WP#71 - Open Standard For Datacenter Availability

21 December, 2016 | White Paper

Editors: Lex Coors, Interxion Rob Bunger, Schneider Electric Contributors: Rona Newmark, Individual Member Lance Rütimann, Siemens Roger Tipley, Schneider Electric Bob Landstrom, Interxion

The Open Standard for Datacenter Availability (OSDA) is an availability classification and rating system that is intended to promote innovation in energy efficiency and sustainable designs of data centers.  It is applicable to new sites undergoing design or existing facilities in operation.   It is inclusive, non-proprietary, flexible and supported by the community as a means of fostering industry collaboration.  This “Open Standard” will provide the opportunity to react to rapidly changing technologies in the data center industry.

OSDA is an “Open Standard” in that it is non-proprietary and accepts ongoing contribution through The Green Grid members and will serve as a voluntary guidance framework for the industry.  The intended application is data centers, and it addresses availability[1] as the metric of measurement of the resilience and fitness for the intended purpose.    This paper is the first of a set of documentation for the OSDA framework.  It describes the background, impetus and approach for OSDA.  Subsequent work will concentrate on components comprising the overall OSDA framework.

 

[1] Use of the term “availability” is used throughout this document as a general term to describe the strength & robustness of a data center design.  The Green Grid understands that reliability and availability must be understood from a technical perspective and both will be taken into account during OSDA development.