EN 50600-1:2019

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-september-2019
Nadomešča:
SIST EN 50600-1:2013
Informacijska tehnologija - Vzpostavitev podatkovnega centra in infrastruktura - 1.
del: Splošna zasnova
Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 1: General
concepts
Informationstechnik - Einrichtungen und Infrastrukturen von Rechenzentren - Teil 1:
Allgemeine Konzepte
Technologie de linformation - Installation et infrastructures de centres de traitement de
données - Partie 1: Concepts généraux
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 50600-1:2019
ICS:
35.020 Informacijska tehnika in Information technology (IT) in
tehnologija na splošno general
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EUROPEAN STANDARD EN 50600-1
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
June 2019
ICS 35.020; 35.160 Supersedes EN 50600-1:2012
English Version
Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures
- Part 1: General concepts
Technologie de l'information - Installation et infrastructures Informationstechnik - Einrichtungen und Infrastrukturen von
de centres de traitement de données - Partie 1: Concepts Rechenzentren - Teil 1: Allgemeine Konzepte
généraux
This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2019-04-29. CENELEC members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC
Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.
Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre or to any CENELEC member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation
under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the
same status as the official versions.
CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2019 CENELEC All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC Members.
Ref. No. EN 50600-1:2019 E
Contents
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references. 6
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations . 7
3.1 Terms and definitions . 7
3.2 Abbreviations . 11
4 Conformance . 11
5 Business risk analysis . 12
5.1 General . 12
5.2 Business impact analysis . 12
5.3 Risk analysis . 13
6 Data centre design overview . 14
6.1 General . 14
6.2 Spaces and facilities . 15
7 Classification system for the design of data centre facilities and infrastructures . 17
7.1 General . 17
7.2 Availability . 17
7.2.1 General . 17
7.2.2 Single-site data centres . 17
7.2.3 Multi-site data centres . 20
7.3 Physical security . 20
7.3.1 General . 20
7.3.2 Protection against unauthorised access . 20
7.3.3 Protection against intrusion . 20
7.3.4 Protection against environmental events . 21
7.4 Energy efficiency enablement. 21
7.4.1 General . 21
7.4.2 Power distribution system . 22
7.4.3 Environmental monitoring and control . 22
7.4.4 Operational processes and KPIs . 22
8 Design and implementation process . 22
8.1 General . 22
8.2 Design phases . 23
8.2.1 Phase 1 - Strategy . 23
8.2.2 Phase 2 - Objectives . 24
8.2.3 Phase 3 - System specifications. 24
8.2.4 Phase 4 - Design proposal . 24
8.2.5 Phase 5 - Decision . 25
8.2.6 Phase 6 - Functional design . 25
8.2.7 Phase 7 - Approval . 25
8.2.8 Phase 8 - Final design and project plan . 25
8.2.9 Phase 9 - Contract . 25
8.2.10 Phase 10 - Construction . 25
8.2.11 Phase 11 - Operation . 25
9 Design Principles . 26
9.1 Design reference documentation . 26
9.2 Design principles to support energy efficiency . 26
9.3 Design principles for EMI . 26
9.4 Design principles to support operational excellence . 26
Annex A (informative) Overall availability and infrastructure availability . 27
Annex B (informative) Availability description . 30
Bibliography . 31

European foreword
This document (EN 50600-1:2019) has been prepared by CLC/TC 215 “Electrotechnical aspects of
telecommunication equipment”.
The following dates are fixed:
• latest date by which this document has to be (dop) 2020–04–29
implemented at national level by publication of
an identical national standard or by
endorsement
• latest date by which the national standards (dow) 2022–04–29
conflicting with this document have to be
withdrawn
This document supersedes EN 50600-1:2012.
