The data centre
D&D’s hardware is installed in the Crissier data centre, operated by BrainServe SA. The building provides the power, the cooling and the physical security. What runs inside it is our business.
Who does what
This distinction matters, and many hosting providers deliberately keep it blurred.
D&D
- Owns the IT hardware installed in the racks
- Operates the virtualisation infrastructure, storage and network
- Administers the systems that carry your data
- Handles backups and restorations
- Is your contractual and technical point of contact
BrainServe, data centre operator
- Provides the building and the server rooms
- Provides the electrical supply and its redundancy
- Provides the cooling and its redundancy
- Provides physical security and access control
- Provides fire detection and protection
In other words: an electrical incident in the building is the data centre’s responsibility; an incident on your machines is ours. In both cases, your point of contact remains D&D.
The essentials
What to take away about the site, without going into technical detail.
In Switzerland
The data centre is located at 1023 Crissier, in the canton of Vaud.
Permanent physical security
Security staff on site around the clock, fenced and patrolled perimeter, indoor and outdoor video surveillance.
Strictly controlled access
Secured reception, single-passage airlock, biometric access control with logging, five containment levels.
Redundant power
Dual electrical distribution, UPS systems and diesel generators, with fuel autonomy sized to run for several days at full load.
Redundant cooling
Duplicated cooling production and distribution, with outside-air free cooling when conditions allow.
Fire detection and protection
Detection throughout the building, fire compartmentation, and a suppression system suited to server rooms.
About the data centre’s SLAs
The data centre publishes service levels for the building’s electrical supply, temperature and humidity. Those figures appear in the technical sheet below.
They cover the building’s services. They are not an end-to-end availability commitment for services hosted at D&D: between the electrical feed to a room and your application running, there is hardware, an operating system, a database and an application, none of which is covered by a building’s power SLA.
D&D’s own service commitments are a matter for your contract with D&D, and are discussed with us.
Detailed technical specifications
The building’s characteristics, for the systems administrators, IT managers and engineers who want the detail.
Show the full data centre technical sheet
Location
| Location | 1023 Crissier (VD), Switzerland |
|---|---|
| Site operator | BrainServe SA |
| Motorway access | Approximately 1,300 m |
| Parking | Nearby and within the site |
| Public transport | Bus stop approximately 100 m away |
Building
| Static load | 1,000 kg/m² in server rooms |
|---|---|
| Ceiling height | 260 to 270 cm in server rooms, excluding raised floor |
| Raised floor height | 60 to 70 cm in server rooms |
| Server room area | 2,000 m² |
Physical security and access control
| Perimeter | Fenced grounds, fence at least 3.5 m high, security patrols |
|---|---|
| Building | Secured reception, single-passage airlock, biometric access control with logging |
| Video surveillance | Indoor and outdoor audio and video monitoring, with recordings retained |
| Intrusion detection | Detection zones covering the building, monitoring of access at the various containment door levels, detection inside and outside the building |
| Containment levels | 5 |
| Security staff | On site 24/7 |
Fire and water damage
| Fire detection | Analogue addressable detection covering the whole building |
|---|---|
| Fire protection | Fire compartmentation of hosting rooms, telecom rooms and plant rooms. Fire-rated doors and walls. Hifog system for server rooms. Dedicated extinguishers in every room. |
| Water detection | Detection across all cooling circuits |
| Water damage protection | Indoor and outdoor drainage and discharge systems; no pipework above the hosting rooms |
Electrical installations
| Guaranteed power | 10 MVA |
|---|---|
| Protection | Surge arresters, protection against overvoltage and residual currents |
| Transformation | On-site medium- to low-voltage transformer station (5 transformers of 2,500 kVA, N+1 redundancy), at a sufficient distance from hosting and telecom rooms |
| Distribution | Dual electrical distribution with seamless switching in under 10 ms via static transfer switches (STS). Each rack is connected by busway to two separate switchboards (N+N redundancy). |
| UPS | Each branch is protected by dynamic UPS units with kinetic energy storage (5 no-break units of 2,500 kVA, N+1 redundancy). All systems are supplied with uninterrupted cooling. |
| Generators | Each distribution branch is backed by a diesel generator (5 units of 2,500 kVA coupled to the dynamic systems, N+1 redundancy), each with redundant fuel supply: 2 main tanks and 5 day tanks, totalling 160,000 litres stored on site, corresponding to around 80 hours at full load, with a resupply programme. |
Cooling
| Production | 4 turbo-compressor units of 2,500 kW (N+N redundancy), 2 free-cooling exchangers using outside cold air |
|---|---|
| Distribution | Dual chilled-water distribution network (N+N redundancy) |
| Air handling | 50 kW per unit for liquid cooling (N+N redundancy), 55 kW per unit for ventilation located outside the hosting rooms (N+1 redundancy) |
| Power supply | All cooling production and distribution systems and air conditioning units are supplied downstream of the UPS systems |
Service levels published by the data centre
| Electrical supply | 99.999% availability — SLA covering the data centre’s electrical supply |
|---|---|
| Temperature | 99.9% — 22 °C ± 4 °C — SLA covering the ambient conditions of the data centre rooms |
| Humidity | 99.9% — 48% ± 15% — SLA covering the ambient conditions of the data centre rooms |
| Scope | These commitments are those of the building operator. They are not an end-to-end availability commitment for services hosted by D&D. |
Data centre characteristics as provided by its operator. They describe the building and its installations, not D&D’s hosting services.
See also
Need more detail for an internal review?
Audit, tender, risk assessment: we provide the information you need about the infrastructure and the site.