Summary

One of the core principles of GPIT Futures is to move away from bespoke requirements for primary care suppliers, moving to a place where we reference accepted industry relevant standards. NHS Digital, working data centre SMEs identiifed that a large proportion of our hosting and infrastructure requirements could be met via compliance to the European standards covered by the BS EN 50600 series.

Whilst this standard is mature the formal accreditation scheme will not come into effect until Summer 2019. This Roadmap item signals that suppliers need to ensure their data centre facilities (both their own and hosting partners) are formally accredited via a UKAS accredited supplier by 31 March 2021. The relevant certificates to be provided to NHS Digital.

This standard only applies to "Co location and Provider Data Centre Hosting & Infrastructure Requirements", provision of services in cloud (public and private) is covered by different standards.

Formal accreditation against BS EN 50600 is not currently available.

EN 50600 Overview

The unrestricted access to internet-based information demanded by the information society has led to an exponential growth of both internet traffic and the volume of stored/retrieved data. Data centres are housing and supporting the information technology and network telecommunications equipment for data processing, data storage and data transport. They are required both by network operators (delivering those services to customer premises) and by enterprises within those customer premises.  Data centres need to provide modular, scalable and flexible facilities and infrastructures to easily accommodate the rapidly changing requirements of the market. In addition, energy consumption of data centres has become critical both from an environmental point of view (reduction of carbon footprint) and with respect to economical considerations (cost of energy) for the data centre operator.

The implementation of data centres varies in terms of:

a) purpose (enterprise, co-location, co-hosting or network operator facilities);
b) security level;
c) physical size;
d) accommodation (mobile, temporary and permanent constructions).

The needs of data centres also vary in terms of availability of service, the provision of security and the objectives for energy efficiency. These needs and objectives influence the design of data centres in terms of building construction, power distribution, environmental control and physical security. Effective management and operational information is required to monitor achievement of the defined needs and objectives.

This series of European Standards specifies requirements and recommendations to support the various parties involved in the design, planning, procurement, integration, installation, operation and maintenance of facilities and infrastructures within data centres. These parties include:
1) owners, facility managers, ICT managers, project managers, main contractors;
2) consultants, architects, building designers and builders, system and installation designers;
3) suppliers of equipment;
4) installers, maintainers.