The following major modifications have been made compared to EN 50600-1:2012:
a) reference to Key Performance Indicators of EN 50600-4-X included;
b) Clause 7 (Availability) has been revised;
c) the design processes (Clause 8) and design principles (Clause 9) have been moved from an annex
to the main body of the document;
d) existing Annex A has been removed;
e) new Annexes A and B have been added.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This document has been prepared under a mandate given to CENELEC by the European Commission
and the European Free Trade Association.
Introduction
The unrestricted access to internet-based information demanded by the information society has led to an
exponential growth of both internet traffic and the volume of stored/retrieved data. Data centres are
housing and supporting the information technology and network telecommunications equipment for data
processing, data storage and data transport. They are required both by network operators (delivering
those services to customer premises) and by enterprises within those customer premises.
Data centres usually need to provide modular, scalable and flexible facilities and infrastructures to easily
accommodate the rapidly changing requirements of the market. In addition, energy consumption of data
centres has become critical both from an environmental point of view (reduction of environmental
footprint) and with respect to economical considerations (cost of energy) for the data centre operator.
The implementation of data centres varies in terms of:
a) purpose (enterprise, co-location, co-hosting or network operator facilities);
b) security level;
c) physical size;
d) accommodation (mobile, temporary and permanent constructions).
The needs of data centres also vary in terms of availability of service, the provision of security and the
objectives for energy efficiency. These needs and objectives influence the design of data centres in terms
of building construction, power distribution, environmental control, telecommunications cabling and
physical security as well as the operation of the data centre. Effective management and operational
information is required to monitor achievement of the defined needs and objectives.
Recognizing the substantial resource consumption, particularly of energy, of larger data centres, it is also
important to provide tools for the assessment of that consumption both in terms of overall value and of
source mix and to provide Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate trends and drive performance
improvements.
At the time of publication of this European Standard, EN 50600 series is designed as a framework of
standards and technical reports covering the design, the operation and management as well as the key
performance indicators for energy efficient operation of the data centre.
The EN 50600-2 series defines the requirements for the data centre design.
The EN 50600-3 series defines the requirements for the operation and the management of the data
centre.
The EN 50600-4 series defines the key performance indicators for the data centre.
The CLC/TR 50600-99-X Technical Reports cover recommended practices and guidance for specific
topics around data centre operation and design.
This series of European Standards specifies requirements and recommendations to support the various
parties involved in the design, planning, procurement, integration, installation, operation and maintenance
of facilities and infrastructures within data centres. These parties include:
1) owners, operators, facility managers, ICT managers, project managers, main contractors;
2) consulting engineers, architects, building designers and builders, system and installation designers,
auditors, test and commissioning agents;
3) facility and infrastructure integrators, suppliers of equipment;
4) installers, maintainers.
The inter-relationship of the standards and technical reports within the EN 50600 series is shown in
Figure 1.
Figure 1 – Schematic relationship between EN 50600 series of standards
This European Standard specifies general requirements for data centres for all kinds of data centres
irrespective of their size and physical construction. It introduces a classification system for availability,
physical security and energy efficiency enablement.
EN 50600-2-X standards specify requirements and recommendations for particular facilities and
infrastructures to support the relevant classification for “availability”, “physical security” and “energy
efficiency enablement” selected from EN 50600-1.
EN 50600-3-X documents specify requirements and recommendations for data centre operations,
processes and management.
EN 50600-4-X documents specify requirements and recommendations for key performance indicators
(KPIs) used to assess and improve the resource usage efficiency and effectiveness, respectively, of a
data centre.
This European Standard is intended for use by and collaboration between architects, building designers
and builders, system and installation designers.
This series of European Standards does not address the selection of information technology and network
telecommunications equipment, software and associated configuration issues.
