Seminar for everyone who works in or for a data center
Data Center Passport
Understand in one day how a data center works: disciplines, availability, access, and the rules of conduct that operators expect
At a glance
In one day, you learn what makes a data center, which disciplines work together in it, why availability determines every rule, and how access, presence, and work in the data center are regulated.
You then know what is behind every door and what the operator expects from you.
How a data center works
The seminar explains in one day what a data center is and how it works: the definition according to EN 50600, the types of data centers, the disciplines of building, power supply, cooling, fire protection, security technology, monitoring, and cabling, and the principle of availability on which all rules in a data center are based.
Access and conduct
The seminar concludes with access, rules of conduct, and the topics of a safety briefing.
For everyone who works there
The seminar is aimed at everyone who works in or for a data center without it being their specialist field.
Why a Data Center Passport?
According to EN 50600, a data center is defined not by its size but by its purpose: it houses the equipment for data processing, data storage, and data transmission, together with all the infrastructures for power supply, cooling, and security that ensure the required service availability.
That is why everything in a data center depends on availability: every discipline contributes to it, and an intervention in one of them affects the whole.
The seminar provides an understanding of this system in one day at entry level: understandable without prior knowledge, in the language used in day-to-day work, with room for questions at any time. It concludes with an online exam and a certificate.
Access by Protection Class
Operators therefore regulate access by Protection Class and restrict it to the minimum required for operation, by space, time, personnel, and knowledge (EN 50600-2-5). Rules of conduct and safety briefings serve the same purpose: avoiding injury and damage and keeping high-availability IT operation running while visitors and external contractors are on site.
Minimum qualification in demand
Anyone who installs, maintains, cleans, delivers, guards, or installs and removes equipment in a data center moves within exactly this system. Operators, especially in colocation, therefore increasingly require external contractors to have a minimum qualification that goes beyond the on-site safety briefing: an understanding of what a data center is, how its disciplines work together, and why the rules are the way they are.
Booked by operators
Many operators book the Data Center Passport themselves for their external contractors; others require the certificate from their subcontractors as proof.
Less waiting, a shared language
The Data Center Passport saves you and the operator follow-up questions and waiting time at access and protects against disruptions to ongoing operation that a single action on the wrong device can cause. And it gives you the language in which technicians, operators, and customers talk about data centers.
Who it is for
Who is this seminar for?
Technicians and fitters of the trades (electrical, cooling, fire protection, cabling)
who carry out maintenance and installation work in a data center without the data center being their specialist field.
Service providers with access
such as cleaning, logistics, and deliveries, as well as facility management service providers who work in the data center regularly.
Security staff and guard services
who control access, patrol areas, and need to respond correctly in an incident.
IT technicians and support staff of external companies
who install and remove equipment in racks and need to know the operator’s rules.
New employees of operators and data center service providers
who should know from day one what is behind every door.
Marketing, HR, and sales in the data center sector
who talk and write about data centers without working in them.
No prior knowledge is required. If you want to go deeper into the disciplines, Availability Classes, and KPIs, the three-day seminar Data Center – General Principles is the right choice.
Trainers and credentials
Trainers who work on current projects
The trainers on this seminar come from real projects; they have applied what they teach in their own data center projects. Which trainers lead a date depends on the date and format; the content is the same.
Vendor-neutral
DCE academy does not sell products and does not represent any manufacturer. Its only aim is to pass on knowledge and train people well, with experts who know their subject from ongoing projects. Products are not sold in the seminar.
First-hand standardization work
DCE academy is the exclusive sponsor of the ISO/IEC 22237 working group and is informed about every meeting of the standards committee and its content. Changes to EN 50600 and ISO/IEC 22237 are incorporated into the seminars, often months before publication. Member of the German Datacenter Association.
