Server room certification according to DIN EN 50600 – Future-proof for your data center
Mario Lukas, responsible for sales of the Data Center Portfolio at TÜV Informationstechnik GmbH, spoke with our colleague Irene about the testing and certification of high-availability data centers based on the TSI. STANDARDS.
TÜV Informationstechnik GmbH, a subsidiary of the TÜV NORD GROUP, is the number one in terms of quality and IT security. In the following interview, you can read why certification according to the DIN EN 50600 data center standard is worthwhile for data center operators and what you should pay attention to.
Can you please introduce yourself for our readers at the beginning?
Mario Lukas: Sure! My name is Mario Lukas and I am responsible for the sales of our data center portfolio. Our services are basically monitoring, testing and quality assurance in nature. We have been offering testing and certification of physically secure and highly available data centers based on our TSI for over 17 years. STANDARDS. In German-speaking countries, this is established as a de facto standard and dominates the data center market. TSI. Since 2016, STANDARD (Trusted Site Infrastructure) has also verifiably covered the requirements of EN 50600 and thus also makes this standard certifiable. In principle, TÜVIT is a special IT unit when it comes to IT security. The topic of data centers is a special area. Other topics are e.g. information security management, cyber security and also data protection.
What is special about the DIN EN 50600 data center standard?
Mario Lukas: EN 50600 is the first Europe-wide cross-border standard that uses a holistic approach to provide comprehensive specifications for the planning, construction and operation of a data center. It defines requirements for the planning of the trades of building construction, electrical supply, air conditioning, cabling, security systems and specifies criteria for the operation of data centers. The EN50600 created by the European standardization society CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) offers various degrees of freedom and sees itself as a modular system up to a certain point. First and foremost, the EN50600 is a standard that is applied to new data center constructions. It defines the need for expert opinions and analyses in the run-up to the planning and construction work.
However, the standard itself does not contain any detailed test requirements. It is the responsibility of the testing institutions to supplement these. For example, TÜViT has developed the two test catalogues TSI. EN50600 and TSI. STANDARD to give users the greatest possible security in the testing process.
While the ISO management standards, e.g. B. ISO/IEC 27001, focus on the organizational and procedural level, the requirements of DIN EN 50600 focus on physical security. The Europe-wide standard is something special among a large number of guidelines and best practices in that the results were created in a Europe-wide standardization and coordination process.
Certification Server Room – Availability and Protection Classes
The availability classes of EN 50600 are applied to energy supply, cooling supply and cabling . The classes differ according to EN 50600-1 such as:
Availability class 1: Low availability.
Design without redundancies on the basis of a supply path
Availability class 2: Medium availability.
Design with partial redundancies based on a supply path
Availability class 3: High availability.
Design with redundant components based on two supply paths (but only one cooling supply path)
Availability class 4: Very high availability.
Design with system redundancies based on two supply paths (but only one cooling supply path)
The protection classes describe the characteristics of rooms with regard to
- Physical access protection
- Fire protection
- Defense against dangers from within and
- Defense against external threats.
What aspects are taken into account – security, construction issues, availability, GREEN IT?
Mario Lukas: EN 50600 provides comprehensive specifications with regard to the planning, construction and operation of data centres and defines requirements for trades such as building construction, electrical supply, air conditioning, cabling and security systems.
The standard is divided into four sections:
- Part 1: General Concept
- Part 2: Physical aspects from structural issues of the building to energy, cabling and safety aspects
- Part 3: Management
- Part 4: Efficiency aspects such as KPIs, energy consumption and renewable energies.DIN EN 50600 has been published step by step since 2012 and represents a series of standards with the following individual standards:
- EN 50600-1: General aspects for construction and specification
- EN 50600-2-1: Building construction
- EN 50600-2-2: Power supply
- EN 50600-2-3: Control of ambient conditions
- EN 50600-2-4: Telecommunications Cabling Infrastructure
- EN 50600-2-5: Safety systems
- EN 50600-3-1: Information for management and operation
- EN 50600-4-1: Overview/general requirements for key performance indicators
- EN 50600-4-2: Energy Consumption Indicator
- EN 50600-4-3: Share of renewable energies
With certification in accordance with EN 50600, operators can compete with the EN 50600 standard. Prove to third parties that their data center corresponds to the state of the art, has a certain availability and is physically secure. With a certification, you create trust vis-à-vis Supervisory institutions and insurance companies. Operators minimize risk and downtime by identifying vulnerabilities. You get security when it comes to planning a new data center.
What are the advantages of the EN 50600 data center standard?
Mario Lukas:
- With the help of DIN EN 50600 , data center operators have a transnational and comprehensive standard for the first time.
- It enables data center operators to plan, operate and expand their data centers in a future-proof manner according to the current state of the art.
- You will receive security when awarding the planning contract for new data centers, especially if certification becomes part of the tendering process.
- Internally, the quality of the company’s own project management is ensured and improved
What is important for EN 50600 certification for data centers?
Mario Lukas: In addition to fixed specifications, EN 50600 defines a. also requirements in the context of local conditions and in the context of business risk assessments. This means that the characteristics and scope of action of individual criteria depend on the risk analysis of the data center operator/user. It thus becomes part of the examination.
In principle, EN 50600 is not (yet) mandatory by law.
Rather, it is a guideline and provides operators as well as
Manufacturers of EDGE-DC are free to use this as a guide.
Often, however, it is now a customer requirement and thus
Advisable.
How is the energy efficiency of the data center specifically measured in this standard?
Mario Lukas: The standard only specifies the scope of measurement in order to contribute to enabling energy-efficient operation. Three levels of granularity for the energy supply and the ventilation and air-conditioning systems define the measurement qualities and scope.
What type of UPS does EN 50600 apply to? What role does availability play in this?
Mario Lukas: The standard does not commit itself to one type of system. Depending on the availability class, it specifies the redundancy concepts. This is the case for the availability classes VK III and VK IV, e.g. B. as follows:
- VK III: At least one of the supply pathways is supported by a UPS. If one supply path is without UPS, the UPS in the other supply path is designed component-redundantly (n+1).
- VK IV: There are redundant supply paths, each with its own UPS (2n). The redundant UPS systems are physically separated and located in separate fire compartments.
- In addition, the UPS systems must take into account the expected power factors and have sufficient power reserves.
What about edge data center? Does EN 50600 also apply here?
Mario Lukas: In principle, EN 50600 is not (yet) mandatory by law. Rather, it is a guideline and operators as well as manufacturers of EDGE-DC are free to use it as a guideline. Often, however, it is now a customer requirement and therefore advisable.
EN 50600 certified – what now?
Mario Lukas: As with other certifications, this one must also be “lived”. More than 90% of the data centers certified by TÜViT are regularly recertified every two years in order to continue to provide proof that they correspond to the state of the art.
What other tips do you have for our readers?
Mario Lukas: If certification according to EN 50600 is sought, then the certification institution should be involved at an early stage. When choosing a certifier, it is important to ensure that he or she has sufficient experience and expertise in the respective fields, that processes in accordance with ISO 17065 are complied with and that a well-founded, transparent audit basis is available.
In the end, it’s less about having a certificate hanging on the wall and more about ensuring secure data center operation. And this requires specialists who are able to evaluate the complex technical systems in order to, if necessary, also identify vulnerabilities that could lead to availability restrictions.
Thank you very much for the detailed interview.
