Data Centre Structure

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Australian Government
Data Centre Strategy 2010-2025
Better Practice Guide: Data Centre Structure
August 2013
Contents
Contents
2
1. Introduction
3
Purpose
3
Scope
3
Policy Framework
4
Related documents
4
2. Discussion
6
Overview
6
About the data centre structure
6
Assessing the Structure
6
Limits and Trends
11
Operational Considerations
12
Conclusion
13
3. Better practices
15
Planning
15
Operations
15
4. Conclusion
Summary of Better Practices
17
17
1. Introduction
The purpose of this guide is to advise Australian Government agencies on ways to
improve operations relating to the data centre structure. Many government
functions are critically dependent upon information and communication technology
(ICT) systems based in data centres.
The principal purposes of the data centre’s physical structure are to house
information and communication technology (ICT) equipment, control the movement
of people and goods through the building, and the distribution of air, water and
cables. Applying better practices in planning and using the physical structure can
reduce operating costs, increase agility in responding to change, and improve
security.
A data centre is a substantial, long-lived investment, and is subject to many changes
through its operating life. Implementing changes to the data centre structure
requires long lead times, particularly to keep the data centre ICT running while
changes happen. Good planning and operations are central to minimising costs.
Agencies use everything from converted office space to purpose built buildings for
their data centres. This guide is intended to be applicable to all circumstances. Each
agency remains responsible for determining that the structure meets its business
needs.
This guide on structure forms part of a set of better practice guides for data centres.
Purpose
The intent of this guide is to assist managers to assess how well the structure meets
their agency’s needs, and to reduce the capital and operating costs relating to the
structure.
Scope
This guide considers the physical data centre structure. For the purpose of this
guide, the term structure includes the data centre housing the ICT, the building
housing the data centre, the building surrounds and the geographic location. All of
these elements influence the whole of life costs and the data centre operations. This
advice is intended be relevant to any data centre sourcing arrangements used by
APS agencies. This includes services contracts, as the advice can inform agencies
when assessing financial and technical risks in managed services offers.
The considerations for the data centre and building include the fit-out, such as the
raised floors (if used), ducts for air and water, trays and / or conduits for cables for
power, telecommunication and data, and pathways for the movement of goods and
people. A detailed discussion of the equipment racks is excluded from this scope.
The structure assists other functions in the data centre, such as security, power and
cooling. This guide describes how the structure assists these functions.
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This guide is intended for data centres in existing buildings. Agencies will have
existing data centres, or acquire data centres using the data centre facilities panel.
While part of this guide might assist in planning a new data centre construction
project, this is not within the scope of this guide. The guide also does not consider
geographic factors for business continuity, such as data centres in several locations.
Policy Framework
The guide has been developed within the context of the Australian public sector’s
data centre policy framework. This framework applies to agencies subject to the
Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act). The data centre
policy framework seeks financial, technical and environmental outcomes.
The Australian Government Data Centre Strategy 2010 – 2025 (data centre strategy)
describes actions that will avoid $1 billion in future data centre costs. The data
centre facilities panel, established under the coordinated procurement policy,
provides agencies with leased data centre facilities.
The Australian Government ICT Sustainability Plan 2010 – 2015 describes actions
that agencies are to take to improve environmental outcomes. The ICT sustainability
plan refers to the National Strategy on Waste. Structures will take in a large volume
of equipment and the packaging, and need to remove the same. The data centre
strategy and the ICT sustainability plan have the same targets and objectives for
data centres.
The National Construction Code was created in 2011 by combining the Building Code
of Australia and the Plumbing Code of Australia. The National Construction Code
controls building design in Australia, and may be further modified by State
Government and council regulations. The data centres available from the facilities
panel have been confirmed as complying with the Code.
The Australian Government’s Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) provides
agencies with mandatory directions and advisory guidance on data centre security
issues.
The Commonwealth Property Management Framework provides overarching policy
guidance on all property leased or owned by the Commonwealth. Data centres
leased through the Data Centre Facilities Panel are compliant with this policy
framework.
Related documents
Information about the data centre strategy, and DCOT targets and guidance can be
obtained from the Data Centre section (datacentres@finance.gov.au).
The data centre better practice guides also cover:

Power: the data centre infrastructure supplying power safely, reliably and
efficiently to the ICT equipment and the supporting systems.

