SECURITY


restrict unauthorised entry. Access control starts at the site entry points, controlling gates, barriers and bollards with secure pedestrian access via turnstiles, and ‘mantraps’ to avoid tailgating. Not only does this strengthen physical access but it also enhances safety by providing accurate information for an evacuation roll call. From badge or smart card access to biometric control using iris, vein or facial recognition, the system can be designed and engineered to ensure that only the right people gain access at permitted times to authorised areas of the datacentre.


NEW GENERATION COMMAND AND


CONTROL Command and control platforms that integrate protection devices across datacentres, 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 will 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 so that operators can quickly master each situation, and to mitigate human error, decision-making is more systematic: the need to follow a logical workflow is vital.


For many operations, time is critical, so operators need to have information at their fingertips and a decision management workflow will assign priorities, determine activities and allow them to assign the appropriate actions and resources. This high level of transparency, complete with detailed reporting and audit trails, will provide vital information to senior management to enable a better understanding of their datacentre operations, leading to future improvements and cost efficiencies. The delivery of high level intelligence will enable the detection of a critical event and the management of the situation through to a successful conclusion.


www.tomorrowsfm.com


To mitigate the risk of fire, datacentres require advanced detection, offering the earliest possible warning. Intelligent detectors will evaluate each situation minute by minute and take decisions on complex criteria, eliminating the potential for unwanted alarms due to environmental influences. Detectors must only alarm when there is real risk of fire and offer 100% reliability; ideally they should adapt to reflect environmental changes in room usage.


Aspirating Smoke Detectors (ASDs) are designed to operate in extremely demanding situations, even before smoke is visible. Innovative, dual wavelength technology detects minute smoke particles, determines false fire phenomena and provides an instant fire alert. ASDs actively draw smoke to the detector through boreholes within a piping system that runs throughout the protected area. This offers a significantly higher level


INNOVATIVE FIRE SAFETY


TECHNOLOGY A datacentre should have the highest level of fire safety, due to the presence of a constant ignition source of electricity and a plentiful supply of combustible materials. Fire detection in datacentres can be challenging for traditional smoke detection systems. Fires typically start slowly before erupting into flame; detecting smoke early is essential to avoid this. However, the high level of ventilation necessary to prevent equipment overheating also disperses smoke, making it more difficult to detect and enhancing the risk of fast fire distribution.


of protection, as standard systems can only respond if smoke can actually reach the detection element, which can be too late in critical or challenging environments.


For high risk environments where water damage to assets and materials can outweigh that of an uncontrolled fire, inert gas and chemical extinguishing systems deliver reliable protection. Clean extinguishing technologies safeguard valuable equipment in data/computing, electrical and telecommunications rooms. Inert gases displace air during the discharge; this reduces the oxygen ratio of the protected area to extinguish the fire without endangering life. Chemical agents are also life safe but without depleting oxygen.


A further consideration is the adoption of specialist ‘silent’ extinguishing to ensure the protection of vulnerable hard disk drives. This reduces ‘noise’ during extinguishing to about 1/100th that of conventional systems and shifts the sound frequency away from the crucial spectrum to which HDD devices are sensitive, without affecting the efficient distribution of the extinguishing agent.


IN CONCLUSION The rapid growth in social


networking, internet usage, electronic banking, paperless storage and modern IT services such as virtualisation and cloud computing means the UK’s dependence on safe, resilient and energy-efficient datacentres is paramount to the efficient operation of corporations and infrastructure. By adopting a proactive and preventative security and life safety culture, utilising fully integrated command and control management solutions that protect all operational processes, FMs can ensure the integrity of data, buildings and assets, whilst maintaining maximum uptime and business continuity. The central management of all security and safety devices will improve operational performance, increase visibility, improve response times and reduce costs.


www.siemens.com/ buildingtechnologies


TOMORROW’S FM | 41


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