Traditional data centers are built on large scales within a single enclosed facility. They required massive upfront capital expenditure and years of planning and construction. With rapidly evolving technology and changing business needs, their large scale nature made them inefficient to adapt to new requirements. Upgrading and expanding traditional data centers was a long and costly process.
As applications and workloads evolve, data processing centres can seamlessly scale. Additional modules provide the necessary capacity with minimal downtime. Underutilized modules can also be removed or repositioned for reuse or redeployment. This pay-as-you-grow scalability offers flexibility to efficiently adapt to changing business needs. Quality controlled modules maintain consistent performance as the data center footprint expands incrementally.
Optimized Power and Cooling Efficiency
Modular designs incorporate the latest energy efficient technologies and best practices in power and cooling infrastructure design. Individual 45-foot modules house the necessary IT equipment, power distribution, cooling plant, fire suppression and monitoring systems. By consolidating equipment into optimized modular packages, overall data center efficiency improves significantly.
Advanced modular cooling plants provide precise temperature and humidity control with high Coefficient of Performance (COP). Indirect evaporative cooling and rear door heat exchangers optimize air and coolant flows for maximum efficiency. Modular UPS and generator systems further enhance reliability while lowering energy costs. Independent modules also allow workload-based loading of power/cooling assets for additional cost savings.
Simplified Maintenance and Modular Data Center
Data processing centres adopt a compartmentalized layout which segments the infrastructure into discrete autonomous zones. This segmentation streamlines routine maintenance operations without disrupting activities in other areas. Planned maintenance schedules can be implemented on individual modules with no impact on surrounding equipment.
Remote monitoring software also provides a consolidated view of all modules, systems and physical assets. Anomalies and potential issues can be identified proactively using AI and analytics. Modular designs simplify overall management through zone-based control and monitoring versus a monolithic facility approach. With enhanced visibility and control, operations staff can more efficiently manage hybrid infrastructure deployments.
The Future of Agile Infrastructure
Technological developments will continue shifting workloads between on-premise, centralized colocation and edge/remote locations. Data processing centres enable this agility by providing deployable infrastructure in the form of standardized optimized modules. Edge modules deliver computing resources close to the point of data creation, while centralized multi-tenant modular colocation centers will consolidate workloads.
As applications evolve rapid computing, storage and IoT infrastructure will be critical. Modular designs will enable this by offering a toolkit of customizable compute, storage and networking packages. Next-gen renewable and battery backed energy solutions will further boost modular sustainability and resilience. With their highly scalable pay-as-you-grow model, data processing centres are well poised to power the dynamic infrastructure demands of future technologies. Overall the modular approach will drive further efficiencies throughout the data center lifecycle by optimizing deployment, operation and end-of-life practices.