Never push the Big Red Button (New York City subway failure)

Fri Sep 17 21:38:01 UTC 2021

> On Sep 17, 2021, at 8:59 AM, Sean Donelan <sean at donelan.com> wrote:
> 
> It is possible to design a data center WITHOUT using those electrical code exceptions, and WITHOUT a "Big Red Button."
> 
> You can check, because my data center ideas were copied by several tech companies world-wide (you know who you are), and don't have Big Red Buttons. All of those data centers also have water-based automatic fire sprinklers. Both were very radical ideas at the time, which are now commonly accepted.
> 
> In most cases, you'll need a fully licensed, Professional Engineer specializing in Electrical Engineering to sign off on the final design. A licensed electrician isn't enough.  Nevertheless, it is possible to build a safe, code-compliant data center WITHOUT a Big Red Button. The design also seemed to be more reliable.

What’s the gain in _not_ having one that makes it worth the sign-off and hassle? Just avoiding the possibility of accidental activation or something I’m not thinking of?