Cooling: the mechanical and electrical systems that provide conditioned air
at the optimum temperature, humidity and pressure.

Data Centre Infrastructure Management: the system that monitors and
reports the state of the data centre. Also known as the building management
system.
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
Fire protection: the detection and suppression systems that minimise the
effect of fire on people and the equipment in the data centre.

Security: the physical security arrangements for the data centre. This
includes access controls, surveillance and logging throughout the building,
as well as perimeter protection.

Equipment racks: this guide brings together aspects of power, cooling,
cabling, monitoring, fire protection, security and structural design to achieve
optimum performance for the ICT equipment.

Environment: this guide examines data centre sustainability, including
packaging, electric waste, water use and green house gas generation.
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2. Discussion
Overview
This section outlines the potential benefits and risks to agencies from the data
centre structure. Agencies which apply good planning and operations to their data
centre structures should have few problems. This is largely because the structure is
relatively unchanging while power, cooling and ICT equipment are changing on an
hourly and daily basis. However, as most changes to a structure have long lead
times, agencies should keep their data centre planning current.
The main features of a data centre structure are to:

House the ICT equipment and the supporting systems, by addressing the
physical requirements.

Control the movement of people and equipment, in and around the data
centre.

Provide the fit out that distributes air, water and electricity through a data
centre.
The geographic location and building perimeter influence the operating costs and
physical security of a data centre. These are also addressed in this section
About the data centre structure
The typical purpose-built data centre has an operational life of 15 to 25 years, and
has permanent and semi-permanent elements. Permanent elements are designed
for the full operational life, and include the walls, floors, ceilings, corridors and so
on. Semi-permanent elements include the ICT floor space, cable trays, ducting for air
and cables, and pipes for liquids. Also referred to in this guide as the fit out, these
elements are designed to be upgraded, removed and extended, due to changes in
operational needs through the life of the data centre.
Data centres that have been set up in converted office space tend to have a shorter
operational life than purpose built data centres. In part, this is due to the mismatch
of the requirements of a building suitable for people, and a building suitable for ICT.
Typically, ICT weighs much more, and needs far more power and cooling than
people. Another common factor contributing to a shorter operational life is that the
data centre in converted office space usually gets minimal investment, and so is a
cause of more failures, issues and absorbs more management attention.
Assessing the Structure
If a data centre is to hold agency ICT assets, or APS staff will regularly work at the
building, an agency should satisfy itself that the structure complies with Australian
building standards. The overarching document is the National Construction Code
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(formerly the Building Code of Australia). This document refers to many other
current standards. Agencies are generally advised to rely on compliance certificates
rather than making the assessment themselves. This approach should be sufficient
for most circumstances. However, if the structure poses significant risks to the
agency then thorough inspections may be warranted.
An ongoing challenge for data centre managers is that the data centre structure lasts
far longer than the ICT equipment that it holds. The constant churn of equipment
means constantly changing requirements and expectations. Agencies should plan to
carry out routine assessments of the structure. These assessments must involve the
ICT, facilities and property people working in concert.
The assessments follow a cycle. The initial assessment will select the data centre.
Subsequent reviews will arise due to planned major changes, typically caused by ICT
equipment refresh cycles (every 3 to 5 years), or by machinery of government
organisation changes. The final assessment of a structure will determine that the
data centre no longer meets the agency’s needs cost effectively, and that a new data
centre should be found, thus beginning a new assessment cycle.
The assessments of the structure should consider:
 Does the structure meet the requirement of the ICT equipment, and how
well is the requirement met?
o For each requirement that is satisfied, how cost effectively is this
done? For example, two data centres may each offer a floor with a
carrying capacity of 2,000 kg/m2, but in one the floor is also a
thermal mass, which reduces the cooling costs by 10% per annum.
o For each requirement that is not satisfied, what is the cost to alter
the structure to suit the agency’s purposes? This is highly pertinent
to considerations of security and fit out.
 Does the structure meet the agency’s requirements for ICT availability?
What redundancy levels are available for power and telecommunications
services to the site?
 Given historic ICT growth trends, how long will either space or
environmental support be adequate? How efficiently can the agency add or
remove capacity? What is the cost of operating the as-yet unused capacity?
