FEATURE
construction workers – and maximising sustainable construction and subsequent operation . At Vantage we ’ ve evolved a replicable and scalable blueprint for bringing together all the elements needed to meet these demands : an application of building technologies and experts certified to design , build , operate and maintain the infrastructure .
The design and development cycle effectively starts in tandem with the initial planning applications and discussions with local council authorities and utilities . A potential data centre location will undergo a thorough risk assessment including the availability of suitable land , water , power and fibre . For example , a dedicated on-site , high-voltage substation may be required as was the case at our new Johannesburg campus . This first required our engineers to upgrade the pre-existing Council power lines and modify the pylons .
Other risks will include proximity of a potential site to a flood plain , flight path or earthquake risk . Geopolitical risk factors and availability of construction workers will also need to be mitigated .
Critical components
Space , power The move to high-density computing means power to space ratio is increasingly critical for achieving highly concentrated power to rack in ever smaller footprints . Growing hyperscale cloud and HPC deployments are already driving up rack densities to unprecedented levels .
To address these challenges , we are now providing up to 300 watts per square foot , allowing a standard data module to support an average of 8.3 kW of power to each rack . In addition , 4 MW of IT capacity is available within one data module . All electrical components are located outside the server room in dedicated containers . Apart from allowing more space for racks , such a design approach facilitates M & E installation and ensures maximum reliability in any location as all equipment is designed and premanufactured by world-class suppliers . Resilience is assured through N + 2 for mechanical systems and distributed redundancy for electrical systems .
Cooling Cooling efficiency has always been critical to data centre resilience and uptime as well as for energy cost optimisation . But in the fight against climate change making these as energy efficient as possible , it matters more now than ever . We design our facilities to use virtually no water for cooling . In areas where we have to use water because of climate conditions
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