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Given the choice between making a reservation at a popular restaurant and getting seated the moment they arrive or spending an hour or more on a long waitlist, almost everyone would choose the reservation.
And yet, it isn’t unusual for a data center building team to order critical security products late in the process or fail to account for long lead times in their forecast, only to see the project fall behind schedule. This puts them at the mercy of slow supply chains that can delay completion of their project by weeks, months or longer.
Brandy Byrd Chapman, a data center security expert for Ameristar Perimeter Security, said this scenario can arise if a team didn’t consult with perimeter security specialists during design and preconstruction. As a result, the team may experience delays or cost overruns.
“Just like when they’re going out to dinner, people don't want to go on a long waitlist for a fence or other items in the supply chain, particularly with this industry’s need for speed,” Chapman said.
Planning teams can avoid delays and frustration if they include Ameristar early, she said. A perimeter security expert can help identify critical components and pinpoint when those items need to be on-site and ready for installation. An accurate forecast helps ensure the project runs smoothly and the data center begins operating as scheduled.
“Once you create a forecast for the materials you will need, then you can start making accurate ‘reservations,’ versus just getting in line with everybody else and then waiting,” Chapman said.
Data centers frequently take a copy-and-paste approach to physical security, she said. With this mindset, the developer applies the same design that worked in, say, rural Utah to a new data center planned for suburban Atlanta. This approach can overlook subtle differences among sites, such as ground conditions and local traffic patterns, which call for a customized approach to security.
An expert seated at the planning table can readily identify if a perimeter fence’s crash rating needs to be adjusted to account for local threats and conditions or whether the gate system is adequate to accommodate the comings and goings of the center’s workforce. And the sooner these issues are identified, the sooner the correct products can be ordered, Chapman said.
Matthew Martinez, an Ameristar business development specialist, recalled a client that had specified an M50 crash rating — the most stringent — for the fencing at all of its properties. But not all properties were alike.
“We helped them value-engineer this so that large portions of fencing at one site were M30-rated and still provided the security they needed,” he said. “We saved them quite a bit of money on the project. But it would have been a much harder discussion to have further down the line if we had not been involved early in the planning.”
In another instance, Ameristar suggested a customer move the perimeter of its fence line by 1 foot. This meant the data center didn’t need to install additional bollards to support the fence, saving approximately $500K, Chapman said.
This option might not have been feasible if the client hadn’t engaged Ameristar as a consultant during preconstruction and instead treated perimeter security as an afterthought.
“If this question were raised late in the process by people who were not subject matter experts, they would have to relay it through several layers of the approval process, which never goes quickly, and speed is the name of the game when we're building data centers,” Chapman said. “If we’re involved at the beginning, it can make everything run a lot smoother.”
Chapman will moderate a panel on physical security best practices at a Bisnow data center conference Dec. 3 in San Jose, California. Other panelists will include Greg Bowman, director of construction for Crusoe.
“As the former Meta and current Crusoe director of security, Greg has firsthand knowledge of building security systems for data centers,” Chapman said. “He knows the importance of keeping the security team in the loop.”
And that is the message Chapman said she wants to share with West Coast Data Center Conference and Expo attendees and prospective clients.
“We've always said it's so important for us to be involved throughout a project’s life cycle,” she said. “Now, with modular construction growing in popularity and timelines speeding up, it’s even more important for security to be involved early.”
This article was produced in collaboration between Ameristar Perimeter Security and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.
Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.
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