ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 74
COLUMN DATA CENTERS
Donald L. Beaty
Global Data Centers
BY DONALD L. BEATY, P.E., FELLOW ASHRAE
Although there are many single-site data centers, many data center companies
are multisite and spread over multiple countries. Multisite and multicountry
data center infrastructures require a different focus and careful
balance of "standardization" versus "localization." When combined with how
rapidly data centers evolve and their needs change, this poses significant
challenges for the data center designer.
In recognition of this, ASHRAE Technical Committee
(TC) 9.9, Mission Critical Facilities, Data Centers,
Technology Spaces and Electronic Equipment, has produced
publications that permit flexibility for localized
standardization and performance based approaches.
The global harmonization of IT manufacturers used to
produce the Thermal Guidelines is a prime example. TC 9.9
has 67 international members (of 260+) in 17 countries.
Data Center Design and Planning
With any single data center project, there is a finite design
and construction process that can be controlled from
beginning to end. All of the variables that are dependent
on the local climate are, to a certain degree, controlled
(although, as with any project, changes can always occur).
The associated design conditions and criteria remain consistent
throughout the project along with the construction
resources/workforce, materials and methods. This consistency
allows for strong planning to occur. However,
many companies that have data center-dependent
businesses are actually globalized firms and have multiple
data centers located around the world.
Both the volume and type of information (e.g., multimedia
streaming) being shared over the Internet has
constantly been on the rise. This trend created a need
for constructing data centers that were geographically
closer to the target audience to address the challenges
associated with latency of data delivery.
With each new global location comes unique challenges
presented by the climate and other localized conditions
(materials availability, workforce, labor markets, etc.).
Although there may be a strong desire to standardize the
74
A SHR A E J O U RNA L
ashrae.org JAN UARY 2014
data center design from location to location, the reality is
that each design must be adapted to the local conditions.
Data Center Design Adaptation-Local Climate
There is a direct aspect of this adaptation in that the
local climate can result in changes in the cooling system
design in terms of overall cooling capacity and economizer
design. While there are a total of 17 climate zones
globally, all of them present in the U.S., many of them
are not normal locations for data centers. Depending on
the global location, there may also be unique humidification
challenges, air quality/filtration considerations,
microclimates and/or extreme hot/cold weather conditions
to plan for.
ASHRAE TC 9.9's 3rd Edition of Thermal Guidelines for
Data Processing Environments includes metrics for annualized
hardware failure rates for national and global locations
based on the climate to provide the data to help
data center designers account for the impact of the local
climate when making business decisions on the level
of risk associated with the design of the cooling system
capacity and economizer usage.
Data Center Design Adaptation-Local Conditions
Local conditions can be the more difficult challenge to
understand and quantify the impact on costs, schedule,
quality, reliability, etc.
Data centers are often very specialized projects in
terms the density of resources needed for power and
Donald L. Beaty, P.E., is president of DLB Associates Consulting Engineers, in Eatontown,
N.J. He is publications chair of ASHRAE TC 9.9.
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - January 2014
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014
Contents
Commentary
Industry News
Letters
Meetings and Shows
Effect of Heat Rejection Load and Wet Bulb on Cooling Tower Performance
Shaping the Next... Building and Energy
Texas Hospital Central Plant Redesign
Detecting Faults in Hong Kong High-Rise
Engineer's Notebook
HVAC Applications
Refrigeration Applications
Energy Modeling
The Performance Gap
Data Centers
People
Classified Advertising
Advertisers Index
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - B1
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - B2
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - ASHRAE Journal - January 2014
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Cover2
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 1
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 2
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Contents
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Commentary
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 5
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Industry News
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 7
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 8
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 9
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 10
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 11
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 12
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Letters
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Meetings and Shows
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 15
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Effect of Heat Rejection Load and Wet Bulb on Cooling Tower Performance
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 17
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 18
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 19
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 20
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 21
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 22
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 23
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Shaping the Next... Building and Energy
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 25
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 26
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 27
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 28
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 29
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 30
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 31
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 32
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 33
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 34
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 35
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Texas Hospital Central Plant Redesign
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 37
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 38
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 39
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 40
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 41
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 42
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 43
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 44
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 45
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Detecting Faults in Hong Kong High-Rise
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 47
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 48
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 49
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 50
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 51
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Engineer's Notebook
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 53
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 54
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 55
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 56
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 57
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - HVAC Applications
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 59
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 60
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 61
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 62
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 63
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Refrigeration Applications
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Energy Modeling
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 66
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 67
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - The Performance Gap
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 69
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 70
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 71
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 72
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 73
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Data Centers
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 75
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 76
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - People
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Classified Advertising
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Advertisers Index
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - 80
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Cover3
ASHRAE Journal - January 2014 - Cover4
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