General Site Considerations

As with any aspect of data center design, the number of questions you can ask yourself about site selection can be almost endless. As food for thought, the following sections list a few questions and ideas you might consider for both geographic ( district ) and specific (room) locations.

Geographic and District Criteria

Where in the world will the data center be located? Many geographic factors must be considered in the placement and design of the data center. Will the system be installed on the 56th floor of a high-rise in earthquake country? Are there enough skilled people in the local hiring pool? Is there adequate power, or will it be necessary to build a power generator? Consider the following:

• What is the local hiring pool like?

  • Does the district offer adequate technical employee resources?

  • Is the area conducive to employee relocation? Will employees want to live there for a while?

• What is the local power situation?

  • Is there adequate power? Are there redundant grids?

  • Historically, how often does the power fail? For how long?

• Is there adequate connectivity to the Internet or intranet? Does such an infrastructure exist?

  • How many lines of the type needed (for example, T1 or DS3) are available? How soon will they be available?

  • What types of local services are available? Is there access to adequate bandwidth?

• Is there a history of natural disasters in the area?

  • Are there earthquakes?

  • Are there tornados or hurricanes?

  • Is there runoff from rain and/or snow melt?

  • Will flooding be a problem?

  • Are there lightning storms?

  • How cold does it get? How hot?

Data Center Area Criteria

The area is the specific location, the room or rooms, possibly even multiple floors, that will become the data center. Consider the following:

• Is the data center area protected from weather and seismic problems?

• Is the area safe from flooding (not near a river that overflows, in a flood plain, at the bottom of a hill)?

• How will the data center be used?

  • Will it be used for production, testing, information access?

  • Will equipment or racks be rotated ?

  • How available must the equipment be (how often online)?

• What security level must there be for data center access?

• Will there be a separate Command Center? Will it be in a separate location than the data center? Where?

• What area is available? What is its shape (round, rectangular, square, L-shaped, T-shaped)?

• How will the area be divided? Consider walls, storage, a Command Center, offices, other rooms, loading docks, etc.

• If built within a multi-level building, what floor or floors will be included and what parts of them are available?

• Is there enough width in the corridors, aisles , doorways, etc. to move large equipment and vehicles?

• Are floors, ramps, etc. strong enough to support heavy equipment and vehicles?

• Is there a nearby loading dock? Is it on the same floor?

• Is a separate site needed for loading, unloading, and storage?

• How much room is left for data center equipment?

• Are there freight elevators? How many?

• Are there passenger elevators? How many?

• Is the area safe from seismic activity (earthquakes, hurricanes, high winds)?

• Are there any water system (bathrooms, kitchens) or pipes above the area?

• Are there necessary facilities such as restrooms and break rooms available?

• Is food available, even if from a vending machine? This is important for people working late or in emergency situations where leaving the area for long periods of time is not possible. Consider a small kitchen in a Command Center.