- Training since 2007
- for the planning, construction, and operation of data centers
- More than 1,000 participants
- with a DCE academy certificate
- More than 25 experts
- among our trainers
- 98% of participants
- rate their seminar as good or very good (feedback forms 2023–2026)
What you will take away
After the seminar you will be able to
explain what makes a data center according to EN 50600, which types exist (from enterprise and colocation data centers to edge, cloud, and AI), and why purpose and required availability matter, not size;
name the disciplines and systems of a data center (building, power supply, cooling, fire protection, security technology, monitoring, cabling, and racks) and identify their interfaces;
classify availability and redundancy, from N, N+1, and 2N to the four Availability Classes of EN 50600, and explain why one hundred percent availability does not exist;
read the zoning of a data center and the Protection Classes according to EN 50600-2-5 and understand why access follows the principle “only those who need to”;
explain the fundamentals of power supply and cooling technology, from the five safety rules of electrical engineering through UPS and standby generator to the refrigeration cycle, free cooling, and cold and hot aisle containment;
distinguish the three areas of fire protection and classify the tasks of building management systems (BMS) and data center infrastructure management (DCIM);
follow rules of conduct and safety briefings: what is not permitted in a data center, how an access process works, and which topics a safety briefing covers.
Content
Four modules
The four modules lead from the concept to conduct: what a data center is and why availability determines everything, which disciplines work together in it, how power supply and cooling technology work, and which rules follow for access and presence.
A single rack can be a data center if it meets the required availability and security; what matters is purpose and importance to the business, not floor space or power consumption. The module establishes the terms, the types of data centers, and the logic of availability and zoning.
- Definition according to EN 50600-1: a central location for information and communication technology with all facilities for power supply, cooling, and security; types of data centers (enterprise, colocation, hosting, hyperscale data center; cloud, edge; HPC and AI) and their competing requirements
- Availability from the user’s perspective: “five nines”, the concepts N, N+1, and 2N, redundancy in series and in parallel, redundancy levels from discipline to component, the four Availability Classes of EN 50600-1
- Site and building: site factors, zoning and Protection Classes 1 to 4 according to EN 50600-2-5, Resistance Classes of the building envelope according to EN 1627, room layout from the inside out, access “only those who need to”, requirements for the floor and the raised access floor
A data center consists of building, power supply, cooling, fire protection, security technology, monitoring, cabling, and racks, and of the people who work in it. The module shows each discipline with its subsystems and its interfaces to the adjacent disciplines, in floor plans and functional schematics.
- Disciplines and systems: tasks, subsystems, and interfaces; how a data center is represented in plans and schematics
- Fire protection: fire prevention, fire detection, and fire suppression as three areas; smoke detectors and aspirating smoke detection, fire stopping, extinguishing agents from inert gases to chemical extinguishing gases
- Monitoring and management: building management system with field, automation, and management levels, data center infrastructure management (DCIM) with monitoring, alarms, asset database, and analyses over time
- Cabling: point-to-point and structured cabling, arrangement of distributors, installation principles and separation distances; why the raised access floor serves primarily for air distribution and must not be blocked by installations
Power supply and cooling technology are the two defining disciplines of a data center. The module explains both from the physical fundamentals to the components you encounter in a data center, starting with the safety rules for working with electrical installations.
- Electrical engineering: the five safety rules; voltage, current, power, and power factor; the supply system with 400 V and 50 Hz
- The power supply system: transformer, low-voltage main distribution, standby generator, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with its classifications; residual current monitoring and selectivity of protective devices; representation in floor plans and schematics
- Cooling technology: goals and tasks for IT operation, temperature ranges for computer rooms according to ASHRAE, the refrigeration cycle of compressor, condenser, expansion, and evaporator, direct expansion and chilled water systems
- Energy efficiency in cooling: free cooling, EC fans, cold and hot aisle containment, and the consistent separation of cold and warm air right into the rack
House rules, rules of conduct, and safety briefings have one aim: avoiding injury and damage and keeping high-availability operation running while visitors and external contractors are in the data center. The module shows what usually applies, how access is regulated, and what a safety briefing covers.
- Aims of rules of conduct and safety briefings; contractual and legal basis of proper operation
- What is usually not permitted in a data center: smoking and open flames, eating and drinking, photography and filming, listening to music, bags and backpacks, fire loads, unauthorized work, and unauthorized access to IT rooms and hazardous areas
- Responsibilities and access process: application, approval, registration, briefing immediately before the visit, written confirmation and documentation; why approval can take days to weeks
- Topics of the safety briefing: access, single-person entry control and mantraps, separation of facility management and IT, goods delivery, accident prevention regulations, extinguishing systems, ID badges, escape routes, video surveillance, biometrics; examples from the policies of colocation operators
Standards and practice
Standards, laws, regulations
The seminar covers the following standard parts, laws, and regulations:
EN 50600‑1 General concepts
definition of a data center; Availability Classes, Protection Classes, and energy efficiency enablement as classification
EN 50600‑2‑5 Security systems
four Protection Classes against unauthorized access, layered levels of security
EN 50600‑2‑1 Building construction
framework for the building discipline
EN 50600‑2‑2 Power supply and distribution
framework for the power supply discipline
EN 50600‑2‑3 Environmental control
framework for the cooling discipline
EN 50600‑2‑4 Telecommunications cabling infrastructure
framework for the cabling discipline
EN 50600‑3‑1 Management and operational information
processes for access, visitors, and deliveries
ISO/IEC 22237
international version of the series
EN 1627
Resistance Classes of the building envelope
ASHRAE
temperature recommendations for computer rooms
Accident prevention regulations
topic of the safety briefing
Five safety rules of electrical engineering
working with electrical installations
How it works and prerequisites
How does the seminar work?
