MODULAR DATA CENTRES
By Chris Wellfair, Projects
Director, Secure I.T.
Environments Ltd
www.siteltd.co.uk
Can data centres get any more
modular than shipping containers?
Modular data centres have for some time helped customers
lower the cost of new facilities and overcome the challenges
associated with such builds. Modular data centres can also
provide secure facilities within existing buildings or allow
a data centre to be put in an unusual location where it
wouldn’t be appropriate to have a new build, either because
of planning laws or space.
But there is a new kid on the block, that’s bringing a new
perspective to the modular option. You’ve probably heard
the term ‘containerised data centre’ and associate it with
huge data centre projects, such as those run by the public
cloud vendors with tens of thousands of servers and the
need for constant growth. In those instances, they’re chosen
for speed, cost-effectiveness and ease of installation. But
those benefits aren’t only true when working at scale. There
are several scenarios where a containerised data centre
might be just right for you, even if you’re a smaller business
with more limited needs.
Containerised solutions can form small data centres where
they help resolve space, deployment time, build complexity
and cost challenges; they’re very flexible and depending on
the internal configuration can perform very well in low or
high-density applications. In an emergency, containerised
solutions can also shine as part of a disaster recovery plan if
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