1 Scope
This document:
a) describes the general principles for data centres upon which the requirements of the EN 50600
series are based;
b) defines the common aspects of data centres including terminology, parameters and reference
models (functional elements and their accommodation) addressing both the size and complexity of
their intended purpose;
c) describes general aspects of the facilities and infrastructures required to support data centres;
d) specifies a classification system, based upon the key criteria of “availability”, “security” and “energy-
efficiency” over the planned lifetime of the data centre, for the provision of effective facilities and
infrastructure;
e) details the issues to be addressed in a business risk and operating cost analysis enabling application
of the classification of the data centre;
f) provides reference to operation and management of data centres;
g) introduces the concepts of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for resource management of data
centre facilities and infrastructures.
The following topics are outside of the scope of this series of European Standards:
1) the selection of information technology and network telecommunications equipment, software and
associated configuration issues are outside the scope of this European Standard;
2) quantitative analysis of overall service availability resulting from multi-site data centres;
3) safety and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements (covered by other standards and
regulations. However, information given in this European Standard can be of assistance in meeting
these standards and regulations).
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
EN 50600-2-1, Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 2-1: Building
construction
EN 50600-2-2, Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 2-2: Power supply
and distribution
EN 50600-2-3, Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 2-3: Environmental
control
EN 50600-2-4, Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 2-4:
Telecommunications cabling infrastructure
EN 50600-2-5, Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 2-5: Security
systems
EN 50600-3-1, Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 3-1: Management
and operational information
EN 50600-4-X (all parts), Information technology – Data centre facilities and infrastructures – Part 4-X
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1.1
availability
ability of an item to be in a state to perform a required function under given conditions at a given instant of
time or over a given time interval, assuming that the required external resources are provided
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-191:1990, 191-02-05]
3.1.2
building entrance facility
facility that provides all necessary mechanical and electrical services and which complies with all relevant
regulations for the entry of specific services or infrastructures into a building
[SOURCE: EN 50173-1:2018, 3.1.18 – modified: replaced “telecommunication cables” with “specific
infrastructures or services” and deleted „and which can enable transmission from outdoor to indoor
cable”]
3.1.3
building security
facilities and systems necessary to provide the required levels of security at the entrance to and within the
building containing the data centre
3.1.4
cabinet
enclosed construction for housing closures and other information technology equipment
[SOURCE: EN 50174-1:2018, 3.1.7]
3.1.5
co-hosting data centre
data centre in which multiple customers are provided with access to network(s), servers and storage
equipment on which they operate their own services/applications
Note 1 to entry: Both the information technology equipment and the support infrastructure of the building are provided
as a service by the data centre operator.
[SOURCE: EN 50174-2:2018, 3.1.2]
3.1.6
co-location data centre
data centre in which multiple customers locate their own network(s), servers and storage equipment
Note 1 to entry: The support infrastructure of the building (such as power distribution and environmental control) is
provided as a service by the data centre operator.
[SOURCE: EN 50174-2:2018, 3.1.3]
3.1.7
computer room space
area within the data centre that accommodates the data processing, data storage and telecommunication
equipment that provides the primary function of the data centre
3.1.8
control room space
area within the data centre used to control the operation of the data centre and to act as a central point
for all control and monitoring functions
3.1.9
data centre
structure, or group of structures, dedicated to the centralised accommodation, interconnection and
operation of information technology and network telecommunications equipment providing data storage,
processing and transport services together with all the facilities and infrastructures for power distribution
and environmental control together with the necessary levels of resilience and security required to provide
the desired service availability
Note 1 to entry: A structure can consist of multiple buildings and/or spaces with specific functions to support the
primary function.
Note 2 to entry: The boundaries of the structure or space considered the data centre which includes the information
and communication technology equipment and supporting environmental controls can be defined within a larger
structure or building.
3.1.10
data centre security
facilities and systems that provide the required levels of security at the entrance to and within the data
centre
3.1.11
demarcation point
point where the operational control or ownership changes
3.1.12
electrical distribution space
area used for housing facilities to distribute electrical power between the transformer space and electrical
spaces within the data centre or elsewhere within the premises or individual buildings within the premises
3.1.13
electrical space
area within the data centre used for housing facilities to deliver and control electrical power to the data
centre spaces (including switchboards, batteries, uninterruptible power systems (UPS) etc.)
