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Off-site prefabrication and pre-
integration for increased speed and
reduced risk
There are four main construction
methodologies for building new data centres:
as to interoperate optimally. Systems and
space need to be tightly integrated into a
highly tuned machine.
And in order to achieve this, there needs to
be a high degree of coordination between
civil works builders, equipment vendors,
system integrators and general contractors.
This, of course, can present significant
challenges and the risks of running over
budget and over time are high. So if data
centre capacity is to grow as fast as we
need it to, it’s time to consign traditional
construction processes to history and
rethink the way we should be deploying
data centres going forward. The good news
is there is a solution.
www.intelligentcio.com
1. It can be done the traditional way,
constructing a new brick and mortar
building at the location, followed by
on-site installation and integration of the
technical equipment. As described above,
the risks inherent in a project managed
this serial way should not be acceptable
2. A modular building can be built remotely
and then put together at the site
once the foundations have been laid.
However, while some construction time
might be saved with this approach, the
risks associated with shipping, installing
and integrating all the technical
equipment on-site, mean this option is
not much of an improvement
3. Taking the prefabricated concept a step
further, it’s possible to build single-
function modular blocks in a factory
(cooling modules, power modules, white
space modules, etc.) and then ship them
to the site for installation. The potential
disadvantage is that these single-function
blocks are predefined and therefore the
overall data centre solution may not be
fully adapted to the customer’s exact
needs. It is certainly a better solution than
the first two options above though, as this
approach allows for more pre-installation
and pre-integration in the factory
4. Many new data centres will still
undoubtedly be built using the three
methodologies described above.
However, it’s clear that the segment
promising the greatest growth will be
entire bespoke data centre buildings
that are completely prefabricated, with
all technical equipment and systems
pre-installed and functionally-tested prior
to shipping to site, where they will simply
be put together and commissioned.
The advantage of this approach is that
with most of the installation done in a
clean-room factory environment, it’s
possible to gain a high degree of control
over vendor coordination, risk reduction,
quality of installation and integration,
cost management and on-time delivery
I believe this industrialisation of the data
centre building process in a specialised off-site
FEATURE: DATA MANAGEMENT
factory environment is not only the logical
and sensible way to build new data centres,
it is the only way that new edge data centre
facilities will be able to be delivered in pace
with the anticipated demand.
eCentre: Industrialised process with
bespoke design
This off-site industrialisation of data centre
construction, installation and integration is
not limiting in any way. On the contrary, it
allows businesses to adapt and grow faster.
Such data centres are fully adaptable to the
requirements of the data centre operator,
they scale better with business growth and
costs of expansion are predictable.
Combining bespoke design with this
industrialised process – as Flexenclosure’s
eCentre does – allows a facility to be created
according to specific individual customer
requirements and can include Uptime
Institute tier certification – for both design
and build. In fact, there is no limitation to
what can be achieved, which allows the data
centre to be fully aligned with business goals
and to secure the shortest possible delivery
time, lowest possible costs, highest possible
quality and best possible scalability.
Most importantly of all, this industrialisation
of the data centre build process significantly
reduces risk – the critical shared requirement
of both data centre operators and their
customers. The future of reliable data centre
construction is secure. n
Jos Baart, Vice President, Sales and
Marketing, Flexenclosure
INTELLIGENTCIO
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