Cabinet Seismic Ratings: Reduce the Risk of Downtime
The International Building Code (IBC) determines that certain facilities – data centers often included – remain operational during and after earthquakes or other seismic events. Based on building type, and how vital a building’s operations are, facilities are placed into four IBC-determined risk categories:
- Risk Category 4: Hospitals, aviation control towers, police/fire stations, facilities containing highly toxic materials
- Risk Category 3: Lecture halls, theaters, power-generations stations, water treatment plants, prisons
- Risk Category 2: buildings that don’t fall into Risk Categories 1, 3 or 4
- Risk Category 1: storage buildings and agricultural facilities
Data centers typically fall into Risk Category 4, meaning that their operation is regarded vital during and after an earthquake. To protect against downtime, it’s pivotal to minimise the potential for equipment damage during seismic events – especially if data centers are not backed up at a secondary location. Some data centers are considered vital to conserving communication exchange (wireless, email, voice, etc.) after a seismic event.
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