What is BS EN 50600‑2‑3 - Data centre facilities and infrastructures about?
BS EN 50600‑2‑3 is a part of the EN 50600‑2 that define the requirements for the data centre design.
BS EN 50600‑2‑3 addresses environmental control within data centres based upon the criteria and classifications for “availability”, “security” and “energy efficiency enablement” within EN 50600-1.
BS EN 50600‑2‑3 specifies requirements and recommendations for the following:
- Temperature control
- Fluid movement control
- Relative humidity control
- Particulate control
- Vibration
- Physical security of environmental control systems
Note: Safety and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements are outside the scope of BS EN 50600‑2‑3 and are covered by other standards and regulations.
Who is BS EN 50600‑2‑3 - Data centre facilities and infrastructures for?
BS EN 50600‑2‑3 on environmental control in data centre facilities and infrastructures is useful for:
- Architects
- Building designers and builders
- System and installation designers
Why should you use BS EN 50600‑2‑3 - Data centre facilities and infrastructures?
The environmental control system is one of the most important parts of the data centre infrastructure. Excessive variations of temperature or relative humidity can directly affect the functional capability of the data centre and its infrastructures.
BS EN 50600‑2‑3 addresses the environmental control facilities and infrastructure within data centres together with the interfaces for monitoring the performance of those facilities and infrastructures in line with EN 50600-3-1 (in accordance with the requirements of EN 50600-1).
In conclusion, the guidelines provided by BS EN 50600‑2‑3 help you to maintain suitable environmental conditions by regulating fluid movement, humidity, particulate presence etc, within the data centre facility and ensuring its optimal functionality.
What’s changed since the last update?
BS EN 50600‑2‑3:2019supersedes EN 50600-2-3:2014. Following technical changes have been made in BS EN 50600‑2‑3:2019 compared to EN 50600-2-3:2014:
- Clause 5 on environmental control revised, e.g. requirements in 5.2 for environmental control in various data centre spaces
- Availability requirements in Clause 6 revised and aligned with EN 50600-1:2019 and EN 50600-2-3:2019, in particular, enhanced Class 4 removed
- Measurement requirements for granularity levels in Clause 8 revised
- New informative Annex A added to summarize requirements for environmental conditions