This last point requires significant analysis. Deferring capacity upgrades over the
life of a data centre typically reduces capital and operating costs. However, agencies
cannot be certain about the future, and changing data centre capacity is a
substantial project, commonly lasting more than 12 months and with a budget over
$1 million.
Key Planning Principle: Enough capacity to minimise the costs
Whether a particular decision represents value for money depends most often on
whether the structure has the capability and capacity to meet the agency’s
requirements over the foreseeable future. Agencies should regularly predict their
requirements, know the limits of the structure’s capacity, and seek to make fewer,
larger changes. This approach is likely to minimise the whole of life costs.
The following figure describes the common pattern for most value for money
assessments of data centres structures. When the requirements are compared to the
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capacity offered by the data centre, the optimum range will typically be above just
meeting the requirements. This result is primarily due to whole of life costs being
minimised when the structure has some capacity to respond to minor changes.
Value
for
Money
Just
Optimum
Good
Okay
Comparison of Requirements to Capacity
The best value for money result is commonly achieved when the requirements are
met and there is excess capacity and capability to manage changes for the
foreseeable future. The foreseeable future is typically about three to five years,
consistent with the ICT equipment refresh cycle.
Solutions to the left of the optimum (green) range require more funds to respond to
changes than the optimum. Solutions to the right are over-engineered, and the
excess capacity is wasted. This model applies to many data centre decisions,
including weight, cabling, floor space, cooling and power.
In a simple example, assume the labour costs to install cable are almost the same to
install 100 cables as 200 cables. If the initial requirement is for 80 cables, but this is
expected to rise to 180 cables over the next five years, then the value for money
assessment could be:
 Just: install 100 cables, and install the additional cables as and when
required, which raises labour costs.
 Optimum: install 200 cables.
 Good: install 300 cables, and incur higher capital and labour costs.
 Okay: install 500 cables, and incur even higher labour and capital costs.
Avoiding under-provisioning or over-provisioning is challenging given that many
data centre components interact with one another. The demands on the structure
from the refresh cycle alone are complex. Consider that a 30 per cent increase in
server and storage capacity does not necessarily mean 30 per cent more space or
power and cooling. Newer technologies typically require less space, less power and
therefore less cooling. These should be factored into the space and capacity
planning process, and requires both ICT and facilities team involvement.
Fit out
The fit out of the building supports the distribution of cables, air and water through
the building. Generally, the use of semi-permanent installations is proven value for
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money in large, purpose built data centres. The merit of using conduits and ducts
becomes more difficult to show when the data centre is very small or temporary.
Semi-permanent installations such as conduits, ducts and cable trays provide order
to cables and efficiency to the moves and changes. This reduces ongoing operations
costs. Poor cabling practices can mean that doors do not close, that cooling air is
blocked, that unnecessary extra cables are called for, when cables were available for
use. Other consequences include extended troubleshooting time when resolving
connectivity problems or slower moves for equipment when dealing with a common
activity, the relocation.
Conduits can have higher security features that provide assurance that there is no
tampering with the cables. These features include enclosing and sealing the
conduits, and / or installing motion sensors.
Ducting for air can help or hinder the efficiency of the cooling system. Without
ducting, the cooling air is released into a general space and left to drift. In earlier
data centre designs with raised floors, this method was effective. Commonly used in
designs with slab floors, ducting is used to direct cooling air flow to the ICT
equipment. This is often required with more recent server technology, which
generates significant heat in a much smaller space. While ducting typically improves
cooling effectiveness, the design must be considered, for example, each bend in a
duct causes inefficiencies.
Housing ICT and Other Equipment
The ICT equipment’s physical characteristics are typically:

Weight: how much does all of the equipment, racks, cables etc weigh?

Space: what is the volume of space needed for the racks, free standing
equipment and the clearances around the equipment?

Cabling: how many cables, of what type, are to be connected to the ICT
equipment? Is the cabling design be optimised to reduce the amount of
cabling required while providing flexibility for expected changes? Does the
cabling design consider the trade-offs between copper and optic fibre?

Cooling: what amount of cooling is required, and how is this cooling being
achieved (air or liquid, underfloor or overhead)?

Power: how many power cables are to be connected to the ICT equipment?
How is the power connected from the ICT equipment to the PDU? For
redundant power supply, are the power cables active / active, or active /
passive?

Future flexibility: what is the forecast for each of the above? Will there be an
increase or reduction in any of these?

