These days good data center DESIGN includes attention, as a corporate priority, to efficiency of space, critical support systems and IT equipment as well as the monitoring and data collection of the operations. Then together with consideration of design best practices, traditionally including provisioning a scalable and secure facility envelope (e.g. raised floor area, support areas, clear height, floor load and secure access),a floor plan configuration with proper room adjacencies, hot and cold aisle layout preferably with aisle containment and ducted returns for higher density environments, raised floor, without obstructions below, to achieve optimum air-flow and maximum delivery of cool air from the plenum to the inlet destination as well as well segregated overhead distribution of power and cabling. The enterprise class or corporate data center(s) enjoys high visibility within the organization for reasons including the delivery of and reliance upon corporate information services including at-risk applications, ecommerce platforms, storage, networking as well as the associated annual IT spend. Good DESIGN will directly assist the corporation to maximize its return on investment in the data center and to realize efficiencies in its use.

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