Fogarty, Vincent,

Data centre essentials : design, construction, and operation of data centres for the non-expert / Vincent Fogarty, Sophia Flucker. - 1 online resource (xxvi, 213 pages) : illustrations (some color) -

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Table of Contents
Acronyms & Symbols xi

Foreword by Tom Glover xv

Preface xvii

Acknowledgements xxi

About the Authors xxiii

1 Introduction 1

2 What Drives the Need and the Various Types of Data Centres 5

Data Demand versus Compute Efficiency 8

Workload Placement 15

The Core Components of a Data Centre 18

Types of Data Centres 18

Entreprise Data Centre 18

Colocation 20

Public Cloud 21

Urban or Edge 21

3 Site Selection 23

Climate 26

Access Roads and Airports 27

Air Quality 27

Likelihood of Natural Disasters 28

Ground Conditions 29

Communications Infrastructure 29

Latency 30

Proximity to Subsea Cable Landing Sites 33

Density of Fibre Telecommunication Networks Near the Data Centre 33

Geopolitical Risks, Laws, and Regulations 34

Availability and Cost of Electrical Power 35

Natural Resources 36

Airport Flight Paths 36

Electromagnetic Interference 37

Taxes, Regulations, and Incentives 38

Incentives 39

Know the Stakeholders 41

Expect the Unexpected 41

Traditional Due Diligence 42

Retrofitting Commercial Buildings for Data Centres 42

Clusters 43

Qualitative Analysis 48

Quantitative Analysis 48

4 IT Operations and the Evolution of the Data Centre 51
Max Schulze

Beginning of IT Infrastructure 54

Bringing Enterprise IT to Maturity 55

IT Applications as Standalone Products – The Digital Economy 55

Second Iteration of the Internet 58

Key Ingredients for Digital Products 61

Difference Between Enterprise IT Infrastructure and Hosting Infrastructure 64

Commoditisation of IT Infrastructure 65

Virtualisation: Servers and Data Centres as Generators for Digital Resources 65

Software-as-a-Service: Digital Natives Entering the Enterprise 68

Great Outsourcing of Enterprise IT and the Growth of the Colocation Model 70

When Digital Products Scale – or the Invention of Hyperscale 71

A Change in Architecture – The Rise of Cloud Infrastructure 72

Origin of a Market for Digital Resources 75

When Cloud Infrastructure Became Cloud Services 78

When Microsoft and Google Joined the Party 79

Kubernetes and the Next Layer of Abstraction 81

How Traditional Hosting Companies Have Been Left Behind 82

How the New Paradigm of Cloud Infrastructure Is Changing How Data Centres Are Built 85

Central Role of Connectivity in the Future of Data Centre Architectures 86

Problem of an Old IT Philosophy 87

5 Overview of Infrastructure 89

Power 93

Cooling 97

BMS 106

Fire 106

Security 107

6 Building a Data Centre: Stakeholders, Design, Construction, and Commissioning 109

Stakeholders and Project Stages 109

Pre-project 110

Pre-design 111

Classifications, Standards, and Certifications 112

Design 112

Bricks and Mortar versus Modular Build 115

Procurement 116

Construction 120

Construction Design and Management 2015 (United Kingdom) 120

Commissioning 122

Handover 124

Operation 125

7 Operational Issues 127

Handover 127

Legacy Facilities 128

Operations Team 128

Uptime and Failures 130

Maintenance Processes and Procedures 133

Managing Change 135

Capacity Management 136

Training 136

Performance Optimisation – Beyond Reactive Maintenance 137

8 Economics, Investment, and Procurement of Data Centres 139

Enterprise 140

Colocation 141

Retail Colocation 141

Wholesale Colocation 142

Retail versus Hyper-scale Data Centres 142

Retail Data Centres 142

Hyper-Scale Data Centres 142

Investment and Procurement 143

Investment in Colocation Facilities 143

Power Supply Arrangements 146

Other Complexities 148

Valuation 149

Colocation Leases 155

Wholesale Colocation 156

Retail Colocation 156

Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) 157

Managed Hosting and Cloud Services 157

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) 158

Merger and Acquisition 159

9 Sustainability 163

Corporate Sustainability 163

Energy Consumption and Energy Efficiency 166

Renewable Energy 170

Generators 171

Water Usage 171

Heat Recovery 172

Life Cycle Impacts 173

Green Building Certifications 175

Policy and Regulation 176

Conclusion 176

10 The Importance of Planning to Avoid Things Going Wrong 177
Andrew McMillan

Introduction 177

Acquisitions and Investments 178

Operating Models and Commercial Contracts 183

Funding Investment 184

Construction 184

Choice of Contract 184

Technical and Pricing Schedules 185

Risk Allocation 185

Usual Suspects 186

Infrastructure Provision and Project Rights 187

Construction 188

Moving to Low Carbon Solutions 188

What Are Data Centre Operators Doing to Transition to Low Carbon? 189

Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) 190

On-site Generation and Electricity Supply 191

Backup Power 192

Where Could Other Efficiencies Be Made? 193

Ensuring Resilience 194

Intellectual Property Rights 194

Data and Cyber/Regulatory Compliance 196

Disputes 196

Conclusion 198

11 Around the Corner, What Could Happen Next 199

Glossary 203

Index 207

"As prefaced, this book is written primarily for lawyers, financial and insurance advisors, surveyors, engineers, architects, and other professionals who do not necessarily have direct experience with data centres but need to participate in the subject matter. The intention is to provide the reader with the broad landscape of technical and commercial issues and help identify a high-level overview of critical considerations. We trust that the book should provide the key concepts and terminology to complement their core skills when drafting documents or making business decisions and help them ask more informed questions when working on data centre projects. Data centres are a complex ecosystem with many stakeholders from different disciplines interacting at different phases of the facility's lifetime. The objective of this text is to provide the reader with a full spectrum of the entire life cycle of a data centre from inception to operational use."--


About the Authors
Vincent Fogarty is a consultant with 40 years of experience working on construction and engineering projects. He is a fellow of the RICS, a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a specialist in mechanical and electrical engineering and quantum matters.

Sophia Flucker is an engineering consultant with extensive experience in data centre design, commissioning, and assessment, with years of experience working on projects in multiple countries. She received an Infrastructure Masons IM100 Award in 2020 in recognition of her contributions to the digital infrastructure sector.

9781119898818 9781119898832 1119898838 9781119898849 1119898846 111989882X 9781119898825


Data centers.


Electronic books.

TJ163.5.D38 / F64 2023

005.74