Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 6: Security systems
ISO/IEC · ISO/IEC JTC 1
The standard on physical security of data centres following the Part 1 classification, with requirements against unauthorized access, intrusion, internal fire and environmental events.
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Overview
ISO/IEC 22237-6 covers the physical security of data centres and follows the classification in Part 1 of the ISO/IEC 22237 series. It assigns designations to the data centre spaces defined in Part 1 and sets requirements according to the protection level of each space. The first edition, published in 2024, runs to 34 pages and replaces the 2018 technical specification ISO/IEC TS 22237-6.
The requirements fall into several threat groups: protection against unauthorized access through both organizational and technological solutions; protection against intrusion; protection against fires igniting within data centre spaces; and protection against internal non-fire environmental events and external events that affect the defined protection level. Constructional requirements are given by reference to ISO/IEC 22237-2. This grouping means security design has to consider both physical and organizational measures together.
The document is a paid standard, and only the publisher's public catalogue abstract and product data were used here; the full text was not read. Details of class levels, quantitative values and test methods must therefore be taken from the original. The standard treats security as part of a classification of spaces and protection levels rather than as a matter of individual products.
Key points
- Provides designations for the data centre spaces defined in ISO/IEC 22237-1.
- Requires protection against unauthorized access through organizational and technological solutions, and against intrusion.
- Requires protection against internal fire events igniting within data centre spaces.
- Requires protection against internal non-fire and external environmental events, according to the defined protection level.
- Constructional requirements are given by reference to ISO/IEC 22237-2.
- Edition 1 was published 2024-02-19, runs to 34 pages and replaces ISO/IEC TS 22237-6:2018.
Using it in design
- Tag each room in the floor plan with a protection class and check that access-control zones nest correctly, so a higher-class room is not reachable except through lower-class rooms.
- Feed the room classes into the defaults for fire detection and suppression.
- Document separate protection decisions for intrusion, internal fire and environmental events in the design report.
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Who should read it
Engineers and security consultants designing physical security, fire protection and building layout for data centres.
Related standards
- EN 50600-2-5
- ISO/IEC 22237-2
- NFPA 75
Publication details
- Authors
- ISO/IEC JTC 1
- Publisher
- ISO/IEC
- Year
- 2024
- Document number
- ISO/IEC 22237-6:2024
- Document language
- English
- Source type
- Standard
- Access
- Citation only
- Licence
- Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document
Original licence note
Paid standard. Record built only from the publisher's public catalogue abstract and product metadata; full text not redistributed.
Citation
ISO/IEC JTC 1 (2024). Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 6: Security systems. ISO/IEC. ISO/IEC 22237-6:2024. https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/92578
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Related sources
All sources on this topicISO/IEC 2024
Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 2: Building construction
In the site module, build a site-risk checklist keyed to the chosen protection class: flood, seismic, adjacent hazards and access routes.
- Conformance is covered in Clause 4.
Fire (MDPI AG) 2026
Probabilistic Risk Assessment of Grid-Scale Lithium-Ion Battery Energy Storage System Fire Hazards: Hydrogen Fluoride (HF) Toxicity, Suppression Effectiveness, and Comparative Compartment Design Analysis
Compare BESS compartmentation quantitatively: two compartments halve HF dose and IDLH clearance time, but IDLH is still exceeded for anyone in the room in full thermal runaway, so runaway prevention (BMS integrity, UL 9540A containment, emergency power off) must stay the primary control.
- Mean IDLH (25 mg/m³) clearance time with 9 ACH was 599 min for one compartment and 301 min for two; the probability of clearing within 5 min was 0% for both.
U.S. DoD (UFC) 2021
UFC 3-600-01, Fire Protection Engineering for Facilities (8 August 2016, Change 6, 6 May 2021)
Build the data hall protection concept in this order: very early warning smoke detection, wet-pipe sprinklers throughout, clean agent only as an addition, and state in the specification that clean agent cannot replace the sprinklers.
- Stand-alone telecommunication facilities over 2,500 ft2 (232 m2) need clean agent or sprinklers; over 7,500 ft2 (696 m2) sprinklers are required and clean agent may only be added.
National Institute of Standards and Technology 2020
NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations
In data-centre power design, set PE-9 requirements for physically separated redundant cabling paths and automatic voltage control on critical components, and define the separation distance as an organisational parameter.
- Baselines and tailoring guidance moved to SP 800-53B.
Journal of Physics: Conference Series (IOP Publishing) 2018
Evaluation of Oxygen Reduction System (ORS) in Large-scale Fire Tests
Compare ORS design concentration with the 15-16% standard-test values in VdS 3527 and EN 16750; since large-scale hard-limit LOCs (11.1% for cartoned commodities, 13.0% for uncartoned plastics) are lower, justify the design safety margin against them.
- Earlier lab work found LOCs of 10-13% for cardboard, wood, PS and PE, below the 15-16% range from standard tests in VdS 3527 and EN 16750:2017.
Scientific Reports (Springer Science and Business Media LLC) 2017
Toxic fluoride gas emissions from lithium-ion battery fires
Add HF toxicity to risk assessments for enclosed battery rooms and BESS: take 20-200 mg/Wh of stored energy and compare the resulting room concentration with the IDLH (0.025 g/m³) and 10-minute AEGL-3 values.
- POF3 was measured at 15-22 mg/Wh, but only for one cell type (type A) at 0% SOC.