ISO/IEC 22237-3:2021

Overview

ISO/IEC 22237-3:2021, "Information technology - Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 3: Power distribution", defines requirements and recommendations for power supplies to, and power distribution within, data centres. It aligns with the classification criteria for availability, physical security and energy efficiency enablement set out in ISO/IEC 22237‑1. The standard covers power supply arrangements, internal distribution, telecommunications bonding, lightning protection, and power measurement integration with management tools. Safety and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements are outside its scope.

Key topics and requirements

• Power supply to the data centre: capacity planning, utility supply availability and power quality considerations (see Clause 6).
• Power distribution within the data centre: functional elements, dimensioning, segregation of circuits and cabling (Clause 5 and 6).
• Availability classes: design options and equipment requirements to meet different availability targets.
• Power quality and metering: measurement of consumption and power quality at key points and integration with management systems for monitoring and optimisation.
• Telecommunications infrastructure bonding: requirements to maintain reliable grounding and equipotential bonding for IT and telecom systems.
• Lightning and surge protection: recommendations to protect electrical and IT infrastructure from transient events.
• Emergency power off (EPO): requirements and best practices for safe and controlled shutdowns.
• Energy efficiency enablement: granularity levels for monitoring and control to support efficiency initiatives, including cabling infrastructure to support energy telemetry.
• Low voltage direct current (LVDC): considerations for incorporating LVDC distribution.
• Conformance: procedures for demonstrating compliance (Clause 4).

Note: the document explicitly excludes EMC and safety regulatory details and the use of stored energy or export of alternate sources to the grid (for future consideration).

Practical applications and who should use it

ISO/IEC 22237-3 is applicable to all stages of a data centre lifecycle:

• Design and engineering of electrical systems (consultants, electrical designers)
• Facility planning and procurement (owners, operators, project managers)
• Installation and commissioning (contractors, integrators)
• Operations, monitoring and maintenance (facility managers, ICT managers, maintainers)
• Equipment suppliers and auditors seeking to align products and services with recognised availability and energy monitoring practices

Typical uses include specifying power distribution architectures, selecting metering and monitoring points, defining grounding/bonding schemes, and establishing availability-class-aligned redundancy and resilience.

Related standards

This Part 3 is part of the ISO/IEC 22237 series and complements:

• ISO/IEC 22237-1 (general concepts)
• ISO/IEC 22237-2 (building construction)
• ISO/IEC 22237-4 (environmental control)
• ISO/IEC 22237-5, -6, -7 (telecommunications cabling, security, management/operational information)

Keywords: ISO/IEC 22237-3:2021, data centre power distribution, data centre power, power quality, energy efficiency, availability class, telecommunications bonding, lightning protection, power monitoring, EPO, LVDC.