3.1.14
enterprise data centre
data centre that is operated by an enterprise which has the sole purpose of the delivery and management
of services to its employees and customers
[SOURCE: EN 50174-2:2018, 3.1.8]
3.1.15
external premises security
facilities and systems that provide the required levels of security for the area between the building and the
boundary of the premises
3.1.16
energy efficiency enablement
ability to measure the energy consumption and to allow calculation and reporting of energy efficiency of
the various facilities and infrastructures
3.1.17
facility
spaces and pathways that accommodate a specific infrastructure
3.1.18
functional capability
ability of the data centre (or system or subsystem) to deliver its intended function
3.1.19
functional element
source of supply, device or path
3.1.20
generator space
area used for housing the installation of electrical power supply generation equipment together with
control systems, storage of associated fuels or energy conversion equipment
3.1.21
holding space
area within the data centre used for the holding of equipment prior to being brought into service or having
been taken out of service
3.1.22
infrastructure
technical systems providing functional capability of the data centre (e.g. power distribution, environmental
control and physical security)
3.1.23
main distributor
distributor used to make connections between the main distribution cabling subsystem, network access
cabling subsystem and active equipment
[SOURCE: EN 50173-5:2018, 3.1.10]
3.1.24
mechanical space
area that is used for housing mechanical equipment and infrastructure that provides environmental
control for the data centre spaces (including chillers and water treatment, air handling and fire
suppression systems)
3.1.25
network operator data centre
data centre that has the primary purpose of the delivery and management of broadband services to the
operators’ customers
[SOURCE: EN 50174-2:2018, 3.1.18]
3.1.26
physical security
active and passive measures (combining physical and technological controls), procedures and
responsibilities to maintain the desired level of availability for the facilities and infrastructures of the data
centres in relation to access control and environmental events
3.1.27
planned downtime
period of time during which a system or subsystem does not provide functional capability whilst it
undergoes maintenance or is switched off to test the response of a related system or subsystem
3.1.28
premises entrance facility
space that provides all necessary mechanical and electrical services for the entry of cables into the
premises
3.1.29
storage space
area where general goods and/or data centre goods to be used in the premises and data centre are
stored
3.1.30
system
set of interrelated functional elements considered in a defined context as a whole and separated from
their environment
3.1.31
telecommunications
technology concerned with the transmission, emission, and reception of signs, signals, writings, images,
and sounds, by cable, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems
Note 1 to entry: The term telecommunications has no legal meaning when used in this document
[SOURCE: EN 50173-1:2018, 3.1.49]
3.1.32
telecommunications cabling
telecommunications cabling infrastructure from the telecommunications space(s) to the premises
entrance facility
3.1.33
telecommunication equipment
equipment within the data centre that provides telecommunication services within the data centre
3.1.34
telecommunications space
area which may house demarcation points and telecommunication equipment associated with the building
entrance facility and which may allow service providers restricted access to the data centre
3.1.35
testing space
area within the data centre used for the testing and configuring of equipment prior to being brought into
service
Note 1 to entry: Testing space is sometimes called staging area.
3.1.36
transformer space
area used for housing equipment necessary to convert voltage levels and/or provide necessary isolation
for the connection to the equipment within the premises or individual buildings within the premises
3.1.37
uninterruptible power system
combination of convertors, switches and energy storage devices (such as batteries), constituting a power
system for maintaining continuity of load power in case of input power failure
Note 1 to entry: Continuity of load power occurs when voltage and frequency are within rated steady-state and
transient tolerance bands and with distortion and interruptions within the limits specified for the output port. Input
power failure occurs when voltage and frequency are outside rated steady-state and transient tolerance bands or with
distortion or interruptions outside the limits specified for the UPS.
