Data center reference designs
Discover data center reference designs for best practices and principles to build scalable, AI‑ready infrastructure.
Starting point for data center design
A data center reference design is a pre‑validated blueprint that defines how power, cooling, and IT infrastructure should be organized to build a reliable, scalable, and AI‑ready data center.
- Uses proven, standardized layouts.
- Ensures infrastructure compatibility.
- Reduces risk during deployment.
- Supports AI workloads.
- Enables faster data center site build-outs.
FAQ
A data center reference design is a pre-validated blueprint showing how power, cooling, and IT systems should be integrated to create a reliable, scalable, and Al-ready data center design. It standardizes layouts and components to simplify planning and deployment.
Reference designs streamline data center design by using proven system configurations that reduce engineering effort, speed deployment, lower risk, and ensure consistent performance. They also support modular and scalable data center design, ideal for evolving Al workloads.
They typically include electrical distribution, mechanical systems, cooling architectures, room layouts, and IT space planning. Modern designs add liquid cooling, high-density data center design, and Al-ready configurations for GPU-based workloads.
They simplify data center design by offering pre-validated architectures that reduce complexity, ensure system compatibility, and shorten timelines. These models align electrical, mechanical, and cooling systems for predictable planning-especially for Al and high-density deployments.
Yes. A data center reference design includes typical rack dimensions, IT equipment footprints, and room layout guidelines, allowing you to estimate how much IT, power, and cooling equipment can fit in the available space based on real‑world data center configurations. This helps support capacity planning and scalable data center design.
Yes. A data center reference design provides typical equipment weights, rack load profiles, and floor‑load requirements, helping teams perform an early check on whether the building structure can support UPS systems, battery storage, and high‑density HPC/AI racks. This ensures alignment with data center infrastructure standards during the planning phase.
Yes. A data center reference design provides baseline engineering configurations that support early cost estimation, including typical cost per rack, cost per kW, and infrastructure investment ranges. These values can be used as input assumptions in a data center business case to compare design scenarios, validate budgets, and benchmark against regional cost models. For more detailed analysis, tools such as our Data Center Capital Cost (CapEx) Calculator can refine projections based on local conditions and design choices.
1. What is a data center reference design?
A data center reference design is a pre-validated blueprint showing how power, cooling, and IT systems should be integrated to create a reliable, scalable, and Al-ready data center design. It standardizes layouts and components to simplify planning and deployment.
2. Why use a reference design for data centers?
Reference designs streamline data center design by using proven system configurations that reduce engineering effort, speed deployment, lower risk, and ensure consistent performance. They also support modular and scalable data center design, ideal for evolving Al workloads.
3. What's included in a data center reference design?
They typically include electrical distribution, mechanical systems, cooling architectures, room layouts, and IT space planning. Modern designs add liquid cooling, high-density data center design, and Al-ready configurations for GPU-based workloads.
4. How do Schneider Electric's reference designs simplify data center planning?
They simplify data center design by offering pre-validated architectures that reduce complexity, ensure system compatibility, and shorten timelines. These models align electrical, mechanical, and cooling systems for predictable planning-especially for Al and high-density deployments.
5. Can a reference design help determine how much IT and engineering equipment can fit into the available rooms?
Yes. A data center reference design includes typical rack dimensions, IT equipment footprints, and room layout guidelines, allowing you to estimate how much IT, power, and cooling equipment can fit in the available space based on real‑world data center configurations. This helps support capacity planning and scalable data center design.
6. Can a reference design help assess whether the building floors can support the weight of UPS systems, batteries, and fully populated HPC/AI server racks?
Yes. A data center reference design provides typical equipment weights, rack load profiles, and floor‑load requirements, helping teams perform an early check on whether the building structure can support UPS systems, battery storage, and high‑density HPC/AI racks. This ensures alignment with data center infrastructure standards during the planning phase.
7. Can a reference design help estimate the cost (currency per rack or currency per kW) of engineering systems for data centers? How should this be reflected in a business case?
Yes. A data center reference design provides baseline engineering configurations that support early cost estimation, including typical cost per rack, cost per kW, and infrastructure investment ranges. These values can be used as input assumptions in a data center business case to compare design scenarios, validate budgets, and benchmark against regional cost models. For more detailed analysis, tools such as our Data Center Capital Cost (CapEx) Calculator can refine projections based on local conditions and design choices.