VR and AR for Data Centre Commissioning, Maintenance and Change Control

Relevant case studies

Blog post: 02/11/2026 11:01 am

Author: Spark Team

VR and AR for Data Centre Commissioning, Maintenance and Change Control

A significant proportion of risk in critical infrastructure emerges not during steady-state operation, but when something changes.

New equipment is commissioned. Existing plant is maintained. Capacity is added. Electrical configurations change. Cooling systems are modified. A new data hall becomes operational.

Each intervention creates a period where personnel must interact with complex infrastructure while maintaining service continuity.

Bespoke VR and AR can help operations teams prepare for those interventions before the first physical change takes place.

Rehearsing work before arriving at the equipment

A detailed VR environment can be constructed from design data before commissioning or planned maintenance begins.

Personnel can walk through the virtual location and practise:

• access routes;

• equipment identification;

• tool positioning;

• isolation sequences;

• MOP stages;

• hold points;

• testing procedures;

• handover requirements.

This creates an opportunity to discover misunderstandings during simulation rather than during the maintenance window.

Virtual commissioning familiarisation

New facilities create a particular training challenge because operations personnel may have limited access while construction and commissioning are still underway.

A virtual replica gives staff an environment they can explore earlier.

They can familiarise themselves with:

• electrical rooms;

• mechanical plant;

• white-space layouts;

• equipment naming conventions;

• emergency routes;

• control interfaces.

The training model can subsequently be updated to reflect the as-built installation.

Testing MOP understanding

Before a maintenance procedure is performed in the real facility, the team can run through the proposed MOP virtually.

This provides a practical opportunity to identify questions such as:

• Is the correct equipment obvious?

• Does the sequence make sense when performed physically?

• Are prerequisite checks clear?

• Are there difficult access conditions?

• Could similarly labelled assets create confusion?

• Is escalation guidance sufficient?

VR therefore has potential not only as a training tool but as an additional procedure-review environment.

AR during planned maintenance

Once physical work begins, AR can place controlled information at the point where it is needed.

A technician might identify an asset and retrieve:

1. the approved task documentation;

2. relevant drawings;

3. inspection locations;

4. component information;

5. reference photographs;

6. expected equipment states;

7. remote technical assistance.

Research into AR-assisted maintenance has explored its potential for lowering cognitive workload and helping users perform complicated procedures more efficiently.

Supporting remote expert knowledge

Some maintenance activities depend on specialists who may not be permanently based on site.

AR can give a remote subject-matter expert a shared view of what the local technician is seeing, depending on the organisation's security and connectivity requirements.

The expert can then provide guidance while the local technician remains beside the asset.

Experimental research into XR-assisted remote maintenance has reported reductions in both inspection completion time and operator errors compared with conventional audio-video collaboration.

Keeping everything site specific

For critical infrastructure, generic instructions are rarely enough.

Spark's approach is therefore bespoke.

The virtual facility, equipment, terminology, interfaces and procedures can be built around the operator's own environment. Where security requirements demand it, projects can also be designed around controlled deployment architectures rather than assuming unrestricted cloud connectivity.

Conclusion

Maintenance and commissioning introduce change into environments designed around stability.

VR creates an opportunity to rehearse that change before touching operational infrastructure. AR can then support technicians with approved contextual information during the physical intervention.

Together, they can help reduce uncertainty, improve preparation and minimise avoidable mistakes during some of the most sensitive activities undertaken within a data centre.

Rehearse your next critical intervention with Spark

To explore bespoke VR for commissioning or maintenance rehearsal and AR for point-of-work support, contact Spark Emerging Technologies.

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