Re: Building a NOC

[Nathan Stratton <nathan () robotics net>]

On Sun, 22 Mar 1998, Howard C. Berkowitz wrote:

> Yes.  And your consultant must know local practices as well.  If you are
> building a facility in Fairfax County, Virginia (a major technology suburb
> of Washington DC), avoid, in your plans or anything the building inspector
> may see, the term "computer room."  "Communications room," "network room,"
> etc., all prevent the problem: if they see "computer room," they will
> demand a mainframe-style central emergency power off control, which greatly
> increases electrical wiring cost.

What? That should not increase the cost at all, and is required in most
areas. All you need to do is get a shunt trip breaker and you are all set.
I was able to build my colo in Atlanta with the shunt trip off the main
600 Amp 3 Phase panel. In doing this the USP still protected the load, but
V/AC and lighting was shutoff. I think I spent $100 more for the shunt
trip. The breaker is what cost us the big bucks, but not as much as the
800 Amp 3 Phase breaker on the UPS output.

> I haven't looked at this recently, but another Fairfax County practice was
> if you used halon, regardless if the room was also sprinklered, you had to
> do a live test with halon before the inspector would approve it.  The

Ya, and you had to hold the test for a specified time without any
air/halon leaking out. If you are building a new POP, HALON in ANY city is
not legal any more. The bad news is there are still a few major areas that
have not approved the HALON substitute. So you end up with a pre-action
water system with high temp heads. 

--
Nathan Stratton                         Telecom & ISP Consulting
www.robotics.net                        nathan () robotics net