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Build a Data Center
Info-Tech Research Group, Feb 2010
Building a data center is a complex and expensive challenge requiring specific design and engineering skills.
Your Challenge
- 42% of IT leaders have been tasked with completing a data center build-out in 2010. Often, the organization lacks previous experience building a data center.
- Each data center project is unique and should have its own detailed budget. Planning upfront and establishing a clear project scope will minimize expensive changes in later project stages.
- This solution set will provide you with step-by-step design, planning and selection tools in order to define a facility design that minimizes costs and risk while supporting cost-effective long-term growth.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- The author sees organizations using designers grounded in commercial office space disciplines, which inevitably results in problems at later stages of the project with final inspections and expensive change orders.
- Data center facilities require specific industrial design and engineering requirements to meet the needs for fire-protection, power provisioning, stand-by power, cooling, physical security, and layout.
- General construction benchmarks are not always accurate - the absence of early budgeting and requirements definition risks cost overruns by as much as 22%.
Impact and Result
- Early internal efforts to create a budget around facility requirements yields better cost and build outcomes when construction begins.
- 65% of costs occur after the data center is built, an important consideration that is often forgotten in the budgeting process.
- Each data center project is unique and should have its own detailed budget. Planning up front and establishing a clear project scope will minimize expensive changes in later project stages.
Get to Action
1. Understand the scope of what the enterprise is building
Gain clear insight into the scope of activities that must be completed before any data center build decision is made.
- Storyboard: Build a Data Center
2. Create a data center build project charter
Establish clear project scope, decision rights, and executive sponsorship for the data center build project.
- Data Center Build Project Charter Template
3. Establish a budget for the data center building project
Outline a clear and accurate budget and ensure funding for both the construction phase and the ongoing operating expenses of the facility.
- Data Center Facility Budget Tool
4. Communicate to the executive during the project
Frequent and formal communications with the executive team ensures continued buy-in and support for the tricky issues that will inevitably arise during the project.
- Data Center Build Project Charter Template
- Data Center Build Project Planning and Monitoring Tool
5. Select a General Contractor
The skills required to execute a data center facility build-out are rarely found in-house. A competent General Contractor with deep experience building similar facilities (of size and scope) is required. Selecting the contractor with the skills, approach, and right cost is tricky. Ensure the vendor matches the requirements and form a solid base for the long and expensive project ahead.
- Data Center Contractor Selection Scripted Interview
- Data Center Contractor Scripted Interview Scorecard
- Data Center Contractor Reference Check Checklist
- Data Center Requirements Planning: Seek Expertise to Ensure Success
6. Select a site for the data center
Site selection has three distinct phases that are often over looked. Ensure that the final site selection is optimal and does not lead to foreseeable cost overruns in years 2 through 5.
- Data Center Site Selection and Security Checklist
7. Define the power, cooling and standby power requirements
The data center’s power and cooling capacity must adequately support the organization’s current infrastructure as well as meet future needs and requirements. To determine long-term need, IT must have a method to properly calculate and forecast data center power, cooling and, standby power requirements. IT departments that use a best-guess method are likely to run into trouble, and will incur unnecessary costs when adding new capacity for equipment in the future. By investing time finding the right information and performing the calculations involved in estimating facility requirements, IT will ensure that the data center has the right amount of power at the right cost to support both current and future needs.
- Data Center Facility Requirements Estimations At-a-Glance
- Data Center Power and Cooling Requirements Calculator
- Things to Consider When Shopping for a Backup Generator
- Active Power CleanSource: Flywheel Technology for Ride-Through UPS
8. Define the physical layout requirements
Before data center building or refresh plans can be finalized, IT must pay careful attention to the layout and design of building space. Along with the room that houses servers and data center equipment, space must also be allocated to rooms which relate to the support of data center functions and activity. The emphasis for space allocation decisions should be based on the workflow of the data center to try to achieve a balance between cost and flexible space for future business growth and changes.
- Planning for Data Center Physical Layout and Support Center Space
- Data Center Structured Cabling RFP Template
- Data Center Building Site Selection Checklist
9. Define fire protection requirements
Fire protection is a critical and obligatory part of data center design and planning. Because a fire can happen at any time, IT must be prepared to protect the data center with the necessary equipment for the following reasons:
Life safety. The primary concern when assessing data center fire protection requirements is to protect the lives of data center and surrounding personnel. Protection of property. Servers and other equipment located in the data center are extremely expensive to replace. A fire protection plan should safeguard all equipment from excessive loss or damage. Continuity of operations. The cost of downtime in critical business activities can cost the company thousands of dollars and interrupt employee productivity. Codes and standards. IT managers must comply with the state, local, federal, and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes and standards. However, it is ultimately the Authority Having Jurisdiction that will dictate the majority of fire protection requirements.
- Fire Protection: Only YOU Can Prevent Data Center Fires
- FirePASS: The Next Revolution in Fire Prevention and Suppression?
- Data Center Fire Protection and Suppression Selection Guide
- Data Center Fire Protection and Suppression Vendor Criteria Checklist
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