FAQs - Data Centre Audit
Data centre audit and consultancy service related questions for server rooms and datacentre environments.
There are several organisations that offer data centre related courses as well as industry organisations. To join our consultancy team an auditor must have spent at least 10 years in the data centre industry and have a good track record. We also look for data centre experts with one or more of the following qualifications:Chartered IT Professional (CITP), member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI), member of the Chartered Institute for IT (MBCS), Certified Data Centre Design Professional (CDCDP) and Certified Data Centre Energy Practitioner (CDCEP) and/or a Master’s in Information System Management (MISM).
Our data centre auditors are experienced the principal data centre standards including those from the Uptime Institute, ANSI/BICSI, TIA 942 and EU Codes of Conduct. When we carry out a data centre audit it can be configured to suit the applicable standard(s) and organisation.
A data centre should be audited at least once a year by an experienced auditor who can cover a range of systems and aspects within the facility including critical power, cooling, energy efficiency, data processing and storage. An annual review is important to ensure operating procedures are in line with objectives and best practice. If there is a data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) platform in place this can support the audit process with operational information and identify areas for the audit to concentrate on.
A server room is a defined area within a building that is designated with the specific purpose of housing several servers and IT networking devices in server racks or cabinets. The room provides a secure and managed environment in terms of cooling and critical power to ensure that the IT services are resilient even during a power outage.
In some organisations, smaller facilities are referred to as computer rooms, network rooms or comms rooms. In larger facilities, the term ‘datacentre’ may also be used. A datacentre is a complete building dedicated to the provision of a managed and secure environment for IT servers. A datacentre can be an enterprise type or a colocation (colo) type. Colocation datacentres provide managed facilities to organisations who want to host their IT facilities off-site. Enterprise datacentres provide IT facilities to their owners.