Location assessment for data centers

Person in Sicherheitsweste arbeitet an Bauplänen auf einem Tisch mit Bauhelm und Werkzeugen.

Ensuring an optimal starting point for the data center to be planned

The building protects the facilities of a data centre. The location of the building with regard to the surrounding potential hazards and the positioning of the security area within the building play an important role in self-protection.

If these influencing factors are identified at an early stage and avoided or structurally and technically mitigated, potential risks and threats from water, explosion, building collapse and debris, vibrations and hazardous substances can be controlled. Traffic routes with frequent transport of hazardous goods should also be avoided in order to prevent possible direct or indirect effects, such as blocked access roads.

The selection of a suitable location is one of the first steps in the decision to build a secure data centre. The achievable level of security ultimately depends on the location and possibly on the control of company-relevant environmental risks.

Benefits of a location assessment

Ensuring an ideal basis for the planned data centre through careful site evaluation.
Ensuring compliance with TSI.STANDARD, EN 50600 and ISO/IEC 22237
Ensuring that the building effectively protects the data centre facilities, taking into account the location and positioning of the security area.
Identifying and avoiding or structurally and technically mitigating potential hazards such as water, explosions, building collapse, vibrations and hazardous substances.
Avoidance of locations close to traffic routes with frequent transport of hazardous goods in order to avoid direct or indirect effects such as blocked access routes.
The level of safety that can be achieved depends crucially on the location and the control of environmental risks, which makes the selection of a suitable location one of the first steps in building a safe data centre.

Our services

In this context, TÜV NORD offers site assessments to ensure an optimal starting position for the data centre to be planned.

The service consists of

Evaluation of the choice of location based on the documents to be submitted (if possible: map of the surrounding area (2.0 km radius) with details of the planned data centre location, site plan, brief exposé, cable routes, customer risk analysis of the surrounding area, commercial tenant occupancy in the immediate vicinity of the location, etc.).
Inspection of the planned site by a TÜV NORD auditor (max. 1 day, including travelling to and from the site),
Assessment of the basic suitability of the site and compliance with the planned TSI level,
Sensitisation to potential site risks,
List of obvious commercial tenants with risk assessment within a radius of 500 metres
Summary of the results in an assessment report.

Overview of standards

Innenansicht eines modernen Serverraums mit beleuchteten Server-Racks.

TSI.STANDARD

Trusted Site Infrastructure (TSI) is a methodology for testing and certifying the physical security and availability of data centres that has been established since 2001. It has become the benchmark in the data centre industry. It is based on TÜV NORD's own TSI.STANDARD criteria catalogue.

TSI.STANDARD

Blick in einen modernen Serverraum mit mehreren Reihen von Server-Racks und heller Beleuchtung.

EN 50600

The European data centre standard DIN EN 50600 uses a holistic approach to set comprehensive specifications for the planning, construction and operation of data centres.

EN 50600

Person steht in einem großen, beleuchteten Serverraum und blickt auf die Reihen von Servern.

ISO/IEC 22237

As the international equivalent to EN 50600, ISO/IEC 22237 creates the basic prerequisite for ensuring that data centres can be planned, built and operated according to the same principles worldwide.

ISO/IEC 22237

Frequently asked questions

FAQ on workshops for data centres

The assessment is based on public sources, the on-site inspection by an expert using the criteria for the data centre environment in accordance with TSI.STANDARD, EN 50600 or ISO/IEC 22237. In the criteria catalogues, this is essentially covered by the "ENV" section.

The environment can contribute significantly to the risk to the data centre infrastructure. Risks such as nearby industrial plants, flood zones, earthquake zones or traffic routes with hazardous goods transport must be identified and assessed. A suitable location makes a decisive contribution to operational safety and resilience.

While internal assessments often only take known risks into account, TÜV NORD's site assessment is based on structured criteria, neutral sources and empirical knowledge from numerous projects. This means that even less obvious threats or systemic weaknesses are recognised at an early stage.

Even with a fixed location, many risks can be minimised through targeted structural and technical measures - for example through shielding, structural separation of sensitive systems or emergency concepts.

In addition to physical impacts such as shocks, water or explosions, indirect threats must also be taken into account, for example from neighbouring infrastructure with a potential impact on power or grid availability. Accessibility for emergency services also plays a role in resilience.