Planning A New Data Center? Don’t Neglect Perimeter Protection

Processing density, energy usage and power reliability are frequently cited as top concerns for data centers operators, but they are taking a costly risk if perimeter security is not also among their priorities. 

Even before recent events drew attention to the danger posed by one bad actor with a vehicle, many in the fast-growing data center industry were warning of physical threats.

“The likelihood of sabotage has grown, the surface area for attacks has expanded and the methods used by intruders are increasingly sophisticated,” the Uptime Institute warned in a report on data center security. “Given the potential impact of a serious physical incursion, and in light of recent current events, data center managers should revisit their security approaches.”

Brandy Byrd Chapman, a data center security expert for Ameristar Perimeter Security, regularly communicates a similar message to data center managers. But rather than simply urging them to “revisit their security,” which she said they should be doing as a matter of course, Chapman stresses that perimeter security must become a pillar of a data center’s operations long before the first server racks are installed.

“You should be thinking about it even before you buy the land,” she said. 

Chapman, who advises cloud computing data center operators, has seen developers walk away from property purchases because they learned the land they wanted to buy wasn't securable due to issues related to location, nearby traffic density or soil conditions and flooding risk.

“When you're trying to secure a perimeter, the particulars of that perimeter matter,” she said. “If you don't have security top of mind when you buy the land, you could be losing money before you even start.”

Ameristar, an ASSA ABLOY Group brand, specializes in perimeter protection, but Chapman said guarding against vulnerabilities goes beyond erecting a tall barrier.

“It's not as simple as just a fence — it has to be a crash-rated fence,” she said. “It needs to stop a 15,000-pound vehicle traveling 30, 40 or 50 miles an hour that tries to drive onto your property.”

The barrier also must easily integrate with lighting and camera systems that permit 24/7 monitoring. Plus, depending on the nature of the work taking place inside the data center, multiple layers of fencing could be called for. A good defense also includes a secured gate with a guardhouse or intercom where visitors must check in. 

But to work well, the perimeter security system must be designed into the data center’s infrastructure from the start rather than treated as a box to be checked when the operation is close to opening, said Amy Dunton, Ameristar data center security expert specializing in multitenant centers.

“Perimeter security starts with a good fence and monitored gate, but beyond that, it also needs to properly integrate into all layers of security and design,” Dunton said. “I have seen sites where poorly designed access caused unnecessary delays with significant financial impact.” 

Examples of delays have included traffic flow issues such as slow employee access in the morning that caused traffic to back up to a major highway or barriers and gates that needed to be repaired when they were damaged by delivery trucks without appropriate vehicle clearance, she said.     

Whether the issue is keeping trespassers out or allowing employees to enter smoothly, “there’s a lot to consider” in hardening a data center’s defenses, Chapman added.

This might come as a surprise to developers who are new to this asset class, because a site that is perfect for an office development could present issues for a data center.

“Developers are focused on things like land prices or electrical power availability,” Chapman said. “They may not be looking at a site and saying, ‘This is right off a major highway intersection and someone could hit our site going 70 mph.’”  

Dunton said developers of colocated data centers face added challenges because they need to serve the specific security protocols of multiple clients even while they are under pressure to build or expand quickly. McKinsey & Co. recently projected that global demand for data center capacity will rise from its current level of 60 gigawatts to exceed 200 GW by 2030.

“The speed to market for data centers is incredible right now, especially for my customers who aren’t building for themselves but for potential tenants,” she said. “They need to have a scalable, sustainable and repeatable security design that they can adapt to each customer’s needs.”

Poor planning not only leaves the facility vulnerable to breaches but can result in additional costs for operators or tenants. 

Dunton and Chapman cited instances where a failure to account for all risks — or installing a perimeter system that cannot scale along with the evolving security and access needs of tenants — forced data centers to take expensive steps, such as ripping up and replacing fences, cameras and other components.

The ideal system, they said, will account for threats as well as customers’ evolving security requirements. Taking these factors into consideration from the beginning can save data center operators and customers money and time.

Dunton recalled a new data center tenant that needed a significant increase in lighting and cameras around the existing perimeter. Fortunately, her client had a strong perimeter security design that allowed them to accommodate those requirements without needing to perform expensive excavation.

“That is why you should design your perimeter security right from the beginning,” Dunton said. “It gives you the ability to scale up to meet new challenges, whether they are related to security threats or customer demands.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Studio B and Ameristar Perimeter Security. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

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