Security: who can access what equipment and under what circumstances?
How is unauthorised access recorded and notified?
This is the minimum set of information that is needed to describe what the structure
is to provide. The greater the granularity of the information, at the physical rack
level, the more likely that selected data centre will meet an agency’s needs. Note that
this is a list of physical requirements only, and other essential requirements such as
power and cooling are omitted from this list.
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Security requirements will be specified in the first instance by the agency’s security
management plan. The PSPF also has specific requirements for data centres.
The other data centre equipment, notably the mechanical and electrical systems that
provide the power and cooling, have a similar list of requirements, including weight,
space, cooling, cabling and security.
Controlling Movement
The structure should be assessed for the ability to control the movement of people
and goods through the building. The key points are capability, security and safety.
For people, the assessment should consider how to identify and grant access to
people, how to know that they go only to the approved places in the building, and
that they can be evacuated safely during an emergency.
There are many suitable technologies, listed in the PSPF, which should be used in
combination to secure the structure cost-effectively. Examples include biometric
access controls, multi level access based on roles, anti-passback, tag-along
prevention, RFID pass tracking, closed circuit video, and motion sensors linked to
alarms and /or cameras. The areas to be secured include parking areas, hallways,
entryways, loading docks, ICT area, and racks holding sensitive equipment.
Goods have a similar list, with the addition of considering the weight and volume of
the goods. Computer equipment when in the protective packaging, can be very
heavy and bulky. Access paths, lifts and door clearances should all be assessed.
Geography
The data centre location can influence cooling efficiency, security, reliability and
telecommunication costs. These influences can substantially change the operating
costs.
Free air cooling uses the external air instead of air conditioning to remove heat from
the data centre. This can reduce a data centre’s operating costs by over 40%. Free
air cooling is effective when the climate has a mean annual temperature below
23°C±1°C and moderate humidity levels (mean annual relative humidity of
50%±5%). Adequate air quality is also important to efficiency. Particles from
pollution, smoke and dust can interfere with the ICT equipment. While commercial
grade data centre equipment is usually designed to maintain air quality, domestic
equipment is not. Domestic equipment often fails to maintain air quality standards
needed for ICT equipment.
The data centre’s proximity to power generation stations and distribution paths in
the national electricity grid affects the price and reliability of the electricity supply.
Making sure that the power supply to a major zone is connected to two or more
distribution paths significantly reduces the risk of power failure. The ACT received
its second connection in 2012. Data centres in locations with a single connection will
place a greater importance on backup power supplies.
The data centre’s proximity to major telecommunications networks should work to
reduce network costs, and connecting to several network should improve reliability.
Labour costs can be more easily controlled in locations with proximity to larger
populations. Service costs and times are also likely to be improved by being closer to
major population centres.
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There are other risk factors that can be identified and assessed, including
earthquake, flood and transport accidents. When considering these risks, it is
necessary to consider the impact on the surrounding neighbourhood, not only the
building. In Australia, large scale flooding and fires have occurred with unfortunate
frequency. This has disrupted power supply, telecommunication services and
movement of people and goods in the affected areas for many days.
Perimeter
The building’s surroundings have features that influence the operating costs. The
assessment should consider the ease of movement of people and goods, and how the
perimeter contributes to the overall site security.
Limits and Trends
An ongoing challenge for data centre managers is that the data centre structure lasts
far longer than the ICT equipment that it holds. The constant churn of equipment
means constantly changing requirements and expectations. It is better practice to
have developed considered responses to each of the limits, and reporting to advise
of when the limits are about to be reached. The planned responses could involve
altering the ICT equipment, upgrading the structure, or to moving to another data
centre. The better practice is that ICT and facilities staff develop the responses
jointly.
The current trend in ICT equipment is to heavier, hotter ICT equipment in a
significantly smaller footprint. The result is more devices, greater weight and
greater heat to be handled in this smaller footprint. This affects power, cooling,
cabling and floor loadings.
The ability of the data centre’s floors to carry weight is often a fixed limit that is
exceeded only with difficulty and temporarily. The floor carrying capacity can be
exceeded relatively easily in office buildings and older data centres. These typically
have carrying capacity around 750 to 1000 kg / m2. Popular models of blade servers,
data warehouses and storage area networks can all exceed 1500 kg / m2. While it is
