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COLUMN DATA CENTERS

BY DONALD L. BEATY, P.E., FELLOW ASHRAE

Donald L. Beaty, P.E., is president of DLB Associates Consulting Engineers, in Eatontown,N.J. He is publications chair of ASHRAE TC 9.9.

Donald L. Beaty

This article was published in ASHRAE Journal, January 2014. Copyright 2014 ASHRAE. Posted at www.ashrae.org. This article maynot be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission of ASHRAE. For more information about ASHRAEJournal, visit www.ashrae.org.



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cooling. In addition, the mission critical nature of data

centers requires an increased complexity of parallel

and redundant systems, equipment, and infrastructure

along with an equally complex controls system to moni-

tor and operate the facility.

In the United States, there can be a significant varia-

tion in types of construction. Often, a type that is com-

mon in one region is not common in another. For

example, timber construction in a commercial building

is common in the Northwest, but not in other areas of

the country.

Northwest: timber structural system (timber avail-

ability and earthquake resistance).

Northeast: steel structural system (steel plant and

trained labor force proximity).

Southeast: concrete structural system (sand availabil-ity and labor force proximity).

Another example is the variation in the percentage of

work typically performed by union labor in the various

parts of the United States. Outside the United States,

the variation is even greater. This variation can greatly

impact: speed of construction, cost of construction,

quality of construction, and quality of operation.

In the case of data centers, these variations are even

more impactful due to many data centers having at least

some portion being mission critical (uninterruptible).

As a result, it is very important to understand the local

environment and conditions.

One general trend (including in the United States) is a

decline in the availability of craftsmen workers that have

gone through mentoring or an apprentice program. As

a result, data center designs cannot simply be based on

owners’ project requirements (OPR), but they must con-

sider workforce capabilities and availability as well.

In today’s global environment, the basis of design (BOD)

takes on a much larger scope. It needs to include: techni-cal requirements, operational requirements, business

requirements, and local conditions (global variations).

Engineers tend to disproportionately focus on the

technical requirements. Most engineers do consider

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COLUMN DATA CENTERS

operational requirements, but not sufficiently to meet

the challenges of today’s operational environment.

In the case of data centers, there is a continued trend

to “do more with less.” Part of this is accomplished with

various types of automation techniques such as: auto-

discovery, auto-configuring, and auto-healing.

The automation can certainly compensate to some

degree for the shortage of high-skilled, well-trained

operators but frequently that is just a partial solution.

This is compounded by the fact that the refresh rate or

life cycle of IT equipment is typically three to five years.

Each time the equipment is refreshed, conditions can

vary significantly on the requirements for that equip-

ment as well as how it is operated.

As a result, the data center operational requirements

need to include significant depth and breadth. Animportant aspect is to consider, from a practical per-

spective, is the profile of the typical operator for that

site.

The business requirements can vary greatly and

include things such as: image impact, data center

infrastructure management (DCIM), carbon footprint,

green, agility, total cost of ownership (TCO), and exit

strategies.

Data Center Industry Vendor ResponseDepending on the location, a balance must be struck

between how much to standardize versus localize.

Standardization is important from the perspective of

consistency in terms of business operations that are

enabled with the data center design. To that extent, stan-

dardization versus localization could also be described

as balancing performance criteria with prescriptive

direction.

These challenges have pushed the data center indus-

try to lead the way by creating modular and prefabri-

cated designs. Prefabrication permits a standardizedapproach while eliminating reliance on localized

constraints.

The prefabricated data center solutions range from

a large scale comprehensive kit of parts that is assem-

bled on site all the way to a complete data center built

within the confines of a shipping container for exam-

ple and only requiring an onsite plant and/or utility

connections.

Other granularities of prefabrication involve modules

that are at the multi-row level with airflow containment

or various packaged assemblies for plants such as modular

chiller plants. In addition to addressing the standardiza-

tion question, another driver for vendors to meet is speed

to market and the combination is fueling even more mod-

ular and prefabricated products and solutions.

Closing CommentsGlobal expansion requires recognizing that you don’t

know what you don’t know. The local conditions can

include all kinds of variables. As a result, it is very impor-

tant to develop techniques and expertise for learninglocal conditions. By further embracing global partici-

pation in the development of industry requirements,

ASHRAE can create a roadmap for global expansion of

its membership, similar to TC 9.9’s model. As the world

continues its trajectory toward more connectedness, the

geographical and industry society boundaries become

less and less prominent. Global harmonization is a recipe

for global expansion as demonstrated by the data center

industry and TC 9.9.

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