RiskUKOctober2017

Data Centres: Security and Fire Safety
The Data Centre sector is one of the world’s
fastest-growing industries, with the huge
increase in Internet usage being one of the
key drivers. In the past decade, the number of
users worldwide has increased from 300 million
to over two billion. That represents a
phenomenal growth rate of more than 400%.
Data Centre downtime can mean losing
thousands of pounds per minute. Even an
interruption of one hundredth of a second can
disrupt the entire IT operation of a Data Centre.
Any temporary stoppage of data flow or a
failure in a single element of the facility’s
infrastructure can realise downtime, resulting in
potentially serious consequences for an
organisation’s daily operations and reputation.
Advanced protection systems will encompass
Command and Control solutions, secure
process management, wide-area surveillance,
perimeter and site intrusion protection, access
control for staff, contractors and vehicles, alarm
management, fire detection and extinguishing
solutions, phased evacuation systems, lone
worker monitoring and asset tracking.
By automating routine security and fire safety
tasks, organisations can concentrate on their
core business activities while at the same time
protecting facilities with high performance risk
management systems based on the very latest
safety and security technologies.
High-level security
Threats to Data Centres come in many forms,
from the intruder trying to gain physical access
to the facility and, ultimately, the servers
through to cyber attacks and hackers trying to
access the network as well as stored data.
A whole lifecycle approach to system design
should be at the heart of a proposed
technological solution to deliver maximum
safety, resilience, longevity and reliability. To
facilitate this, single points of system failure
should be designed-out wherever feasible and
worse case parameters used in engineering
calculations to minimise the risk of either
system degradation or failure.
Furthermore, the solution should be
configured to ensure the delivery of efficiencies
in maintenance and running costs.
Due to the sensitive and 24/7 nature of Data
Centres, rigorous identity and access control for
the various zones within is of primary
importance. Ensuring that only the right people
gain access at all times can be achieved by
employing badge or smart card access control
or biometric access using iris, vein or facial
recognition. Optimal security may be ensured
with an intrusion detection system to secure
fences, walls, windows and doors and even
Data Centres: Coping with
‘Information Overload’
The continued growth of social networking, electronic
banking and paperless storage, together with modern IT
services such as virtualisation and cloud computing, have
made businesses heavily dependent on Data Centres. Using a
real world example, Chris Edwards evaluates protection
measures designed to ensure Data Centres are safe, secure,
resilient and sustainable
detect flooding. All areas may be secured using
HD IP cameras to provide the highest image
quality of both live and recorded incidents.
Command and Control platforms that
integrate protection devices across Data
Centres, including multiple sites, will manage
critical situations and enhance procedures by
delivering improved intelligence, information,
advanced reporting and greater operator
effectiveness. Furthermore, these new
generation software solutions incorporate
legacy equipment and adapt to specific
corporate security and safety policies.
Command and Control enables the
synchronisation of inputs from multiple security
and safety devices such that operators can
quickly master each situation. Decision-making
is more systematic, while the need to follow a
logical workflow is vital.
Full integration
Adopting a proactive and preventative security
approach using fully-integrated security
management solutions will protect all
Chris Edwards: Account
Development Manager at
Siemens Building Technologies
27
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