# Rack **Domain:** Data Center / Hardware Infrastructure **Doc Type:** Material Interface Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition A **rack** is a standardized structural enclosure that organizes information-technology equipment and its interfaces for power, network, cooling, management and service. ## Governing Variable The rack governs physical composition: what equipment fits, how it is supported, how technicians reach it and where power, heat and data cross the enclosure boundary. ## Historical Lineage Equipment racks began as support and mounting systems. At hyperscale and accelerator density, the rack becomes an engineering domain in its own right because shared power conversion, busbars, cooling manifolds, management and fabric topology affect the behavior of every installed component. ## Relation to Governance Standard dimensions and interfaces determine which suppliers can participate and which components can be replaced independently. [[wiki/Open Rack V3|Open Rack V3]] and [[wiki/Open Rack Wide|Open Rack Wide]] make the organizational boundary explicit: the rack standard joins mechanical form to power, cooling and serviceability. ## Constitutional Question and Failure Modes An open rack interface can reduce lock-in, but certification, implementation detail and operational tooling may recreate dependency elsewhere. Fault isolation must match the rack's increasingly shared resources. ## Related Ontology [[wiki/Data Center|Data Center]] · [[wiki/Open Compute Project|Open Compute Project]] · [[wiki/Rack-Scale Computing|Rack-Scale Computing]] · [[wiki/Thermal Architecture|Thermal Architecture]]