The Data Center Safety And Design Gap No One's Talking About
DataCenter Knowledge, Friday, December 5th, 2025
Data centers now operate like utilities, but safety and design gaps remain. Learn how to address these challenges and ensure uptime and reliability.
If you've been following the AI boom, you've heard all about rising power demand. What you may not know is that many data-intensive companies now manage medium- and high-voltage equipment comparable to a small utility, although many aren't staffed, trained, or organized like a utility. The gap shows up in two critical areas: safety and uptime.
I spend my days working with teams that power data centers. The pattern is consistent: incredible expertise in IT, followed by a significant leap into utility-grade power systems operating at 5, 15, 25, or even 34.5 kilovolts. That's a different world. If you treat it like a larger version of a building panelboard, you risk serious problems.