required or necessary specifications for data centre design or construction; a data centre is built to match the organization’s specific demands, not the other way around. However, the main goal of any standard is to provide a common set of best practices. A company may choose one or more measures – or parts of standards – and incorporate them into a data centre project.
The following are examples of actions that might be used to guarantee that these variables, as well as others, are evaluated carefully:
- Conceptual design;
- layout and space planning;
- building construction requirements;
- Turn off the wireless router’s guest network.
- Components of a new construction project, including building internals (mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire systems).
- operations and workflows;
- And maintenance.
Data Centre Design & Infrastructure Standards
The following are only a few of the primary data centre design and infrastructure standards:
- Uptime Institute Tier Standard. The Uptime Institute’s Tier Standard focuses on data centre layout, construction, and commissioning, and it is used to measure the facility’s resilience against four levels of redundancy/reliability.
- ANSI/TIA 942-B. This standard specifies the planning, design, construction, and commissioning of building trades, fire protection, information technology, and maintenance. It also uses four levels of BICSI-certified professionals to assess reliability.
- EN 50600 series. This set of standards focuses on IT cable and network design, with concepts that are loosely based on the Uptime Institute’s Tier Standard.
- ASHRAE. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) sets standards for the design and implementation of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and other related fields.
There are many varied regulatory and operational criteria to that data centres may be subjected. For example, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, SAS 70 Type I or II, and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act are all regulatory requirements. In addition, ISO 9000 for quality, ISO 14000 for environmental management, ISO 27001 for information security, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard for payment card security, and EN 50600-2-6 for management and operational information are just a few examples of operational standards.
A set of regulations helps guarantee that data centres are built and operated correctly. In addition, adopting and maintaining standard practices can aid a company in reaching compliance by ensuring that it has implemented adequate facility resilience, management, and business continuation strategies.
