Data Centre concepts and design

06 December 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. As the volume of digital data processed and stored continues to rise worldwide, the publication provides guidance on some of the core considerations that need to be made in data centre design, from a building services viewpoint.

Over recent years the way data centres 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 centres 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 centres have become integral in the way a diverse range of businesses perform and operate, and demand is growing. However the design of data centres 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 centre design, operation and space planning, this new publication address a wide range of themes and examines how the high levels of energy used in data centres can be minimised and operating costs reduced through expert engineering solutions.