Integrated Acoustic Laboratories for Computer and Server Development
Computer, workstation and server development requires whole-system acoustics to be compared under clearly defined conditions of use. After a chassis, hardware configuration or cooling design changes, the development team needs to establish whether a change in sound comes from the product or the test environment. An acoustic laboratory should provide repeatable test conditions for design reviews and version validation. Its subject is the product under development, rather than an operating data centre.
From one sample to different operating states
Define the tests before defining the facility. ECMA-74 specifies methods for measuring and reporting noise emissions from information technology and telecommunications equipment, including relevant installation and operating conditions for personal computers, workstations and rack-mounted equipment. Companies can establish their test programme using the applicable provisions and then add trials for their own development needs. Different products should not automatically be assigned the same room type and operating procedure.
A useful starting point is a list of product formats, hardware configurations, installation arrangements and operating states. Desktop and workstation tests can be organised around intended office, content-creation or graphics tasks. Server configurations should reflect the workloads of the intended application. Beyond the states required by the applicable standard, development teams may also choose to observe sustained high loads, startup and workload transitions. These supplementary trials should be identified separately so that their results are not confused with results obtained using the standard method.
Plan the test space and supporting systems together
The space should support these tasks. First establish whether the sample will sit on a desk, use a separate support or be installed in a rack. Then select the acoustic space to suit the measurement method. The layout should account for sample dimensions, measurement arrangements, airflow paths and maintenance access. For larger server samples, checking the handling route, doorway and load-bearing provisions in advance helps ensure that equipment can be installed and tested as planned, rather than merely brought into the room.
Power, networking and cooling provisions should be developed alongside the acoustic design. The sample must operate at its intended load, while control equipment, auxiliary power supplies and cooling equipment may introduce additional sound. Depending on the test boundary, auxiliary equipment that is not part of the test subject can be placed in a separate area. Connections between the room and its supporting systems also need coordinated design; the room walls alone are not the whole design.
Ventilation planning particularly needs to account for the sample's heat output and test duration. Assess the background sound with the ventilation system operating, and check whether supply and return air arrangements alter the sample's inlet conditions. For products requiring cooling pipes, define the connections, auxiliary equipment locations and maintenance space during design. Acoustic, building-services and equipment teams should agree these boundaries together to avoid repeated modifications after construction.
Make the laboratory usable for the development team
Before the laboratory enters use, integrated commissioning with the planned samples and operating states should check that power, networking, cooling and the testing workflow work together. In daily use, sound data should be stored alongside hardware configurations, software versions, installation arrangements and environmental conditions. This allows subsequent development teams to reproduce the test conditions and distinguish product changes from changes in those conditions.
LESSENT provides the design, manufacture and engineering implementation of acoustic test environments, with a business scope that includes anechoic chambers and integrated laboratory solutions. For a computer and server development laboratory, planning should begin with the product list, testing tasks and site conditions. Defining the interfaces between the acoustic space, supporting systems and operating workflow provides the basis for an integrated solution suited to the company's development programme.
Sources
Ecma International: ECMA-74, Measurement of Airborne Noise emitted by Information Technology and Telecommunications Equipment, 22nd edition, December 2025. Overview: https://ecma-international.org/publications-and-standards/standards/ecma-74/
Full standard, same edition: https://ecma-international.org/wp-content/uploads/ECMA-74_22nd_edition_december_2025.pdf
About LESSENT: https://www.lessent.com/about
LESSENT acoustic laboratory solutions: https://www.lessent.com/labs
