ATLANTA - An overview of the design needs for data centers and telecommunication facilities is available in a new publication from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

"The datacom industry is faced with tough technical challenges such as high density cooling and the lack of vendor neutral material," said Don Beaty, chair of ASHRAE's technical committee on mission control facilities, technology spaces, and electronic equipment, which wrote the book.

Design Considerations for Datacom Equipment Centers provides an overview of the design needs, such as heat loads, of datacom facilities. The book is divided into two parts. Datacom Facility Basics includes chapters on datacom design criteria, HVAC load, computer room cooling, including both air and liquid cooling, and air distribution. Other Considerations includes chapters on ancillary spaces, contamination, acoustical noise emissions, structural and seismic design and testing, fire detection and suppression, commissioning, availability and redundancy, and energy efficiency.

The book is part of the ASHRAE Datacom Series, developed to provide a more comprehensive treatment of datacom cooling and related subjects. Other books in the series are ASHRAE's Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments and Datacom Equipment Power Trends and Cooling Applications.

The cost of Design Considerations for Datacom Equipment Centers is $54 (ASHRAE members, $43).

To order this or any of the books in the series, contact ASHRAE Customer Service at 800-527-4723 (United States and Canada) or 404-636-8400 (worldwide), fax 404-321-5478, by mail at 1791 Tullie Circle NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, or visit the online bookstore at www.ashrae.org.

Publication date: 01/16/2006