Use/Facility Type Recommended
Distance
Airport (Approach/Take-off corridors) 5 Miles
Agriculture Uses (Grain Elevators, Livestock, Fertilizer/Machinery Storage) 5 Miles
Automotive Body or Repair/Machine Shops/Gas Stations/Truck Stops 1 Mile
Chemical Plants or Storage/Foundries/Conventional Power Plants 5 Miles
Embassies/Political Groups/Large Urban Centers 3 Miles
Landfills/Waste Storage or Treatment Plants 2 Miles
Military Installations or Munitions Storage 10 Miles
Nuclear Power Plants (Active) 50 Miles
Overflow/Run-off Areas for Reservoirs or Man-made Lakes 2 Miles
Quarries/Mines/Blast Zones 3 Miles
Radio/Television Transmitters/Stations 3 Miles
Research Laboratories 3 Miles
Self-Storage Facilities 1 Mile
October/November/December 2020 I 39
following key considerations for addressing risk and
ensuring security and protection, from site selection and
physical security to thermal management and operations.
SITE SELECTION CONSIDERATIONS
Data center site selection has always posed its own challenges
with considerations that include both environmental
and created outside influences, available utility
services, and specific facility requirements. Because
EDCs need to be located in a way that allows data to
be processed close to users and network functionality
to be performed in real time, site selection becomes even
more critical.
First, it is important to understand that there is no
such thing as the perfect site, and any location can have
some element of risk. It is also important to understand
what those risks are for any location being considered for
an EDC, as well as the potential risk introduced to the
surrounding area as a result of its planned deployment.
It is highly recommended to ensure the right support in
the planning stages of the site selection by partnering
with consultants with strong experience in this area.
The key to selecting a site for an EDC is to weigh both
environmental and manmade risks and decide if they are
worthwhile investing in the site’s development. Locational
criticality, business needs, costs, and implications
to reliability or systems integrity should be considered
in this process.
Common environmental risks like severe weather,
seismic activity and natural disasters can significantly
affect operational continuity in even the most hardened
of EDCs. For small, unmanned and/or only remotely
monitored EDCs, it is more important to plan for and
mitigate the potential exposure to the elements.
Aside from natural occurrences, unexpected manmade
risks outside the control of a site owner can also
factor into site selection. Risks caused by adjacent uses,
accidents, and potential acts of violence, theft or harm
should be considered when evaluating a potential site
location. In addition, the availability of skilled labor
or support personnel capable of working to develop and
maintain the EDC may also be a key factor to consider
in site location. Having a good understanding of the
potential risks, as well as understanding the potential
for use and population changes around a site, can help
better plan for those potential risks. For example, nearby
hazardous conditions or manufacturing sites for hazardous
products or materials could pose significant risk
to the proposed site, as could adjacent travel corridors
and proximity to civic, military or other socio-strategic
locations. See Table 1 for recommended distances from
adjacent facilities.
TABLE 1: Recommended distances from edge data center sites to adjacent facilities.