Submittal

ManualsBrandsPanduit ManualsBonding JumpersJumper Kits, Equipment Grounding, #6 AWG

0605cidef1

Equipment to

rack jumper

Telecommunications

grounding busbar

Paint piercing

hardware

Source: Panduit

AC electrical panel

Common bonding network to rack jumper

Network grounding system in a data center

design

ata centers need to

achieve unprecedented levels

of uptime to keep pace with

modern business demands To

achieve these uptime goals, data

center managers are paying in-

creased attention to facility in-

frastructure issues, including

the network grounding system.

If you’re a contractor, un-

derstanding network ground-

ing can give you a competitive

edge by advising your custom-

ers on how to improve network

availability.

Proper grounding of data cen-

ter equipment, oen called net-

work grounding or the data

center grounding infrastructure,

is deﬁned by TIA/EIA-942 Tele-

communications Infrastructure

Standard for Data Centers, and

goes beyond the requirements

of the National Electrical Code

(NEC) to protect equipment and

improve system reliability.

Grounding by tier

TIA-942 has adopted the tier deﬁnition provided by the

Uptime Institute (www.upsite.com). Tier I is the lowest

level, which allows 28.8 hours of site-caused informa-

tion technology downtime per year. By contrast, Tier IV

data centers used within ﬁnancial institutions, Web

hosting organizations, healthcare and others with the

greatest need for critical uptime, have availability rates

of 99.995%. is requires the data center be designed to

experience only 0.4 hours of downtime annually—less

than 5 seconds per day (Industry Standard Tier Classiﬁca-

tions Deﬁne Site Infrastructure Performance, authored by

W. Pitt Turner IV, John H. Seader, and Kenneth G. Brill

and available at: www.upsite.com/ﬁle_downloads/PDF/

Tier_Classiﬁcations.pdf). Building data centers to meet

Why grounding is critical to

data center uptime

You can gain a competitive edge with your

customers by understanding and then offering

network grounding/bonding expertise.

TOM TURNER is business development manager at Panduit Corp.

(www.panduit.com).

This image of a TIA-942-compliant data center network grounding

system includes the AC electrical panel, which must be bonded by

an electrician. The electrician typically installs a busbar network,

including the telecommunications grounding busbar. Other

elements include the equipment-to-rack jumper, paint-piercing

hardware, and the common bonding network-to-rack jumper.

Reprinted with revisions to format, from the May 2006 edition of CABLING INSTALLATION & MAINTENANCE

Summary of content (3 pages)

PAGE 1
design Why grounding is critical to data center uptime D ata centers need to achieve unprecedented levels of uptime to keep pace with modern business demands To achieve these uptime goals, data center managers are paying increased attention to facility infrastructure issues, including the network grounding system. If you’re a contractor, understanding network grounding can give you a competitive edge by advising your customers on how to improve network availability.
PAGE 2
tier requirements is a complex process, encompassing expertise in a wide range of technical specialties, including architecture, cabling infrastructure, electrical design, environmental control, and ﬁre protection. To make this task more manageable, TIA-942 provides design guidelines to help meet the uptime requirements of each tier level.
PAGE 3
network throughout the building. The communications installer can complete the grounding of the busbar to the equipment. Often, electricians are hired to build the grid of CBN conductors under the raised access ﬂoor. Even in this case, little thought is given to how the grounding network bonds to the equipment. Alarmingly, numerous data centers in operation today have grounding busbars in place, and a grid of CBN conductors under a raised ﬂoor, but not a single rack or cabinet bonded to the CBN.