About the Data Center
The California Department of Technology (CDT) data centers serve as the Tier III equivalent data centers for State, county, federal, and local government entities throughout California. The state-owned Rancho Cordova data center is approximately 42,000 square feet and serves as the State’s primary production data center and a disaster recovery site for the Vacaville data center. The Vacaville data center provides approximately 7,000 square feet of leased space and serves as both a production data center and a disaster recovery site for the Rancho Cordova data center.
Tier III Design
The data centers are designed to Uptime Institute’s Tier III equivalent standards and provide stable environments, enhanced security, fire suppression equipment, and alarms, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with redundant generators (at uptime of 99.982%, 1.6 hours downtime per year), in a fault-tolerance design at N+1 minimum up to 2N maximum, with 72-hour power outage protection, high-speed network connectivity, and a 24x7x365 Service Desk.
Data Center Overview Video
Watch a virtual tour of CDT’s data center.
Rancho Cordova
- Intelligent energy management systems allow CDT to automatically and dynamically control the behavior and performance of precision cooling equipment in the Computer Room to meet desired goals.
- Real-time monitoring and control of precision cooling, power, UPS, leak detection, control panels, and other critical equipment allow quick equipment assessment and corrective action.
- Hot aisle/cold aisle design prevents hot exhaust air from passing from one row of servers to the next or creating hot spots on the raised floor. Hot spots impact the ability to achieve the efficient operating conditions recommended by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers Technical Committee 9.9 guidelines (ASHRAE TC 9.9).
- Overhead cable management reduces subfloor plenum airflow obstructions to increase cooling efficiency.
- Redundant power is used to minimize downtime, maximize uptime, by allowing IT equipment to run using the backup power supply system when a problem occurs with the first power supply system.
- The Rancho Cordova data center was the recipient of two 2012 Energy Efficiency Green IT awards.
Vacaville
The Vacaville facility is the recipient of LEED NC Gold (v2.2) certification. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, consensus-based, market-driven program that provides third-party verification of green buildings. Highlights of the Vacaville facility include the use of:
- 300kW renewable photovoltaic panels to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
- Low-emitting materials, such as adhesives, sealants, paints, carpet, and wood.
- Energy-efficient light fixtures and lamps throughout 80 percent of the campus, as well as energy-efficient HVAC and electrical equipment.
- Server virtualization aligned in a Hot Aisle/Cold Aisle design.
Energy Efficiency & Green Initiative
The CDT data centers are continuously striving for energy efficiencies by following industry standards and best practices.
Environmentals
Cooling Systems
- Redundant air conditioning (HVAC) cooling capacity is controlled by an automated monitoring system for performance and energy efficiencies.
- Leak detection system sends an alarm upon detection.
- Environment maintained at American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) defined temperature and humidity levels for equipment.
- 24/7/365 HVAC emergency service with certified professionals.
Fire Detection and Suppression Systems
- Fire detection systems installed above and below racks.
- Photoelectric early warning smoke detectors.
- Heat detection warning systems as a secondary system to smoke detectors.
- Dual interlock pre-action dry pipe fire suppression systems for added protection.
- Water held outside critical equipment areas and is not directly above equipment.
- Fail-safe alarm system – prevent false discharge or tampering of armed system.
- Zone-specific discharge of pre-action systems to limit the negative effect of a discharge.
Industry Standards
CDT follows industry standards and best practices as established by industry-leading organizations such as:
- International Organization of Standardization (IOS)
- International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
- Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
- Building Industry Consulting Services International (BICSI)
- American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), etc.
These standards and best practices set forth requirements and recommendations for working with critical systems: electrical, mechanical, telecommunication networks, airflow, humidification, lighting, commissioning, retro-commissioning, and others. As data centers continue to evolve, so are the standards and best practices.
OTech Security
CDT follows industry best practices for the physical security of its data centers. These best practices state that processes and procedures should be established to ensure a safe and secure work environment for the entire CDT workforce and to secure the systems that reside at each of the data centers.
As a result, CDT has developed strict security guidelines, policies, and procedures. These ensure that the CDT technical resources are properly protected, that the integrity and privacy of confidential information are maintained, and that information resources are available when they are needed.
CDT has the following physical security measures in place at each of the data centers:
- Physical access to the facility is restricted to authorized personnel.
- Highly secured computer rooms have restricted access only to those staff whose job duties require access.
- Policies and procedures are in place to set expectations to the CDT workforce and CDT visitors on appropriate business activities taking place within the data centers.
- Surveillance systems and security guards monitor the data centers 24x7x365.