One day as a live webinar
One seminar day as a live webinar; the times are shown for each date. You take part from your workplace.
At entry level
Short presentations alternate with examples from data centers, plans, and schematics and with participants’ questions, which are welcome at any time. Everything is at entry level: understandable without technical prior knowledge, in the language used in day-to-day work.
Seminar materials
You receive the seminar materials as a PDF in the language in which the seminar is held.
Exam and certificate
After the seminar, you receive the link to the online exam by email and have one week to take it. When you pass, you receive the seminar certificate, which is valid for five years and can be verified publicly; you will find the seminar materials and the certificate in DCE Campus.
Prerequisites: none
The seminar does not require any technical prior knowledge; the fundamentals of electrical engineering and cooling technology are explained from the start. If you want to go deeper into the disciplines, the Availability Classes, and the KPIs of EN 50600, the three-day seminar Data Center – General Principles is the right choice.
Dates and registration
Choose a date and format
Same content, same price, same certificate in every format.
€990 per participant, plus VAT, in every format
Your date
- Date
- Format and location
- Live webinar · online
- Language
- German
Registration
Data Center Passport
€990
Price plus VAT at the statutory rate.
Date:
14/04/2027 - 14/04/2027
Format:
Webinar
Language:
Seminar price:
€990
More dates
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Live webinar · online · German
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No suitable date, or several participants from one company? Thomas Wawra advises you on dates, formats, and framework agreements.
Before you register
Frequently asked questions
A one-day live webinar by DCE academy that provides a basic understanding of data centers: structure, disciplines, availability, and the rules of conduct for work in a data center. It concludes with an online exam and a seminar certificate.
For everyone who works in or for a data center without it being their specialist field: technicians and fitters of the trades, cleaning, logistics, and facility management service providers, security staff, IT technicians of external companies, new employees of operators, and marketing, HR, and sales in the data center sector. Operators, especially in colocation, also book the Data Center Passport themselves for their external contractors or require the certificate from their subcontractors as proof.
No. The seminar starts with the definition of a data center and explains the disciplines from the ground up, including the fundamentals of electrical engineering and cooling technology. Technical terms such as Availability Class, UPS, standby generator, or cold aisle are introduced before they are used.
Depth and purpose. The Data Center Passport provides orientation and confidence in conduct for work in a data center in one day. Data Center – General Principles goes into every discipline over three days, covers the structure of the EN 50600 series, the Availability Classes in detail, the KPIs, and the legal framework, and is the first seminar of the Data Center Specialist training path. If you design, operate, or are responsible for data centers, that seminar is the right choice; if you work in them or talk about them, the Data Center Passport is.
No. The briefing on rules of conduct and safety remains the operator’s responsibility and takes place immediately before the visit. The seminar provides the understanding behind it: why the rules apply, how access processes work, and which topics a briefing covers, from single-person entry control and mantraps through goods delivery to extinguishing systems and escape routes. If you know this, you understand the on-site briefing the first time you hear it.
No. The Data Center Passport is offered exclusively as a live webinar, in German, with English on request. The dates are listed under Dates and registration.
After passing the online exam, you receive a seminar certificate from DCE academy. You receive the link to the exam by email after the seminar and have one week to take it. The certificate is valid for five years and can be verified publicly; it allows you to prove your qualification to operators and clients.
Yes. Each participant is registered individually for a date; for groups, pre-purchased seminar places, and framework agreements, including for external contractors and subcontractors of an operator, Thomas Wawra will advise you: +49 89 62286056, info@dce-academy.com. More under For companies.