[SOURCE: EN 62040-1:2017, 3.101]
3.1.38
unplanned downtime
time taken, following a failure of functional capability, to repair the relevant infrastructure together with the
“re-boot” time necessary to recover functional capability following that repair
3.2 Abbreviations
For the purposes of this document the following abbreviations apply:
CRAC Computer Room Air Conditioning (Unit)
CRAH Computer Room Air Handler units
EMI electromagnetic interference
ffs for further study
MTBF Mean Time Between Failures
MTTR Mean Time To Repair
NOC Network Operating Centre
UPS Uninterruptible Power System
4 Conformance
For a data centre design to conform to this European Standard:
a) a business risk analysis according to Clause 5 shall be completed;
b) an appropriate Availability Class in 7.2 shall be selected using a business risk analysis in Clause 5;
c) appropriate Protection Classes for the data centre pathways and spaces shall be in accordance with
7.3.1;
d) an appropriate energy efficiency enablement level in 7.4 shall be selected;
e) the design process of Clause 8 (or equivalent) shall be applied;
f) the design principles of Clause 9 shall be applied.
NOTE The application of the design process in Clause 8 is not mandatory for an assessment of existing data
centres.
5 Business risk analysis
5.1 General
The overall availability of a data centre is a measure of the continuity of its data processing, storage, and
transport functions. The acceptable level of the overall availability of a data centre is determined by a
number of factors including:
a) a business impact analysis (see 5.2) - the cost associated with a failure of service provision, which
depends upon a number of factors including the function and importance of the data centre;
b) externally applied commercial pressures (e.g. insurance costs).
There is a link between the availability of the infrastructures specified in EN 50600-2-X standards and the
overall availability but it should be recognized that the recovery of intended data processing, storage, and
transport functionality following the repair of an infrastructure failure depends on many factors related to
the configuration of the hardware and software providing that functionality.
As a result, the role of the infrastructure is to support overall availability objectives but is not the sole
factor in their attainment.
The availability of each of the facilities and infrastructures of the data centre required to support the
desired overall availability is described by an availability classification (see 7.2). The design of each of the
data centre infrastructures shall take account of their impact on overall availability and the costs
associated with the predicted downtime associated with failure or planned maintenance.
The design and physical security of the facilities and infrastructures of the data centre shall be subjected
to a risk analysis (see 5.3) which maps identified risk events against the requirements of the availability
classification (see 7.2). The availability classification for each infrastructure is described as providing low,
medium, high and very high availability. Clause 7 further describes the situations (risk events) for which
each infrastructure is protected against failure. Other approaches are to apply “% availability” to
infrastructures but this is not supported by this standard series for reasons explained in Annex A.
A business risk analysis identifies the aspects of the facilities and infrastructures that require investment
in terms of design improvements to reduce their impact and/or probability of those risk events.
5.2 Business impact analysis
This standard does not define methods of analysis for the cost of downtime. Standards such as
EN 31010, ISO/TS 22317 or EN ISO 22301 provide useful guidance.
The parameters to be considered within such an analysis will depend upon the purpose of the data
centre. Some organisations can assign a monetary value (or range) to loss of service which may include
the following:
a) immediate financial penalties;
b) consequential losses;
c) an assessment of longer term damage to business reputation e.g. an Internet Service Provider or a
financial institution.
Although cost is often considered when analysing downtime, other impacts should also be considered.
Data centres containing life safety, legal, medical and criminal information may have individually
recognized consequences from un-scheduled downtime.
5.3 Risk analysis
This standard does not define methods of risk analysis. Standards such as EN 31010 provide useful
guidance.
Risk analysis may be used as a management tool allowing the comparison with the acceptable total risk
and showing trends resulting from mitigation activity. For the purposes of this standard the risk associated
with an event concerning the facilities and infrastructures of the data centre which disrupts the provision
of service of the data centre is defined as event risk which is a function of impact and probability where
a) impact is the magnitude or severity of adverse incidents or impacts, expressed numerically or
nominally expected duration of loss of service (availability) of the event;
b) probability is the likelihood of the event.
