DCPI - Data Center Physical Infrastructure

Data center physical infrastructure (DCPI) is the foundation upon which Information Technology (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.

We provide critical DCPI elements and their integration into a seamless end-to-end system supported by management systems and services. Viewing DCPI as a whole rather than as individual components is essential to designing and deploying an integrated, understandable system that performs as expected.

01. Business Value

Business value for an organization, in general terms, is based on three core objectives:

Regardless of the line of business, these three objectives ultimately lead to improved earnings and cash flow. DCPI investments are made because they both directly and indirectly impact these three business objectives.

DCPI includes power, cooling, racks & physical structure, security & fire protection, cabling, and the management and servicing of these elements. DCPI is the foundation of reliability of IT operations for a business. As the foundation, it must be dependable, and ideally, “out of sight, out of mind

02. Racks and physical infrastructures

There are many systems that could be considered part of the physical structure of a data center. The most critical elements are the IT racks which house the IT equipment and physical room elements such as dropped ceilings and floors (both raised floors and concrete “slab” floors).

03. Power

There are many elements that make up a solid power infrastructure, including all systems from the electrical service entrance of the building to the loads of the data center or network. This is comprised of the main distribution, the generator(s), the UPS systems and batteries, surge protection, transformers, distribution panels, and circuit breakers

04. Cooling

Cooling systems that are required to successfully remove heat from a data center include computer room air conditioners (CRAC), any associated subsystems that allow the CRAC to operate, including chillers, cooling towers, condensers, ductwork, pump packages, piping, and any rack-level distribution devices.

05. Cabling

The cabling infrastructure encompasses all data cables that are part of the data center as well as all of the power cables necessary to ensure power to all of the loads. Cable trays and cable management devices are also critical to support the IT infrastructure as they help to reduce the likelihood of downtime due to human error and overheating.

06. Management

In order to have a reliable DCPI, it is important to have visibility to all of the components of the physical infrastructure. Management includes systems such as Building Management Systems (BMS), Network Management Systems (NMS), Element Managers and other monitoring hardware and software.

07. Security and fire protection

Security systems and fire protection systems are essential to maintaining the integrity, safety, and availability of the data center. Subsystems included here are physical security devices at the room and rack level and fire detection & suppression systems

Biometric devices
Keys
Codes
Cards
Intelligent type smoke detectors
Clean agent fire suppression systems
Linear heat detection

08. Services

We offer a broad range of services that is necessary to support
DCPI systems throughout its life cycle. These services include;