6 Colocation Space Design and Build Considerations (SlideShare)

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6 Colocation Space Design and Build
Considerations

Take the following factors into account
to create a colocation facility that will
function correctly and attract
customers from day one.
Sponsored by http://www.DataCenterLeadGen.com

1. How Many Nines?
•The only thing that tempers their enthusiasm is the cost,
which of course varies according to the number of “nines”
being offered.
•Your design choices about power and network connectivity,
physical protection against the elements and intrusion, and
non-stop repair and maintenance capabilities will all
depend on the service level agreements you want to offer
customers.

2. Make It Modular
IT equipment is modular, colocation
services are modular, so why shouldn’t you
design and build your entire colocation space in
a modular fashion too?

•Plan for needs in the future
•Colocation buildings need mechanical, electrical,
and plumbing (MEP) infrastructure
•Modular construction requires, incremental
deployment of the building shell and MEP is
possible.
The same logic applies in all cases:

3. Align with the Weather
• If you’re designing for colocation in a hot, sunny area of the U.S.,
turn your building orientation to present a smaller surface
towards the south to reduce cooling requirements. Opposite for
cold climates.
• Remember to protect the roof of your facility against strong
winds, rain and hail, with appropriate tiling or other covering.

4. Neither Coffee nor Natural Light!
•Computer cabinet space should be deliberately
disconnected from the office space by fireproof walls.
•Fire-rated corridors separate the white space from the
power rooms as well.Windows are located away from
the white space for increased security and protection.

5. I’ll Take Two of Everything, Please
Depending on the availability you offer, you may need
to double up on critical items and, therefore, make
sure that your design and building can cope
accordingly.

•“N+1” design may be sufficient: you have one spare unit to
replace one of the other N if required.
•Breakdown is one reason for this, but maintenance,
reconfiguration, and expansion are others if you want your
services to keep running without interruption.
• You may want to apply redundancy everywhere, except –
hopefully! – to your operations staff.

6. Air, Smoke, Fire, Cables, and Floors
• Airflows and air quality must be thought out from the beginning
• Cooling requirements evolve, not only with increasing IT
equipment but also with new generation hardware and simple
reconfiguration of existing space.
• Planning of smoke and fire detectors and suppression systems
should leave as much flexibility as possible.
• Cable management and raised floors may be easier to change, but
they still need proper design and organization from the outset.

Colocation space design and build
requires common sense and good
judgment, and often benefits from
prior experience.What tips would you
give somebody just about to start?

Let us know with a line or two in the
space underneath for comments.

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6 Colocation Space Design and Build Considerations (SlideShare)

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6 Colocation Space Design and Build Considerations (SlideShare)