The impact of risk may be assessed using different units of measure e.g. cost, safety etc.
The total risk to the functional capability of the data centre is a function of the event risks associated with
each facility and infrastructure provided that those risks are quantified on the same basis. If related to the
output of the business impact analysis (see 5.2) the financial value of the total risk can be estimated.
The risks considered should include external threats which can affect the facilities and infrastructures
including in particular the location, which could be geographical (air traffic, flooding etc.), political (wars,
trouble spots, terror etc.) or affecting neighbourhood relations (if, for example, fire hazards exist due to
filling stations, chemical storage etc.) and thus influence the likelihood of a potential downtime. In
addition, potential risks resulting from internal and external attacks by the staff or others should be part of
the overall risk evaluation.
Impact can be categorized as:
1) low: Loss of non-critical services;
2) medium: Failure of critical system functional elements but no loss of redundancy;
3) high: Loss of critical system redundancy but no loss of service;
4) critical: Loss of critical service or loss of life (which may be extended to address personal injury).
The probability of an event occurring can be defined in a similar way, that is:
1) very low;
2) low;
3) medium;
4) high.
Each risk can be quantified on a risk map as shown in Figure 2. High risk events inhabit the top right hand
corner of the figure and low risk events inhabit the bottom left hand corner.
Figure 2 – Example of risk map
Having identified the risk of the possible events associated with data centre facilities and infrastructures,
the downtime cost with that event shall be determined to enable design decisions to be made that reduce
the risk (by means of reducing the impact or probability of the event).
6 Data centre design overview
6.1 General
Data centres differ in terms of their purpose e.g. co-hosting, co-location, enterprise, network operator
services. Data centres can also differ significantly with respect to their physical size ranging from:
a) a data centre in a building housing a small quantity of storage and server equipment to provide
information technology services to the occupants of that building, to
b) a data centre housing a large quantity of such equipment providing information technology services
via diverse internal and external telecommunications networks and requiring sophisticated power
distribution and environmental control facilities housed in one or more buildings dedicated to
ensuring the operation of the data centre.
This clause provides a general design overview for data centres independent of their purpose and their
size.
6.2 Spaces and facilities
Figure 3 shows a schematic representation of the spaces required by a large data centre within a building
and within premises containing one or more building.
The data centre may share certain spaces with the rest of the building including:
a) building entrance facilities;
b) personnel entrance(s);
c) docking/loading bay(s);
d) generators space(s) including fuel storage;
e) transformer space(s);
f) electrical distribution space(s);
g) telecommunications spaces(s).
The need for the above spaces and facilities within the building depends upon the purpose of both the
building and the data centre. Any sharing of these spaces and facilities will depend not only on the size
but also on the defined Availability and Protection Classes of the data centre and the functions of the
remainder of the building. For example, in buildings housing large data centres, the facilities and spaces
supporting the data centre may be dedicated to the data centre with separate spaces being provided for
the remainder of the building.
The area within the building designated as a data centre may contain the following spaces:
1) personnel entrance(s);
2) main distributor space(s);
3) computer room space(s) and associated testing space(s);
4) electrical space(s);
5) mechanical space(s);
6) control room space(s);
7) office space(s);
8) storage and holding space(s).
Figure 3 – Typical schematic diagram of premises containing a data centre
Within the area of the building designated as a data centre, the need for, and contents of, the spaces
depends upon the purpose of the data centre, its anticipated power consumption and the need for
environmental control.
The need for segregation of spaces depends on availability and safety considerations, requirements for
security and upon the need for environmental control.
As examples, a small enterprise data centre may comprise a single room having the function of a
computer room space and an electrical space without physical segregation whereas a large data centre
may require one or more segregated spaces of each type identified in Figure 3.
