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Re: Never push the Big Red Button (New York City subway failure)


From: Daniel Seagraves <dseagrav () humancapitaldev com>
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2021 16:38:01 -0500


On Sep 17, 2021, at 8:59 AM, Sean Donelan <sean () donelan com> wrote:

It is possible to design a data center WITHOUT using those electrical code exceptions, and WITHOUT a "Big Red Button."

You can check, because my data center ideas were copied by several tech companies world-wide (you know who you are), 
and don't have Big Red Buttons. All of those data centers also have water-based automatic fire sprinklers. Both were 
very radical ideas at the time, which are now commonly accepted.

In most cases, you'll need a fully licensed, Professional Engineer specializing in Electrical Engineering to sign off 
on the final design. A licensed electrician isn't enough.  Nevertheless, it is possible to build a safe, 
code-compliant data center WITHOUT a Big Red Button. The design also seemed to be more reliable.

What’s the gain in _not_ having one that makes it worth the sign-off and hassle? Just avoiding the possibility of 
accidental activation or something I’m not thinking of?



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