by Shane Henson — October 12, 2012—The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has published a new document in its Knowledge Series called Data Centres: an Introduction to Concepts and Design. The publication provides guidance on some of the core considerations that need to be made in data center design from a building services viewpoint, and may be useful to FMs seeking to gain a better understanding of data centers and how to reduce the high energy costs associated with them.
As the CIBSE notes, over recent years, the way data centers are designed and engineered has gained greater importance. Industry requirements for reliability, security and sustainability are underpinned by cost controls, which make the management of data centers ever more complex. Specifically, the demands for enhanced security, lower power usage because of increased electricity costs, uninterruptible power supply, and new cooling techniques have gained attention.
With the explosion of mobile and Internet use that is taking place in people’s daily lives on a global level, data centers have become integral in the way a diverse range of businesses perform and operate, and demand is growing, adds the CIBSE. However, the design of data centers is also mission critical in many sectors. In the banking and financial sector, it has already become evident that system failures or prolonged periods of downtime cannot be tolerated.
Aimed at owners, co-location developers, designers, contractors, operators and all those interested in data center design, operation and space planning, this new publication addresses a wide range of themes and examines how the high levels of energy used in data centers can be minimized and operating costs reduced through expert engineering solutions.
