European Data Centre Standards (Mark Acton, CBRE Data Centre Solutions, standards presentation 2018)

Overview

The presentation was prepared in 2018 by Mark Acton (CBRE Data Centre Solutions), a long-standing contributor to the EU Code of Conduct and EN 50600, and is hosted on SlideShare by ICT Footprint.eu. It surveys the standards landscape a designer faces: ASHRAE thermal classes, Uptime Tiers, TIA-942-B, ISO/IEC 30134 KPIs, the CENELEC EN 50600 series, the EU Code of Conduct and EMAS. An important aspect is that it clears up common misconceptions.

Tiers measure opportunity for maintenance, not redundancy level; Tier III is not fault tolerant, and only Tier IV addresses unplanned events. TIA-942-B (July 2017) removed its Tier-based infrastructure appendix, and TIA does not certify facilities. The difference between voluntary standards and regulation is also emphasised. On PUE, the deck argues that PUE can be lowered by increasing power consumption, so it is not itself an energy-efficiency metric; it is now defined in ISO/IEC 30134-2 / EN 50600-4-2. The EN 50600 parts are listed: -1 concepts; -2-1 construction; -2-2 power; -2-3 environmental control; -2-4 cabling; -2-5 security; -3-1 management; -4-x KPIs (PUE, REF, server efficiency/utilisation).

EU Code of Conduct best practices are incorporated into CLC/TR 50600-99-1 (energy management) alongside TR 50600-99-2 (sustainability). The deck also quotes the 2015 ASHRAE classes: recommended 18-27 C; allowable A1 15-32, A2 10-35, A3 5-40, A4 5-45 C; maximum elevation 3,050 m. These values come from a presentation made in 2018, so current editions should be verified separately. Given the slide format, the reasoning is kept brief.

Key points

1. Tiers measure opportunity for maintenance, not redundancy level; Tier III is not fault tolerant; only Tier IV addresses unplanned events.
2. TIA-942-B (July 2017) removed its Tier-based infrastructure appendix; TIA does not certify facilities.
3. PUE can be lowered by increasing power consumption, so it is not an energy-efficiency metric; it is defined in ISO/IEC 30134-2 / EN 50600-4-2.
4. EN 50600: -1 concepts; -2-1 construction; -2-2 power; -2-3 environmental control; -2-4 cabling; -2-5 security; -3-1 management; -4-x KPIs.
5. EU Code of Conduct best practices sit in CLC/TR 50600-99-1 alongside TR 50600-99-2 (sustainability).
6. ASHRAE 2015: recommended 18-27 C; allowable A1 15-32, A2 10-35, A3 5-40, A4 5-45 C; max elevation 3,050 m.
7. Voluntary standards are distinguished from regulation.

Using it in design

• In a pluggable standards module, map EN 50600 availability classes, Uptime Tiers and TIA-942 ratings as separate frameworks rather than equivalents.
• Avoid reporting 'Tier' as a redundancy count.
• Report PUE per ISO/IEC 30134-2 with total energy alongside so it is not read as efficiency in isolation.
• Make ASHRAE temperature classes (recommended and allowable ranges) selectable as a design input.
• In standards mapping tables, state which framework is voluntary and which is regulatory.

Who should read it

Designers, consultants and product teams who want to understand what each data center standard means and how they fit together.

Related standards

• EN 50600 series
• ISO/IEC 30134-2
• ISO/IEC 30134-3
• ISO/IEC TS 22237
• CLC/TR 50600-99-1
• TIA-942-B
• EU Code of Conduct on Data Centre Energy Efficiency

Publication details

Authors

Mark Acton

Publisher

CBRE Data Centre Solutions (deck hosted on SlideShare by ICT Footprint.eu)

Year

2018

Document language

English

Source type

Expert / community

Access

Free to read

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation