Data center

A data center is a physical room, building, or facility for storing, managing, and disseminating data and information, including computer systems and associated components, housing IT infrastructure, and training artificial intelligence. The United States' act of Congress, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, defines a data center as "any facility that primarily contains electronic equipment used to process, store, and transmit digital information." This includes "a free-standing structure" or "a facility within a larger structure, that uses environmental control equipment to maintain the proper conditions for the operation of electronic equipment." According to IBM, data centers date back to the 1940s, with the U.S. military's Electrical Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) as an early example. Data centers have different models depending on their workloads. An enterprise (on-premises) model hosts IT infrastructure and data on-premises, while cloud data centers, including hyperscale data centers, house IT infrastructure resources through an internet connection used by cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. They frequently contain thousands of servers and many miles of high-speed data connection equipment, with the largest occupying up to .…

A data center is a physical room, building, or facility for storing, managing, and disseminating data and information, including computer systems and associated components, housing IT infrastructure, and training artificial intelligence. The United States' act of Congress, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, defines a data center as "any facility that primarily contains electronic equipment used to process, store, and transmit digital information." This includes "a free-standing structure" or "a facility within a larger structure, that uses environmental control equipment to maintain the proper conditions for the operation of electronic equipment." According to IBM, data centers date back to the 1940s, with the U.S. military's Electrical Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) as an early example. Data centers have different models depending on their workloads. An enterprise (on-premises) model hosts IT infrastructure and data on-premises, while cloud data centers, including hyperscale data centers, house IT infrastructure resources through an internet connection used by cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. They frequently contain thousands of servers and many miles of high-speed data connection equipment, with the largest occupying up to . Managed service data centers have third-party managers hired on behalf of a company, which leases the equipment and infrastructure instead of buying it. Colocation data centers allow companies to rent space in an off-site data center owned by others, with the colocation data center hosting the infrastructure while the company provides and manages the components. Edge data centers are smaller, decentralized facilities located closer to end users and devices. In the 2024 U.S. Data Center Energy Usage Report, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that hyperscale and colocation centers contained 74% of computer servers in 2023. Large data centers require significant energy to operate, with the largest consuming over 3,000 MW, raising concerns about energy use. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that electricity consumption from these data centers amounted to around 415 terawatt hours (TWh), about 1.5% of global electricity consumption in 2024, with a growth rate of 12% per year over the previous five years. The IEA projects that this amount could double to reach around 945 TWh by 2030, growing by around 15% per year. In the U.S. alone, which has almost nine times more data centers than any other country, power consumption by data centers is projected to account for "almost half of the growth in electricity demand between now and 2030." This includes increased electricity costs. Concerns over environmental impacts, energy and water use, and other costs have led to opposition to new data centers during the AI boom. These movements have occurred in parts of Europe, the U.S., and South America. Data Center Watch's first report covered a period from May 2024 to March 2025, during which it found that "local opposition had blocked or delayed a total of $64 billion in data center projects (six projects were blocked entirely, while 10 were delayed)." Data centers also represent a significant driver of economic activity and technological capacity. In the United States, the industry contributed an estimated $486 billion to GDP and supported 4.2 million total jobs in 2021, with each direct position generating more than six additional jobs elsewhere in the economy, according to a PwC economic impact analysis. Independent academic research has further found measurable employment and wage effects in local labor markets where large facilities are built. At the same time, the rapid expansion of data centers has raised concerns about resource consumption, including increased electricity costs, and has prompted opposition to new projects in parts of Europe, the United States, and South America . ===Industry standards=== The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)'s Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers specifies the minimum requirements for telecommunications infrastructure of data centers and computer rooms, including single tenant enterprise data centers and multi-tenant Internet hosting data centers. The topology proposed in this document is intended to be applicable to any size data center. Telcordia GR-3160, NEBS Requirements for Telecommunications Data Center Equipment and Spaces, provides guidelines for data center spaces within telecommunications networks, and environmental requirements for the equipment intended for installation in those spaces. These criteria were developed jointly by Telcordia and industry representatives. They may be applied to data center spaces housing data processing or IT equipment. The equipment may be used to: Operate and manage a carrier's telecommunication network Translate raw consumption data into usage metrics that integrate directly with utility billing and customer service platforms Continuously monitor data streams to alert utilities of irregular spikes, line leaks, or power outages. Provide data center-based applications directly to the carrier's customers Provide hosted applications for a third party to provide services to their customers Provide a combination of these and similar data center applications ===Reliability of electrical power supply=== Power supplies, either back up or continuous onsite power, consist of one or more uninterruptible power supplies, battery banks, diesel, gas turbine, and/or gas engine generating sets. Greater primary fuel energy efficiency can be achieved with the use of cogeneration technology, generating electricity, heating, and cooling onsite. To prevent single points of failure, all elements of the electrical systems, including backup systems, are typically given redundant copies, and critical servers are connected to both the A-side and B-side power feeds. This arrangement is often made to achieve N+1 redundancy in the systems. Static transfer switches are sometimes used to ensure instantaneous switchover from one supply to the other in the event of a power failure. ===Fire protection=== fire suppression tanks Data centers feature fire protection systems, including passive and active design elements, as well as implementation of fire prevention programs in operations. Smoke detectors are usually installed to provide early warning of a fire. Although the main room usually does not allow a wet pipe sprinkler system due to the fragile nature of printed circuit boards, some systems can be used in the rest of the facility or in cold/hot aisle air circulation systems that are closed systems. These include fire sprinkler systems and misting, the latter of which uses high pressure to create extremely small water droplets and can be used in sensitive rooms because of their size. However, there are other means to put out fires, especially in sensitive areas, usually using gaseous fire suppression, of which Halon gas was the most popular until the negative effects of producing and using it were discovered. ===Lights out=== The "lights-out" data center, also known as a darkened or dark data center, is a data center that has largely eliminated the need for direct access by personnel, except under extraordinary circumstances. Because staff do not need to enter the data center, it can be operated without lighting. All of the devices are accessed and managed by remote systems, with automation programs used to perform unattended operations. In addition to energy savings, reduced staffing costs, and the ability to locate the site farther from population centers, implementing a lights-out data center also reduces the threat of malicious attacks on the infrastructure. ===Network infrastructure=== Communications in modern data centers are most often based on networks running the Internet protocol suite. Data centers contain a set of routers and switches that transport traffic between the servers and to the outside world, which are connected according to the data center network architecture. Redundancy of the internet connection is often provided by using two or more upstream service providers ( ). Some of the servers at a data center are used for running the basic internet and intranet services needed by internal users in the organization (e.g., e-mail servers, proxy servers, and DNS servers). Network security elements are also usually deployed: firewalls, VPN gateways, intrusion detection systems, and so on. Also common are monitoring systems for the network and for some applications. Additional off-site monitoring systems are also typical in case of a communications failure inside the data center. Chia, Liu Ee and Cornaggia, Jess and Haushalter, David and Wang, Qiang, Capital without Labor: Data Centers and the Local Economy (August 31, 2026).

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