Gaining a competitive edge

By 2022, the colocation market is expected to exceed USD 60 billion, with demand for cloud capacity and repositioning of IT expenditure being the key drivers of growth in the market. (1)

North America, Europe and Asia continue to be the strongest players in the retail and wholesale colocation segment. But emerging markets such as India are now offering viable and alternative locations for providers as space, rising costs and reliable power are at a premium in developed markets.

And the pace of change is not going to slow down – in fact, it is going to accelerate as more and more enterprises chose retail and wholesale colocation providers to reduce the overall cost of IT and move from on premise data centers to rent space, racks and cages, or entire rooms and facilities for their IT equipment.

With such rising demand for colocation data centers, builders and system integrators need to enable simpler and faster deployments and expansions.

Quicker and leaner lead times from enterprise contracts mean that even if a colocation data center wanted to expand its current operations by approximately 30MW load capacity, it would need to guarantee that the facility will be ready on time and within budget.

So, how do colocation data centers guarantee timeliness and budget control without compromising on quality standards and security protocols? To stay ahead of the curve, operators need to review alternative options in the design, build and management of colocation projects.

The Need for Speed

Data center owners are now looking to achieve build cycles of between six to nine months for new builds, compared to traditional cycles of 12 to 18 months. As such, modular and scalable builds help owners to achieve aggressive time to market goals more efficiently.

With complicated data center projects that have short delivery timeframes, a pre-engineered product package or prefabricated skid solution, built in an offsite facility can present a viable alternative to traditional brick and mortar construction.

Modular system solutions which feature prefabricated eHouses and skid-mounted power substations including switchgear, transformers, ancillaries and other electrification components in one, offer flexibility, a higher level of safety and integration of intelligent technology, and importantly greater power reliability.

Modular data centers offer a more compact, timely, scalable and convenient method of deploying data capacity and a standardized power infrastructure to where it is needed.

Testing, Testing

Data center modularization also offers significant benefits in terms of build and testing as much of the build and pre-commissioning work is taken away from a construction site. Costly delays are prevented through parallel stage builds instead of sequential build procedures seen on construction sites.

Projects can be fast tracked, and risks are further mitigated with offsite testing being undertaken in a controlled environment thereby protecting the system integrity and providing peace of mind for operators. This type of approach offers the same level of rigor, consistency and quality as achieved in a traditional data center build, with program timelines being unaffected by onsite testing and engineering works.

Building Blocks to Success

Colocation companies looking to generate return on investment quickly, should also consider pre-engineered building block solution architecture.

These building block systems leverage the benefits of modular solutions together with proven pre-engineered designs to reduce project cycle times, meeting the need for speed and reliability of today’s colocation market.

This is a shift from a traditional “system plus system” approach to an optimized design which provides better economic value through higher utilization of assets while maintaining the required system reliability. The designs have been proven and developed from complex custom solution architectures previously delivered and deployed.

The proven design reduces engineering time by up to 80 percent, and standard designs deliver manufacturing efficiencies which reduce testing and manufacturing time as well as late delivery risk.

GIGA Data Centers

ABB recently deployed a block system approach to a data center in Mooresville, NC for GIGA Data Centers, to develop the critical power distribution design and help GIGA reduce total cost of ownership and speed to market.

Based in the US, GIGA Data Centers aims to use modular data center technology to bring hyperscale efficiency to the colocation market. They believe companies seeking data center colocation should have access to the same high levels of efficiency and flexibility at a competitive cost.

ABB and GIGA jointly developed the system design specifications as well as the sequence of operations for input and output switchboards. The solution comprised of low-voltage switchboards, dry type transformers and Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS) to support the IT server and network equipment infrastructure. Such an approach created a more compact and efficient data center that met all GIGA’s requirements and delivered outstanding power distribution and protection performance.

Shaping the future

There is no doubt that the need for speed will continue to shape colocation data center development as demand for enterprise data and services grows. Emerging technologies like autonomous vehicles, “massive” 5G and smart cities will drive the need for colocation at the “edge” and for near real time performance and further efficiency. 

Partnering with experienced contractors is important to evaluate current and future business needs and specify the high-quality procedure with the same high level of build skills across the data and smart power architecture. This together with incorporating digitalization can deliver safe, robust and modular data centers which flex and grow with demand, while also delivering faster return on investment for colocation data centers.

To read the whitepaper in full visit: https://campaign.abb.com/l/501021/2020-01-22/qsmskw

1)Data Center Construction Market Due to Grow with a CAGR of Almost 9% During the Forecast Period, 2019–2023 – ResearchAndMarkets.com.” Business Wire, Research and Markets, 10 Oct. 2019, Stack, Tim, and Ian Griffin. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191010005553/en/Data-Center-Construction-Market-Due-Grow-CAGR