An Open Source Ontology for Data Center Power Management

Executive Summary

WattSchema is an open source ontology for creating digital twins of data center infrastructure. WattSchema builds on and extends ASHRAE Standard 223 and is complementary to other standards such as the Brick Schema and Real Estate Core. WattSchema enables applications including simulation and modeling, data exchange between vendors, construction firms, and operators, and emerging agentic AI-driven operations capabilities.

Modern data centers are an order of magnitude larger than their predecessors from just a few years earlier. This scale requires digital representations of data center infrastructure, especially the power and cooling infrastructure, as well as standard operating procedures that govern them.

We provide WattSchema as an Resource Description Framework (RDF)-based ontology, a Microsoft Fabric IQ ontology, as well as an OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) Companion Specification, and plan to provide alignments to upcoming IFC 5.0 BIM standards in the future. WattSchema is developed by a community of software developers, equipment providers, and data center operators, and invites additional collaborators to participate in managing and evolving the standard.

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