The rise of the modular data centre

WITH THE MARKET FOR MODULAR DATA CENTRES forecast to grow significantly over the coming years, more and more suppliers are beginning to enter the market and all are offering slightly different things. With more choice than ever before available to end users, it’s important to understand what you’re trying to achieve when specifying your modular data centre (MDC).

DCS recently visited critical power specialist, Powertecnique, to discover the criteria which will help guide companies through the decision-making process, and review the main differences between the different types of modular data centre available.
Size, longevity and versatility
Before commissioning any kind of data centre, it is important to understand what you are going to be using it for, and take into consideration factors such as the current and potential size of your operation, and for how long you will need the data centre.

One of the key advantages to modular data centres is their ability to grow with your business, but it’s a good idea to have a plan of how big you will need the whole facility to grow to in its final phase before you commission your data centre. This allows you to plan the full project in advance and be aware of any future drawbacks or changes which need to be made before it’s too late.
If versatility is a key factor, you will need a facility which allows you to add and remove units as necessary. If it’s going to be a pretty static item, then you may be able to use something less customised. In Powertecnique’s experience, containerised solutions are extremely customisable and are ideal to support growing SME businesses as they are very well contained and allow users to easily add additional units to the solution as required.
Environment and location
The environment in which the data centre needs to operate is the next key consideration. Specifically, it’s worth considering whether the unit will remain fixed, or if it is likely to need to be transported during its lifetime. One of the primary advantages containerised solutions carry over other modular data centre designs is their mobility.

Companies requiring data centres to become part of the existing infrastructure and with a large empty warehouse or roof space may consider a POD or fixed modular option that does not have to move for the next 20 years or so, but if the firm may be moving within the next 5-10 years, then a containerised solution allows for an element of flexibility.
Pre-built PODs are usually built and plumbed into a building so that once they’re fitted they look like a regular data centre, and are a great way to introduce high capacity quickly. The PODs are often built for large warehouse facilities and they become part of the building. They also allow buildings which have very little facilities to become operational data centres in a very short space of time.
Historically, containerised data centres have not been particularly roomy, and users have often had to operate within a confined space. Whilst this can be the case if utilising a standard ISO container, by working with a slightly larger unit, such as the Powertecnique DataShelter, you can ensure that the data centre never feels too small to operate in, and the power and cooling capacity can increase to 50kW per rack if necessary.
Power
Once you’ve decided where to place your data centre, the next item for consideration is how you are going to back up the power to your facility. Specifically, it’s worth considering whether your MDC will integrate with an existing buildings backup power or if it requires its own. It is most common for a facility to have a dedicated UPS per module, and then for the generator backup to be provided either by a unit dedicated to the data centre, or for an existing generator to be used. In Powertecnique’s latest build, a separate generator was provided to the customer to provide continuous backup power for their data centre since the data centre absolutely could not experience downtime whilst power wasn’t quite as critical to the rest of the site.
Most MDC’s should come fitted with a modular UPS to allow the backup power capacity to grow as more IT equipment is added. It is a very important consideration therefore that your chosen MDC can cope with increased power requirements. DataShelter is able to prove this because of its origins in providing critical power. This means that it has been designed to offer endless, expandable, modular options to cater for even the most demanding of power requirements.
Cooling
It’s important when specifying a data centre to ascertain what cooling capacity could potentially be required in the future so as to ensure that the facility has the capacity to grow as your organisation grows. As an example, Powertecnique has recently built a customised unit with four racks at 10kW per rack with cooling and power to run the MoD’s UK operations. However, since the cooling installed is at an N+1 level of redundancy, it means that there are extra cooling units within the unit which could potentially be used in the future should a higher cooling capacity will be required. It is understood though that if all of these units were to be running at capacity, then redundancy would be reduced.
The other consideration to take into account when specifying the cooling requirement is whether or not the customer would like their chillers to have a free cooling option to lower the PUE of the unit overall, such as Powertecnique provided on the MoD DataShelter mentioned above.

Whilst these are the main considerations to be made in specififying a modular data centre, there are several other key points which can affect which provider best meets your needs as a customer. How secure would you like the unit? Do you require dual security entry systems and secure CCTV cameras in place? Would you like the unit to operate with its own DCIM software or does it need to integrate with your existing building management system?
Conclusions
Most data centre applications incur major capital expenditure so it is important to choose a solution that will last for a long time, and is not simply built for three years. Containerised data centre solutions such as DataShelter are transcending traditional data centres, and such units are completely customisable for a variety of applications to make them much more easily deployable and if one of the units goes down, then another can pick up the load to save on any unplanned downtime.”
Companies are advised to reflect carefully on their options before committing to an immovable POD, considering capacity issues and how many racks you may need. It is often worth speaking to an expert before embarking on a data centre project to find out what options & possibilities are available.