EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
MARC GARNER , VP SECURE POWER DIVISION , SCHNEIDER
ELECTRIC UK & IRELAND
With demands for Digital Transformation accelerating at a fast pace , today ’ s data centre operators are facing a multitude of new challenges . Within both legacy data centre environments and new builds , efficiency and sustainability have fast become crucial aspects of decision-making . A report from 451 Research and Schneider Electric found that 97 % of colocation providers ’ customers , for example , are asking for contractual sustainability commitments .
The need to become more sustainable , is in essence , is a primary driver of Digital Transformation initiatives . However , resilience within any mission-critical environment is also essential .
Finding balance between the two , therefore , requires careful consideration in terms of technology choices , greater insights into the operating environment and a holistic sustainability strategy from the outset . As such , there are two technologies , among many others , that today ’ s operator might consider key within any Digital Transformation strategy .
Building sustainable capacity , fast
According to CBRE , data centre growth within the Frankfurt , London , Amsterdam and Paris ( FLAP ) markets will reach 442MW of new capacity during 2021 , and today ’ s operators are under increasing pressure to build new facilities quickly – and to do so in a sustainable way . Prefabricated data centre infrastructure offers today ’ s operators a key vehicle to expand or scale capacity within new and existing sites , in a predictable and energy efficient manner .
These all-in-one modules are designed , specified and assembled at the factory level , then delivered direct to site in a purpose-built , secure and weather-proof structure in as little as 12 – 16 weeks . Prefabricated solutions include the complete spectrum of physical IT infrastructure , such as
Lithium-Ion UPS , traditional air-based cooling systems , racks and DCIM software . Recent design developments have also seen them evolve to accommodate liquid cooling technologies .
For end-users looking to scale fast and meet demanding timescales , prefab offers a resilient and quick-to-deploy Digital Transformation solution that can support on-premises , hybrid IT and Edge Computing workloads .
Managing on-premise and distributed IT infrastructure
Data Centre Infrastructure Management ( DCIM ) software has become one of the key technologies to help end-users manage their mission-critical environments more effectively .
With greater need to mitigate downtime and to monitor distributed assets in real time , DCIM offers end-users increased visibility from anywhere at any time . Newer platforms , like Schneider Electric ’ s EcoStruxure IT , leverage AI and Machine Learning to proactively identify faulty components before they malfunction and to alert service personnel , which helps to improve service continuity and prevent outages .
Further , DCIM platforms such as EcoStruxure are far more advanced than traditional , on-premises software solutions and offer a vendor-neutral monitoring solution for any IoT-enabled device .
They are simple to install , intuitive to use and can help manage and reduce energy consumption – enabling power and cooling systems to be operated with optimum energy efficiency and thereby meeting demands for resilience and sustainability .
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