When designing hyper scale data centers, consider elements of design, construction and commissioning.

An increasingly data-driven society demands advanced, high-performance data center facilities. Read on to learn the biggest challenges, emerging technologies and upcoming trends affecting data centers.

OneNeck IT Solutions (Madison, WI) announced that it has successfully completed the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Surveillance Review. The review centered on OneNeck’s Information Security Management System (ISMS) supporting their colocation services and operations of their top-tier data centers in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon and Wisconsin as well as the company’s office in Scottsdale, Arizona.

ISO/IEC 27001:2013 is the best-known standard when it comes to establishing and recognizing global requirements for the industry’s ISMS.

“Achieving ISO/IEC 27001:2013 demonstrates our commitment to ensuring we are compliant with the most widely accepted security management parameters in the industry,” said Dave Flynn, SVP of Operations and Engineering at OneNeck. “On behalf of our customers, we proactively seek out this type of intense scrutiny. It’s just one of the ways we can reassure them our solutions ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability of all sensitive information assets.”

EPI has released its brand-new service for data center owners/operators to upgrade their Uptime Institute Tier Certification to the TIA-942 certification.

Per a company press statement, “It is common knowledge that the Uptime Institute Tier Topology guidelines only address the electrical and mechanical infrastructure of a data center. Although critical, data center owners/operators have come to learn that the Uptime Institute’s Tier guidelines are missing some fundamental elements for today’s business critical environments. TIA-942 is a truly complete data center standard as it also addresses site location, architectural aspects, physical security, fire safety, telecommunications, to name a few.”

EPI Launches Brand-New Service for Upgrading Uptime Institute Tier Certification To TIA-942 Certification
EPI will provide three types of upgrade packages.
https://www.missioncriticalmagazine.com/gdpr-policy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.missioncriticalmagazine.com%2Farticles%2F91476-epi-launches-brand-new-service-for-upgrading-uptime-institute-tier-certification-to-tia-942-certification

Pricing varies depending on the size and target rating level of a data centre but are often at a fraction of the cost compared to Uptime Institute’s Tier Topology certification.

Key players in global data center infrastructure management market are CA Technologies, Emerson Electric Co., iTRACS, LLC., Aplena Inc., Geist, Atos SE, Raritan Inc., Nlyte Software, IBM Corporation, Panduit Corp., RACKWISE Inc., Rittal GmbH & Co. KG and Sentilla Corporation.

The five components of UL 3223

Security—With an increasing number of breaches worldwide, security has become critical in the operation of data centers. The security programs demonstrate both passive and nonpassive security elements of the design and installation. Evaluated by certified security professionals, security documents are reviewed and compliance surveys are conducted.

Reliability—The most important element of data center design is reliability. Redundancy plays a large role when it comes to reliability. Electrical designs include catcher-block redundant, distributed redundant, and distributed redundant with static switch, which all qualify under UL 3223. All three designs include a dual path in conjunction with uninterruptable power supply batteries and generation. Additionally, 2N and 2N+1 designs are accepted; however, they are seldom installed.

Concurrently maintainable design—This is considered a baseline design in today’s data center market. All systems designed must be able to be taken offline for maintenance without disruption. This is enforced within both the electrical and the mechanical support system design. Operational means of establishing concurrent maintainability will be evaluated as required. Additionally, UL 3223 evaluates the physical network design, complying with redundancy and concurrently maintainability.

Sustainability design—Data centers use megawatts of power. UL 3223 encompasses corporate responsibility of designing efficient cooling systems that support sustainability initiatives. As a guideline, UL 3223 follows the 2016 edition of ASHRAE Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings or a power-usage effectiveness of 1.5 or lower.

Commissioning—UL and ESD commissioning agents (CxAs) play a large role in the certification process. For existing data centers, certified CxAs evaluate the commissioning results at the time of testing. Concerning new data centers, UL 3223 will have CxAs onsite to witness firsthand Level 5 commissioning.

The modular approach in designing a data center for supercomputers is based on the computing technology. Therefore, an inside-out approach is needed when analyzing different design strategies.

1. Understand the needs, requirements and potential issues before setting a target for completion or launching new initiatives.

2. Start regular, frequent communications early with agency CIOs.

3. Create a phased approach with reasonable steps to ensure minimal disruption and service outages.

4. Document existing assets to identify gaps, and make decisions on assets based on the needs of agency stakeholders.

5. Conduct a spend analysis to show where money is being spent in the process.

6. Address cost allocation and funding issues.

7. Implement IT Service Management standards and the IT Information Library framework.

8. Manage agency expectations and expect surprises.

9. Find ways to make consolidation efforts sustainable.

10. Capture and report cost savings.

Avoiding data center consolidation headaches
https://gcn.com/articles/2017/11/20/nascio-data-center-consolidation.aspx

What: “Shrinking State Data Centers: A Playbook for Enterprise Data Center Consolidation” from the National Association of State CIOs

Why: With states at different stages of data center consolidation, sharing information on potential roadblocks can smooth the transition for governments who are still in the planning stages.

To create a smooth transition, NASCIO has identified 10 ways data center managers can ease consolidation headaches:

Understand the needs, requirements and potential issues before setting a target for completion or launching new initiatives.
Start regular, frequent communications early with agency CIOs.
Create a phased approach with reasonable steps to ensure minimal disruption and service outages.
Document existing assets to identify gaps, and make decisions on assets based on the needs of agency stakeholders.
Conduct a spend analysis to show where money is being spent in the process.
Address cost allocation and funding issues.
Implement IT Service Management standards and the IT Information Library framework.
Manage agency expectations and expect surprises.
Find ways to make consolidation efforts sustainable.
Capture and report cost savings.

Leading players operating in the global data center infrastructure support service market, according to the analysis, include: Schneider Electric SE; Tripp Lite; Rittal GmbH & Co. KG; STULZ GmbH; Raritan Inc.; Eaton Corporation Plc; and Emerson Network Power.

Data Center Infrastructure Support Service Market Detailed Analysis and Forecast by 2025
http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/data-center-infrastructure-sup/release-896374.htm

The global data center infrastructure support services market can be segmented based on type of solutions, vertical, size of data center, service, and geography. The report studies the various factors impacting the market’s growth across all these segments at length.