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The importance of correct design and management for data centre fire safety systems

ANSI/TIA-942-B-2017 Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers, recognises the need for an adequate fire detection and suppression strategy in a functional data centre. It calls for; This is a comprehensive set of requirements and although not going into detail it relies on other standards such as NFPA 75:2020 Standard for the Fire Protection of Information […]

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ASHRAE tightens up on data centre environmental parameters

ASHRAE, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Ventilation Engineers, is the world’s most respected authority on what constitutes the best environmental parameters within a computer room environment. Their key document, Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments, originally published in 2004, has just been re-issued as the Fifth Edition, March 2021. In this paper we […]

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Getting your data centre ready for Open Compute and Open19 rack layouts

The Open Compute Project’s mission is to design and enable the delivery of the most efficient server, storage and data center hardware designs for scalable computing. The Open19 project offers operators of data centers and edge solutions an optimized open platform. The two projects have similar aims. This paper discusses both and compares them to traditional 19in. rack solutions.

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The importance of cleaning the data centre

After auditing hundreds of data centres we’ve realised that cleaning data centres is an erratic and usually overlooked affair. There is no standard that says how and when a data centre should be cleaned but it is obvious that an uncleaned data centre will slowly build up dirt and debris until it starts to impact equipment reliability. In this paper we explore some of the key issues involved.

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Data Centre Certification – Who can certify? Which Data Centre Standard?

How do we decide which data centre standard to build a new data centre to and who can certify that it meets the requirements of the standard?

In this Whitepaper we discuss the key data centre standards which most operators are interested in certifying against, what the differences are and who can certify data centres against them. Find out the difference between the Tier, Rating or Class of a data centre…

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Improve computer room cooling and airflow

Data Centre Airflow

This paper discusses the key issues which need to be understood in order to improve computer room and data centre cooling and airflow.

The vast majority of computer rooms are cooled by air conditioning systems that attempt to deliver cold air to hot IT equipment placed in racks.

A few systems use cold water pumped around the rack and there are even some exotic solutions using liquid carbon dioxide and even chip level cooling. The majority however use cold air derived from direct expansion or chilled water-fed air-conditioning units, sometimes augmented by free cooling circuits.

The amount of cooling capacity delivered to an equipment rack depends upon the design of the system and how effectively it has been implemented.

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The benefits of a Data Centre Electromagnetic Survey

data cnetre EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference) audit

There are two main reasons for conducting a Data Centre Electromagnetic Survey and radio frequency survey of a facility;

1. To meet regulations and recommendations concerning the exposure of people to high levels of non-ionising radiation, better known as electromagnetic fields
2. To ensure the reliable operation of information technology equipment which can be impaired due to electromagnetic interference

In this whitepaper we explore the regulations and recommendations relating to both of these and discuss how data centre operators can ensure they are compliant with them.

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Data Centre ISO27001 Certification is not enough on it’s own

ISO27001 Certification in Data Centres

In this paper we discuss why you should not rely on Data Centre ISO27001 Certification alone to prove the security and resilience of your data centre.

There are a number of excellent ISO standards that should be applied to data centre management. One of them, ISO 27000 series, covers information security management. It poses one simple question about the security and availability of power and supporting utilities. This is a huge question and cannot simply be left to one simple tick-box response. So which other standards should be considered in parallel with ISO 27000?

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Static electricity in data centres – The hidden failure mechanism

Static Electricity in Data Centres

Everybody accepts that static electricity can and does destroy sensitive electronic components and microchips. Exactly what the impact is upon equipment within data centres is difficult to determine as few, if any, statistic seem to be published on the matter.

Equipment does fail however and static is a known failure mechanism and there are at least three known mechanisms for static build-up and discharge within a data centre. This makes the optimisation of the design to minimise this risk an obvious choice.

This paper discusses the problems caused by static electricity in the data centre and what can be done to prevent them.

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The importance of Data Centre Fire Stopping

Data Centre Fire Stopping

“Fire Stopping” means sealing off any penetrations through a fire wall so that smoke and flames cannot spread around a building. This whitepaper discusses why Data Centre Fire Stopping is so important and the recommendations and regulations which define the requirements.

In this paper we explain why it is important to use fire-stopping in a data centre, where it is needed and the different types available.

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Data Centre Health and Safety Management

Data Centre Health and Safety Risk

In this paper we will discuss Data Centre Health and Safety requirements for data centres. Good Health and Safety practices are required at all places of work and are written into the laws of every country. We will quote from the relevant British legislation but the UK requirements are virtually identical to those in any territory you are operating in because they are mostly based on common sense and good practice.