42 MODULAR DATA CENTRES
42 MODULAR DATA CENTRES
respond to changing or unexpected business opportunities , and a major contributor to the other two – availability and total cost of ownership .
From an infrastructure viewpoint , at the lowest end of the modular scale , interchangeable UPS power and battery modules allow power supply and backup systems to be scaled up to match the load , thereby ensuring continuous operation in the case of mains failure . Additional power modules and battery systems can be easily and quickly swapped for repair or added as the load grows .
Standardised modular wiring distribution systems are available that can break down room wiring into row-level or rack-level modules , eliminating confusing wiring tangles that are a likely source of error , and simplify the connection / reconnection process that attends to any changes to an equipment rack . Modular power distribution can range from rack-sized units that serve an entire row to power strips that serve a single rack and modular air-distribution systems are available at rack level , breaking down room airflow into local control at the racks for precise cooling of hot spots .
Edge and micro data centres With the advent of phenomena such as the Internet of Things ( IoT ) and services like digital content streaming , Edge computing facilities located close to the consumer are becoming an important accessory to traditional large-scale centrally located data centres . As speed to market and rapid deployment are key competitive factors in these sectors , the benefits of the modular approach are particularly relevant . To meet the challenge of Big Data and latency , many companies have begun to deploy smaller prefabricated data centres at the edge of networks , which not only reduces costs but ensures the highest levels of service , reliability and resilience for both business-critical and customer applications .
Many new edge and micro data centres now benefit from the same level of security and technology as their larger counterparts . Developments in the prefabricated , modular and hyper-converged spaces have become key to ensuring that the most integrated edge solutions now come with some level of standardisation in the rack component and , include higher levels of security , remote access and environmental monitoring .
More often than not , micro data centre solutions are delivered in a single rack enclosure with integrated power , uninterruptible power supply ( UPS ), power distribution , management software ( DCIM ), environmental monitoring and cooling to support a self-contained , secure computing environment . Not only can be they be deployed as a single unit , but can also be connected logically with other micro data centres to form a larger , more resilient geographically distributed infrastructure network .
Deploying a system of prefabricated micro data centres over a wide geographical area could offer an excellent level of resilience , as the failure of one such micro data centre can be absorbed by others on the network . Trends have shown that Enterprise IT is headed in this direction and many global corporations , including web giants , already use IT to afford them geographical redundancy .
Using pods for versatility At the higher level of modular integration are pods , which integrate racks , power distribution and cooling into a self-contained room-sized unit , with all the necessary infrastructure to isolate and cool heat-intensive IT equipment . Such pods allow larger data centres – up to hyperscale class – to be constructed using larger prefab , modular increments . As well as the rapid scalability this allows , Prefabricated pods give data centre management the flexibility to group business applications together logically or to separate a single significant client or line of business into an isolated self-contained unit of its own . Pods can also be used to vary the technologies available in a large data centre , for example housing Open Compute Project ( OCP ) racks in one Pod and traditional server racks in another .
Beyond the modularisation of components in dedicated data-centre facilities , a further option is the deployment of self-contained prefabricated solutions containing all the required IT , and infrastructure for a customer specific application . These are often pre-assembled at factory level and delivered to the customer site ready to deploy . Such modules are particularly attractive in remote or hostile locations such as quarrying or fossil fuel excavation sites , but they can also be deployed to less harsh environments where extra on-site IT capacity is needed .
Above all else , modularity delivers flexibility to the data centre operator . Whether it ’ s increasing the cooling or power supply resources available at rack level , deploying a network of edge data centre or delivering an entirely self-contained prefabricated containerised solution , the modular approach allows operators to deploy the necessary resources to fit their individual requirements . And this is without overspending on capital expenses or compromising on performance or reliability . n
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