Characteristics of an Outstanding Design

Written by Julianus Yu

A data center design that has these four characteristics will be less expensive and far easier to use, maintain, and expand.

Design must be simple —Simplicity makes it difficult to err. To make the work simpler for those using the facility, all cables, circuit breakers, servers, storage devices, network ports, and power outlets must be labeled. When tiles, ports, and outlets are all labeled, it is easy to install new equipment. It is also simple to service or replace existing hardware.

Design must be scalable —The design, once finalized, must work for any size of data center—50,000, 5,000, or even 500 square feet.

Design must be modular —Data centers must also be constructed with small building blocks that can further be divided into smaller blocks for higher granularity.

Design must be flexible —It is impossible to predict the technical requirements for the data center 10 (or even more) years out. To build a successful data center for long-term use, it must be easy to upgrade and to change layout or components.