The benefits of a modular approach to data center construction

Not only does a modular approach to building data centers reduce deployment time by half, but it also allows operators to improve energy efficiency, scale more easily and reduce their reliance on specialized engineers.

With demand for data center capacity at an all-time high and rising, more operators than ever before are turning to modular power solutions to deliver new facilities. These prefabricated products – which include eHouses and skids – are built off-site and factory tested before being delivered to site as an integrated solution, which can be installed and commissioned quickly and efficiently.

While designs are standardized to a point, incorporating standard blocks of power that can be repeated to allow for future expansion, every site has different requirements when it comes to utility voltage, size, and cooling.

Pre-designed solutions can be developed to meet these specific needs, reducing deployment speed compared to traditional data center construction by up to 20 percent. When an operator combines both pre-designed and prefabricated solutions, they could be looking at up to a 50 percent reduction in deployment time, with new data centers able to generate income in as little as nine months.

But speed is far from the only advantage of modular data center design. This approach reduces operators’ reliance on consultants and specialized engineers, creates more resilient and reliable power infrastructure, improves the energy efficiency and overall sustainability of data centers and acts as a solid foundation from which operators can expand and scale their capacity, all at a lower cost than the traditional data center construction process.

Here are the key advantages of a modular over a traditional approach:

Cost savings

Cost efficiencies can be found throughout the process of a modular data center upgrade, with operators saving money on shipping costs (one prefabricated product is cheaper to ship than scores of component items), labor and installation.

Less manpower is required for the consultation and engineering process than would usually be needed to design and install a power solution, as this is all carried out by the manufacturer. The labor required for installation and commissioning is also vastly reduced: for on-site contractors, installation simply involves a connection from the new unit to the power feed going in and the field cables going out.

Modular solutions are also factory tested, minimizing the likelihood of on-site issues and helping to keep the data center build on schedule.

Tackling the skills gap

It is becoming harder and harder to recruit and retain the specialist contractors and engineers needed to design, commission, and install data centers. Modular solutions can relieve some of that pressure, giving operators some breathing room, as they focus on their recruitment, training, and upskilling efforts.

Not only is buying a prefabricated solution resource-efficient from an operational point of view (requiring one project manager, one vendor, one location and one point of contact), it can be pre-engineered to spec by the manufacturer, eliminating the need for specialists to debug and troubleshoot problems on-site. Some manufacturers even offer installation and commissioning services with their prefabricated products.

Reliability and resilience

All the components from a modular solution come from one manufacturer, meaning they are naturally built to work in harmony, which is not always the case when mixing and matching products from different vendors. In addition, the engineers building and testing the skid are familiar with the equipment and how it interfaces and integrates.

Finally, modular solutions are built and tested in a controlled environment, resulting in a reliable and consistent finished product, which can be replicated and rolled out at sites across regions, countries or even continents.

Sustainability

Prefabricated products are optimized to operate at the maximum efficiency, saving energy and carbon emissions in the day-to-day running of a data center.

In addition, with fewer people involved and less heavy equipment used, the process of specifying and installing a prefabricated power product generates less emissions than traditional data center construction. The new building itself can also be mounted on concrete pillars instead of a pad, saving on concrete, which is energy intensive to produce.

Future proofing

Modular solutions are essentially power ‘building blocks’, which make it easy for operators to expand their capacity in stages, a much less risky approach than building one large facility and then finding customers to lease it.

This kind of scalability allows data center operators to grow sustainably with future demand while simplifying the specification and installation process.

CLICK HERE to find out more about ABB’s modular approach to data center design and build.