Data Centres

This document specifies requirements and recommendations for the construction of buildings and other structures which provide accommodation for data centres based on the criteria and classification for “physical security” within ISO/IEC 22237-1 in support of availability.

This document specifies requirements and recommendations for the following:

a)       location and site selection (taking in to account natural environment and adjacencies);

b)       protection from environmental risks;

c)        site configuration;

d)       building construction;

e)       building configuration;

f)         provision of access;

g)       physical intrusion protection;

h)       physical fire protection;

i)         protection against damage from water;

j)         quality construction measures.

Safety and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements are outside the scope of this document and are covered by other standards and regulations. However, information given in this document can be of assistance in meeting these standards and regulations.

Conformance of data centres to the present document is covered in Clause 4.

This document:

a) describes the general principles for data centres upon which the requirements of the ISO/IEC22237 series are based;

b) defines the common aspects of data centres including terminology, parameters and reference models (functional elements and their accommodation) addressing both the size and complexity of their intended purpose;

c) describes general aspects of the facilities and infrastructures required to support data centres;

d) specifies a classification system, based upon the key criteria of “availability”, “security” and “energy-efficiency” over the planned lifetime of the data centre, for the provision of effective facilities and infrastructure;

e) details the issues to be addressed in a business risk and operating cost analysis enabling application of the classification of the data centre;

f) provides a reference to the operation and management of data centres.

The following topics are outside of the scope of the ISO/IEC 22237 series:

1)    the selection of information technology and network telecommunications equipment, software and associated configuration issues are outside the scope of this International Standard;

2)    quantitative analysis of overall service availability resulting from multi-site data centres;

3)    safety and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements (covered by other standards and regulations. However, information given in this document can be of assistance in meeting these standards and regulations).