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November 6, 2009
• Vol.31 Issue 27
Page(s) 42 in print issue
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Building Up A Data Center
How To Spot The Right Builder For Your SME
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| Key Points
• Find a builder who’s familiar with all the aspects of a data center, including physical security and ongoing maintenance issues.
• To keep a budget in line, have numerous discussions with a builder during the construction process about unforeseen costs and potential tweaks.
• Establish a long-term relationship with the builder, who will be familiar with the center in case any renovations are needed in the future. | | When an enterprise is embarking on a data center build or renovation, one of the most vital components is having the right builder. Even if a construction firm specializes in warehouse and office environments, it doesn’t mean they’ll be equipped for the demands of a data center, particularly when it comes to equipment placement, power, and cooling. Here are some factors to look for when making sure a builder is up for the task.
 Experience Counts
Data center builders need to have a breadth of experience in a wide variety of areas, including physical security, environmental controls, power needs, connectivity, and failover equipment, among other issues, notes Steve Kolbe, president and CEO of managed consulting firm Analysys.
Even if a builder doesn’t have all of this expertise on staff, it should be able to bring in consultants that can be part of the design and build team. A builder who’s done a fair number of build-outs tends to have numerous contacts in relevant areas, such as electrical engineering, data center design, and HVAC design.
What They Know
In addition to having a firm grasp on the physical considerations of the space, data center builders should be aware of IT issues, such as energy reduction and management solutions, power distribution tactics, and virtualization. These builders should also realize they’re not creating a chilly warehouse space for servers but instead designing and building a facility that must have energy-efficient components.
Also important is builder awareness of local real estate. Sometimes, a company will find a parcel of land that seems appropriate and bring in a builder after it’s purchased, but the process should actually be flipped, because a builder may have insight on issues such as operational costs and availability of affordable power. A local firm may have even built other centers in the area and give thoughts about how those facilities could interfere—in terms of power consumption or resource usage—with a proposed data center.
Builders need an understanding of scalability, as well, notes Chris Crosby, senior vice president of corporate development at Digital Realty Trust (www.digitalrealtytrust.com), a developer and operator of data centers. Although many construction projects address how much power a company needs currently, an IT build should anticipate growth, but not too much. Building a center that’s still half-empty in 10 years can lead to waste, Crosby notes.
Finally, a builder should know about government regulations, especially in the area of green computing. There are scores of regulatory concerns, from local ordinances to federal mandates, and a builder with expertise will be able to articulate the effects of these directives and how they might change the construction plan.
Cost Containment
Every construction project has the potential for cost overruns, so budgets and line items need to be carefully controlled. However, an experienced builder should be able to work with an IT department to examine which costs are necessary and which are expendable. With a builder that’s worked on other data centers, the knowledge of seeing how all the components fit together and what kind of spending is required to maintain that balance should be in place.
“Investment in IT infrastructure and data center build-outs are crucial for the ongoing nature of an SME,” says Kolbe. “Not everything needs to be redundant, but it must work and be rated for the level of usage and load that your business is planning to have. This includes electrical, cooling, and bandwidth through-put considerations.”
Ongoing Engagement
Like a consultant, a builder shouldn’t just be involved with the SME for only a short period of time and then be on its way to the next project. Instead, establish an ongoing relationship with whoever you choose to complete your project, because you might need minor construction tweaks in the future to keep the data center’s efficiency at a high level.
In terms of where to find builders in the first place, it’s similar to getting truly crackerjack consultants: Ask around. Talking to other data center managers, especially those who’ve been through the building or renovation process recently, can be very helpful in finding builders who know about data center issues and are willing to maintain a relationship after the building is done. Even online bulletin boards such as Data Center Talk (www.datacenterforum.com) can yield referrals and suggestions, and the DCT forum in particular has a thread just about building systems and operations.
It may take more time to find a builder who’s familiar with data centers—and such a specialty could cost more, as well— but hiring an expert builder experienced in all the nuances of a center, including fire protection and maintenance, is well worth the effort. 
by Elizabeth Millard
Double-Check Whether A Build Is Necessary
Even with a qualified builder in place, do one last double-check before committing to a build or renovation to make sure it’s the best strategy, notes Analysys President and CEO Steve Kolbe. This type of question should come up first in a building plan, but it should also be revisited during the proces.
Organizations might want to consider a hosted data center solution rather than paying the costs involved with new construction or remodeling, says Kolbe. That decision will come down to whether an SME has room for growth, the expertise to manage their own data center onsite, and the necessary infrastructure.
“A data center must be kept secure to prevent intrusion, have a clean environment controlled with redundant HVAC units for cooling, be constructed to withstand some level of disaster prevention, and be powered sufficiently on isolated circuits,” he says. If an IT manager or CIO doesn’t feel comfortable with putting all those components in place—and a builder balks at that level of complexity—it might be time to do more planning before construction starts. |
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