possible to install weight distribution solutions to spread weight more evenly, these
should be considered as temporary measures.
Replacing the raised floor to carry greater weight in a data centre is possible, and
may give a good long term result. Raised floor carrying capacity has risen from 300
kg / m2 in 1965 to around 3000 kg / m2 in 2013. This type of project requires
thorough planning, as they can be very expensive and risky to the agency’s business
operations.
The capability to remove more heat from a smaller location can be another point
requiring significant investment. The volume of cooling air that can be delivered to a
specific rack is a complex function of the power of the air conditioning unit, the size
of the ducts, the volume to be cooled and the rate at which the heated air can be
drawn from the data centre. Once the limit of this configuration has been reached,
then further investment is required. Point solutions, affecting only one or two racks,
can be successful, and relatively inexpensive. Switching to liquid cooling will provide
significantly greater cooling capacity, and a dramatic drop in power consumption
due to CRACs not being required to move cooling air. However, this will require
substantial changes to the structure. Typically, the switch to liquid cooling is cost
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effective in zones of high electricity consumption, which is generally over 20 to
30 kW per rack.
Operational Considerations
Achieving the lowest cost of ownership for the data centre structure is largely due to
good planning and maintaining order in key resources. The whole of life planning is
principally about knowing the limits of the structure and having plans to manage
when a proposed change will breach those limits. For example, if the floor carrying
capacity is 1500 kg/m2, and new equipment has been ordered that will weigh 2000
kg/m2, then the planned action may be to upgrade part of the computer room floor.
In a well run data centre structure the purpose and capacity of every cable, pipe and
duct is documented. One test for the quality of the documentation is that changes
can be planned using the documentation and executed without failures. This
disciplined approach minimises execution time and disruptions to production
systems. The trade-off is that each move requires updating the documentation to be
completed. However, the industry consensus is that this is time well spent.
There are many commercial software tools that will assist the process of managing
every duct pipe and cable. The key is to create a process whereby all changes use the
tool, so that an accurate audit trail is always available.
Agencies may consider creating a role of “resource manager” – an individual either
in ICT or facilities who is responsible for linking the two groups together from a
process point of view. At its simplest this could be a very junior ICT person who is
responsible for all equipment placement on the floor (the long term capacity plan).
Their role is to insure facilities staff understand what will happen, and work with
them to assess the impact of changes on the infrastructure before they occur. As
time goes on this individual will develop a strong understanding of both the ICT
issues and the facilities issues, and can help bring these teams closer together.
Generally, a structure will continue to be used until the economic benefits of moving
to a new data centre exceed the project costs of the relocation. The structure’s
integrity must be maintained, by ensuring that all works are planned by a qualified
engineer.
Maintaining a high level of order in the data centre offers ongoing benefits. There
will be higher upfront costs, but the reliability will be greater due to fewer errors
and quicker changes, and this will lead to lower whole of life costs. For example,
consider the effort involved in replacing half the ICT equipment in the two racks
shown in Figure 2. The organised cable layout shown in the right hand picture
means that the equipment is accessible. The task will be completed with less effort
and time, and the risk of failure due to moving the wrong cable is greatly reduced.
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Figure 1 Equipment racks before and after organising cables1
Another operational task is cleaning the data centre. Dust and other particles can
interfere with the fans and, rarely, the electronics. While the risk is very low, any
faults that arise can be very difficult to diagnose, and lead to a series of equipment
failures. Cleaning the data centre is more important in an office environment, as
many carpets shed fibres. Older data centres need cleaning to remove ‘zinc
whiskers’. These tiny fragments of zinc can be carried into the ICT equipment,
causing electrical faults and equipment failures.
The standard ISO 14644 describes air quality in clean rooms. Most government data
centres should not seek to meet this standard, as it is very unlikely to provide any
advantages. The exceptions are those agencies that have ICT equipment identified
by the manufacturer to be susceptible to air particles, and data centres that have
experienced faults due to air quality.
Any significant changes to the ICT equipment or configuration should consider the
limits of the structure. The lead time for altering the structure is long, typically
weeks to months, and potentially costly. Therefore, it is best that this consideration
begins as the business case is being developed. The capabilities of the structure
must be reflected in any tender material.
A systematic approach to communicating procedures to new and visiting staff is
needed to maintain standards. In larger data centres this may become a formal,
tested training process. In smaller data centres, a high standard of documentation
