In the demanding digital age we live in, data centres are the necessary infrastructure and the heart of most digital services as they centralise and transmit all information. The most important parameters for the reliability of data centers are their physical security and availability.

EN 50600 is a set of standards aimed at uniformly assessing information infrastructure by having a holistic approach to the design, construction and operation of data centers. The main parts of the standard cover building construction, power distribution, environmental control, telecommunications cabling, security systems and management and operational information. Similarly, data centres are classified into classes for availability and security and levels for energy efficiency.

The certification of data centres in accordance with EN 50600 by an independent and recognised organisation reliably documents physical security and availability and ensures the reduction of limited availability and outages. It is important to note that in addition to physical and logical security issues, certain aspects of security play an important role, consisting of building construction, power distribution, power efficiency, environmental control, telecommunications cabling infrastructure, use of

TÜV HELLAS is in direct cooperation with TÜVIT based in Germany, as members of the TÜV NORD GROUP. TÜVIT has established TSI.STANDARD since 2001 which is a checklist of checkpoints for the evaluation of data centres, and is also active in certifications according to EN 50600 based on risk analysis. In recent years, EN 50600 has been evolving at international level with the series of corresponding ISO/IEC 22237 standards.

Based on the Greek legislation and in particular the law 5069/2023 published in the Government Gazette 193A/28-11-2023, compliance with EN 50600-2-5 has become mandatory as a minimum.

The certification according to the above international standard proves the commitment of an organization:

• Because the availability of IT systems is of paramount importance for any organization.
• Why data centre providers can design, operate and expand their data centres using cutting-edge technology.
• Because it is an internationally recognized standard that provides security when designing and operating new data centers.
• Because it confirms data centre providers' commitment to a more sustainable future.

The EN 50600 series of standards is undoubtedly one of the most important standards for implementing best practices in the design and management of a data centre. However, it is worth noting that these specific standards are also combined with more general quality management and information security standards, e.g. ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 27001 (information security), ISO 27701 (privacy) and ISO 22301 (business continuity), in the context of applying a holistic approach to certify an effective, efficient and sustainable data centre.