nanog mailing list archives

Re: Arlington and Fort Worth, Texas


From: "Henry R. Linneweh" <linneweh () concentric net>
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 15:55:52 -0800


one of the problems with higher is that people trapped below would
be subject to immersion in liquid acid from the run down and people
above from the burning fumes, not a good choice. Option 3
for large network carriers, large data centers that are in non flood plains
or high storm zones.

"Rowland, Alan D" wrote:

Umm...

Just my 2ยข, but I would think the higher, the better for the very reasons
you state.  The higher up the battery room, the less staff have to funnel
through this "danger zone" to evacuate the building.  Also, in most fires,
fumes tend to rise. So again, the higher the battery room, the less floors
are above this danger zone.

Of course the best solution (but not practical in most real worlds) would be
to have the battery room isolated in a halon equipped bunker. "Pick your
risks and mitigate those within commercial reason."

YMMV

End of non-operational content.

Al Rowland


-----Original Message-----
From: Henry R. Linneweh [mailto:linneweh () concentric net]
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 2:02 PM
To: Sean Donelan
Cc: nanog () merit edu; ssprunk () cisco com
Subject: Re: Arlington and Fort Worth, Texas

This is disturbing, I think that people, environment and property are
the crux of importance in the order stated.

Above the 3rd floor is a risk to human life and therefore
unacceptable, being A First Responder Operational (FRO)
I can clearly see this as a serious risk, technical details of
burning acid fumes omitted.

Sean Donelan wrote:

On Thu, 30 March 2000, "Stephen Sprunk" wrote:
Maybe this is a facet of natural disasters rarely afflicting downtown
areas
around here...

Maybe an occasional cattle stampede through downtown Dallas ...

I've noticed that every telco colo facility I've been in around downtown
Dallas has the same design...  All are in high-rise facilities, on the
10th-30th floors.  All have the battery and A/C rooms around the
elevator
shafts at the center of the floor plan, surrounded by all the equipment
racks/cages around the outside facing the windows.

Gravity is a tough law to break.  Batteries and mechanical equipment are
heavy, and must go where the floor is strongest. Which tends to be the
core of the building.  As always consult a licensed structural engineer.

Protecting against an airplane crashing into the side of the building is
hard (although the Empire State building survived).  Pick your risks and
mitigate those within commercial reason.  Lloyds of London exists for the
rest.  Sometimes the best commercial solution is putting your equipment
around the outside.  You loose one rack of routers to wayward tree, a few
customers are down.  Loose your electrical plant, and everyone is S.O.L.
Triage is never a pleasant experience.

Another note about battery rooms in high-rise buildings.  There is/was a
proposal before the NFPA to prohibit battery rooms above the third floor
in high-rise structures after the L.A. CO fire.  I haven't been keeping
close watch on it, but Bellcore/Telcordia was fighting it tooth&nail.

--
Thank you;
|--------------------------------------------|
| Thinking is a learned process so is UNIX   |
|--------------------------------------------|
Henry R. Linneweh

--
Thank you;
|--------------------------------------------|
| Thinking is a learned process so is UNIX   |
|--------------------------------------------|
Henry R. Linneweh





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