that is easily and continually referenced may be sufficient.
Conclusion
The limits imposed by the data centre structure can be carefully considered when
selecting a data centre and during the operating life. It is possible to over invest in
1
Before and after pictures taken by Cloned Milkmen, www.flickr.com .
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the structure, purchasing capacity in excess of requirements and never reaching the
limits. Equally, under-investing may mean that the limits are exceeded early in the
life of the data centre, forcing a move to another data centre.
Typically, obtaining data centre space that has adequate capacity but which has
been designed to be upgraded easily is the optimum solution. The advantage is that
the capital investment is distributed over multiple years. And so far, the data centre
technology price/performance has been improving steadily.
It is essential that impact of ongoing changes do not exceed the structure’s
capacities in an unplanned manner. Agencies should ensure regular communication
between ICT, operations and facilities staff, across change, capacity and asset
management processes.
Agencies must decide how much to invest in their data centres to obtain value for
money and to support achieving the agency outcomes. The better practices will
assist agencies to reach these objectives.
If an agency decides that the data centre performance is inadequate, the first point
to review is the data centre operations. If the operations are satisfactory (that is,
delivering the full capability of the design), then the data centre design must change.
Generally, changing the data centre design means moving to commercial data centre
facilities obtained from the data centre facilities panel.
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3. Better practices
Planning
The better practice is a plan that identifies the limits and proposed responses for
key features of the structure. These key features include the floor loading, the space
and fit out. This plan, and the funding impacts, should be reviewed with the senior
responsible officer.
All cables, pipes and ducts are documented. These items are labelled (or equivalent)
accurately. The documentation is always current.
All planning and assessment work involves the ICT, facilities and property teams.
Operations
There is routine cleaning, sufficient to maintain air quality consistent with the
highest standard of all the equipment in the data centre. The effects of changes in
environmental air quality, such as dust storms or fires, must be considered.
All movement of people and goods through the building is consistent with safety and
the security policy.
All cables, pipes and ducts are identifiable and documented.
There is a method for ensuring that the defined procedures and documentation are
followed. This method may be consistent with ISO 9000. There may be formal,
evaluated training for new staff.
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Fundamental
Agency has statement of requirements for current ICT equipment that
⊠ describes weight, space, cooling, cabling and security.
Agency has forecast over next five years of requirements for ICT equipment
⊠ that describes weight, space, cooling, cabling and security.
Agency can identify the weight and volume of largest item of ICT equipment
⊠ when packed. The data centre has a path from the loading dock to the
⊠
equipment rack / data hall that can allow the movement of this equipment.
Agency has identified the security protections required as per the PSPF.
Agency has identified the risks and controls posed by the building integrity,
⊠ location and surrounds.
The agency has identified the capacity limits of the current data centre
⊠ structure with regard to weight, space, cooling, cabling and security. Agency
has developed plans to respond to changes that exceed one or more of these
limits.
⊠
⊠
All cables in the structure are labelled and recorded.
The building is cleaned regularly.
The ICT, operations and facilities staff have good communications. This
⊠ includes:

Shared processes for change, capacity planning and asset management.

Regular (bi-annual for larger agencies) planning meetings
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4. Conclusion
Agencies that use better practices in their data centres can expect lower costs, better
reliability, and improved safety than otherwise. Implementing the better practices
will give managers more information about data centre power, enabling better
decisions. Overall, the data centre will become more efficient, and better aligned to
the agency’s strategic objectives.
Agencies will also find it simpler and easier to report against the mandatory
objectives of the data centre strategy. The key metric is avoided costs, that is, the
costs that agencies did not incur as a result of improvements in their data centres.
Capturing avoided costs is most effective when done by an agency in the context of a
completed project that has validated the original business case.
Summary of Better Practices
The data centre structure is verified against business expectations. The capacity
plan outlines the demand and various limits, and how these limits can be extended.
The security remediation is identified.
The work health safety plans with respect to risks from the data centre structure
have a goal of zero injuries.
The agency is routinely:




Reviewing whether the data centre is fit for purpose and making planned
changes.
Cleaning the data centre.
Maintaining documentation about the data centre fit out.
Maintaining forecasts for future data centre needs, and identifying trends in
agency plans that may exceed the data centre capacity.
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