Design Validation is crucial in aligning data center designs with strategic business objectives and high-performance standards. This essential process serves two primary purposes: it ensures the design meets its intended goals, effectively supporting the operational demands of modern enterprises; and it is a key step in the Facility Certification process, measuring the data center against industry benchmarks for quality and best practices. The importance of Design Validation goes beyond meeting basic requirements; it is about proactively crafting a data center that is resilient, scalable, and efficient. Through this detailed evaluation, data centers not only prove their ability to support current operations but also their readiness to adapt to future demands and technological advancements. This approach elevates the data center beyond a mere operational facility to a strategic asset, enhancing its attractiveness in the marketplace. Design Validation, therefore, is more than a procedural step; it's a strategic investment in the data center's future, ensuring it remains a critical component of growth and innovation in an ever-evolving business landscape.
Design Validation at Design Stage
Conducting a "Peer Review" or Design Validation at the design stage is a critical quality assurance measure that ensures alignment with design intent. This process, ideally carried out by an independent examiner who could also act as the commissioning agent (CxA) for the completed facility, scrutinizes the design objectives, uncovering any potential challenges, constraints, or impacts that could affect long-term operations or defeat design objectives. This proactive approach enables design teams and stakeholders to rectify issues during the design phase, ensuring that the project meets its goals and specifications. Design Validation serves as a crucial quality control checkpoint within the design process, safeguarding the project's integrity and operational success. 
Design Validation as part of Facility Certification
When Design Validation is incorporated into the Facility Certification process, it functions to pinpoint potential issues that could hinder the achievement of the desired certification rating. This critical step allows data center owners and stakeholders to address and resolve any obstacles to obtaining as-built certification. Additionally, it can assist in determining the appropriate certification rating to pursue.
TIA-942 Standard defines four Ratings
Rated-1 – Basic Components (No redundancy, single pathway)
Rated-2 – Redundant Capacity Components (Redundancy of the critical components needed to keep the data center running, also single pathway)
Rated-3 – Concurrent Maintainability (Redundancy of critical components, and redundancy of pathways, where one may be active and the other on stand-by)
Rated-4 – Fault Tolerant (Redundant components, redundant pathways, both (or more) active – able to sustain loss of any one component or pathway, without loss of the IT Load)
For all of our certification processes, we utilize the global standard ISO 19011 practice for auditing of management systems. Our team of highly qualified auditors and engineers, ensure that you have a clear picture of the capability, reliability and operability expected from your data center, or data center provider.
To read more about Facility Certification, click here:
TIA-942 Facility Certification
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