The data center design standards help to define the minimum requirements and best practices while setting up, operating, and maintaining a data center system. Professional institutions such as International Standards Organisation (ISO) or the Telecommunication Industry Association offer their expertise to formulate guidelines for managing data centers effectively. Generally, the design standards followed while building a data center architecture are, 

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• Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers (TIA-942) 

• ISO / IEC 27001:2005 and 27001:2013 Information Security Management System Standard 

 

These standards list the requirements to successfully design and deploy a design center, such as, 

• Building Regulations 

• Information Security 

• Design and Resilience 

• Health and Safety 

• Energy Efficiency 

• Business continuity 

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Data centre design best practices 

Power & Performance 

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The utility expenses are the major financial bottleneck for data center management. The following components must be kept in mind while designing the power supply system. 

• Servers 

• Cooling 

• Emergency Power 

 

Physical Space & Organisation 

In an effort to reduce costs, data center services might build data centers only to cater to the organisation’s current needs. The main areas of space improvements are, 

• Floorspace 

• Cabinets & Racks 

 

Cooling Systems 

Data centers have expensive equipment installed that runs almost 24 hours a day, and therefore, a proper cooling system has to be in place. To avoid overheating and excess use of power, efficient cooling and airflow systems have to be included in a data center network design. 

 

Security 

Security is the most important element when designing a data center. Never overlook security and deploy a data center system. Consider network security, data encryption & backup while planning to build a data center. 

 

Process 

An effective data center design starts off with understanding of the objectives of the business and the data center, requirement analysis, identifying risk and mitigation followed by a site visit. 

 

The 2D design of the data center is engineered to meet requirements and standards for all the critical infrastructure components and on completion of the 2D model, corresponding the 3D design is completed to ensure that the design is in line with the actual site conditions. The design is ensured to be vendor agnostic.  

 

Design stage is followed by validation using electrical and mechanical tools to ensure effectiveness. The BOQ is prepared upon completion of all activities.