 Every project has its potential issues and missteps, but when it comes to data center design, even minor mistakes can have a major impact. Make sure to avoid snafus from the beginning by planning properly and knowing what to avoid. Here is a look at some of the top problems you might encounter and how to prevent them.
Not Employing A Design Consultant
Hiring a consultant familiar with data center design issues can be crucial to your design because these experts have worked on numerous centers in the past and have a trained eye for what’s succeeded or failed in the past. In addition, they keep up with changing design strategies and technologies.
“While it’s possible to acquire sufficient knowledge, why take the chance?” says Peter Sacco, president of PTS Data Center Solutions (www.PTSDCS.com). “Also, not all data center facility design consultants are the same. Construction contractors or [strategy] consultants often don’t have the data center-specific knowledge required for a successful project given the pace of demand IT systems have put on facilities.”
Depending on skilled experts means that an IT staff won’t have to go through the endeavor alone, adds Sajeel Qureshi, vice president of operations at Computan (www.CompuTan.com). “Techies are great at managing existing processes, managing existing server farms, etc., but not good at physical groundwork and facility build up,” he says. Very few people are experts in those areas, he adds, and the skill is a premium that’s worth the price. Qureshi has heard numerous horror stories of firms that approached their data centers as just another utility to handle business, only to find that they didn’t properly forecast the costs of vital items such as generators.
Also, by employing outside help, the building will be up to code at both the municipal and industry levels, he adds: “Another problem when relying exclusively on your own staff is that they set up the environment with a few loopholes that only they know and may not be industry standards.”
Skimping On The Planning Time
Just as a good carpenter measures twice and cuts once, a data center manager needs to plan extensively before any implementation—think of it as measuring 20 times and cutting once.
Sacco believes that project planning means determining needs, surveying existing conditions, assessing recommendations for improvement, developing program requirements for implementing them, and developing conceptual designs from which costs and schedule reports can be created. All this planning is aimed toward narrowing the scope, schedule, and budget, which all need to be in place before design and construction can begin.
Failing To Consider Environmental Impacts
With all the attention paid to green building strategies and energy efficiency, it’s easy to fold environmental awareness into any data center design planning.
According to Steve Suesens, category manager for Staples Technology Solutions (www.StaplesTechnologySolutions.com), there are a number of questions that managers should ask:
- Should I consider or forecast my data center carbon emissions?
- How will I reduce my carbon emissions to avoid financial penalties or emission credits?
- What tools are available to monitor, manage, and report my company’s carbon emissions?
- What existing technology should be refreshed with more energy-efficient equipment?
Overlooking The Details
Most likely, much planning time will be spent on planning a data center’s layout, hot and cold aisles, cabling, power input, and venting. But there are numerous other, smaller details that also have to go into the mix, notes Michael Sigourney, senior product specialist at AVTECH (www.AVTECH.com). “We run into people who never plan for sensor locations and where they’ll be mounting them,” he says. “But you have to plan for sensors the same way you do for network connections.”
Another consideration is entrances and exits, especially the type of doors that will be used. For example, many data centers benefit from having a set of double doors that are near a loading dock because equipment can then be brought in on pallets and placed directly in the data center. Sigourney has seen some companies that get deliveries and then have to wait days before implementing the equipment because it takes time to bring each piece into the center. “Some managers even have to remove doors from their hinges to get equipment in, and that just wastes time,” he says.
Other design elements to consider are storage closets—including one that’s especially secure for more expensive equipment—and a crisis room. “When there’s a huge issue, you don’t want to be waiting for access to a meeting room on the other side of the building,” Sigourney says. “IT needs a place to plan and write on whiteboards that aren’t public to the rest of the company.”
Companies should plan other “small” items such as placing a layout on the wall to guide IT employees to equipment quickly and implementing cable management labels and software.
Designing a new or expanded data center may seem like a huge project—and it is, many times—but by concentrating on each big and small detail and building in more planning time, mistakes can definitely be avoided. |
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AVTECH Software, Inc.