Data Centers
The power to protect critical data.
If a company wants to be on top of business, then it must be on top of information technology. Given the vast quantities of information created, processed, saved, and delivered each day, Data Centers are the central nervous system of life in today’s world.
Data Centers require Network-Critical Physical Infrastructure (NCPI)—the foundation upon which IT and telecommunication networks reside. It is the "backbone" of the business, as its elements provide the power, cooling, physical housing, security, fire protection, and cabling which allow the information technology to function. Feyen Zylstra’s extensive knowledge in this area gives us the ability to view NCPI as a whole rather than its individual components. That perspective is central to our success in designing and deploying Data Centers.
The more Network-Critical the application is, the more redundancy, robustness, and security required. Data centers can be classified by Tiers, with Tier 1 being the most basic and inexpensive, and Tier 4 being the most robust and costly. According to definitions from the Uptime Institute and the latest draft of TIA/EIA-942 (Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers), a Tier 1 data center is not required to have redundant power and cooling infrastructures. It needs only a lock for security and can tolerate up to 28.8 hours of downtime per year. In contrast, a Tier 4 data center must have redundant systems for power and cooling, with multiple distribution paths that are active and fault tolerant. Furthermore, access should be controlled with biometric readers and single-person entryways, gaseous fire suppression is required, the cabling infrastructure should have a redundant backbone, and the facility can permit no more than 0.4 hours of downtime per year.
Tier 1 or 2 is usually sufficient for enterprise data centers that primarily serve users within a corporation. Financial data centers are typically Tier 3 or 4 because they are critical to our economic stability and, therefore, must meet higher standards set by our government. Public data centers that provide disaster recovery / backup services are also built to higher standards.
A data center is as unique as the company it supports. Therefore, there is no such thing as a template or typical electrical and communications infrastructure. Each solution should be customized to reflect client-specific needs.
"Custom," however, doesn't mean inflated cost. Our experienced Project Managers work with the client and construction manager to discover creative solutions and alternatives to what appears on blueprints. Collaboration and shared experience ensures a custom designed end product and most often results in savings from the original budget.
Feyen Zylstra Project Managers are trained to ask the right questions at the right time, providing a construction process that anticipates problems, presents solutions and delivers a quality product on budget and schedule; a product that will protect your data, and in turn your business.
Feyen Zylstra. The power of knowledge.