7 Classification system for the design of data centre facilities and
infrastructures
7.1 General
For the purposes of the EN 50600 series, data centres facilities and infrastructures are designated with
respect to:
a) Availability Classes (see 7.2);
b) Protection Classes (see 7.3);
c) Energy efficiency enablement levels (see 7.4).
These designations are used in combination to determine the relevant requirements and
recommendations for the following facilities and infrastructures:
1) building construction (see EN 50600-2-1);
2) power distribution (see EN 50600-2-2);
3) environmental control (see EN 50600-2-3);
4) telecommunications cabling infrastructure (see EN 50600-2-4);
5) security systems (see EN 50600-2-5).
7.2 Availability
7.2.1 General
Data centres can be single-site or configured to operate across multiple sites.
7.2.2 describes the availability concepts and requirements for a single-site data centre and 7.2.3
describes the use of a multi-site data centre to improve the overall service availability.
7.2.2 Single-site data centres
The required availability of the facilities and infrastructures that support the functionality of the data centre
is of the utmost significance. The data centre owner/user shall determine the desired availability of the
overall set of facilities and infrastructures using business risk analysis and business impact analysis
(Clause 5). It is recognized that availability requirements may vary with time of day, week or month.
Different qualitative Availability Classes for the overall set of data centre facilities and infrastructures are
defined as shown in Table 1. The availability of the entire data centre depends on the Availability Classes
of its individual infrastructures such as power sourcing and distribution, environmental control and
security. The requirements for a specific facility or infrastructure of a given Availability Class are specified
in the EN 50600-2-X series.
In order for the set of facilities and infrastructures of data centre to be considered to be of a given
Availability Class, the design of each individual facility and infrastructure listed in Table 1 shall meet or
exceed that Availability Class.
The provision of higher Availability Classes generally requires greater investment. Additional details about
availability are provided in Annex A.
Table 1 – Availability Classes and example implementations
Availability Class Availability Class Availability Class Availability Class
1 2 3 4
Availability of low medium high very high
overall set of
infrastructures
Definition for Single path to Single path to Multiple paths to Multiple paths to
power supply (see primary distribution primary distribution primary distribution primary distribution
EN 50600-2–2) equipment equipment equipment equipment
- - - -
Single source Redundant sources Redundant sources Multiple sources
Definition for Single path Single path with Multiple paths Multiple paths
power distribution redundancy
- -
(see EN 50600-2–2)
Concurrent Fault tolerant except
repair/operate during maintenance
solution
Definition for Single path Single path with Multiple paths Multiple paths
environmental redundancy
- -
control (see
EN 50600-2–3)
Concurrent Fault tolerant except
repair/operate during maintenance
solution
Definition for Single path Single path Multiple paths Multiple paths
telecommunicatio - - - -
ns cabling (see direct connections fixed infrastructure fixed infrastructure fixed infrastructure
EN 50600-2–4) or fixed with multiple access with diverse with diverse
infrastructure with network connections pathways with pathways and
single access multiple access redundant

network connection network connections distribution zones
and multiple access
network connections
NOTE 1: Requirements and recommendations for data centre construction that provide the desired Protection Classes to
ensure availability of the facilities and infrastructures are addressed in EN 50600-2–1.
NOTE 2: Requirements and recommendations for physical security of data centre spaces and pathways to ensure
availability of the facilities and infrastructures are addressed in EN 50600-2–5.
The EN 50600 series defines four Classes of availability. Based on the outcome of the business risk
analysis in Clause 5 an Availability Class shall be selected for the following infrastructures:
− power supply and distribution;
− environmental control;
− telecommunications cabling.
The selection of the Availability Class shall be made based on the following general guidance (for
guidance specific to each individual infrastructure see the appropriate part of EN 50600-2-X).
A Class 1 solution (single path) is appropriate where the outcome of the risk assessment deems it
acceptable t
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