Modular Data Centres Are Cheaper To Build

Continued from page 1

Over-Provisioning

“Six percent of data centres in Europe are Colt,” said Guy Ruddock, VP Operations at Colt DCS. “We have over 250 sites across Europe so we are a big player. At the same time we found that the industry really wanted this flexibility, and customers are asking us to provide a data centre for them, either on their site or our own site. Now these customers can have additional flexibility, that nobody except us can currently provide.”

“The sectional nature of this data centre approach means that the customer can choose any sensible size up to 500m2, and any sensible tiering, and any sensible power  density,” said Ruddock. “And one of the options is that it can be fully clad so it can be deployed outside, without a building.”

“Previously it was in the CIO’s interest to over-provision when building new data centres. And that cost is absolutely fearsome,” said Ruddock. He then cited an example of a new data centre in London, where they had worked out that it would be cheaper to install each server in a room in the Park Lane Hotel for a year, which would work out cheaper than building the new data centre.

“When someone identified a new site for a data centre, there was significant work to get power to that site, but this product will test that thinking,” said Geoghegan. “A shift is coming in the sense about a conventional two year build, but now it is much quicker. Customers can opt to step it up for power as they grow.”

“Nobody in the data centre industry thought about this before (constructing a dc to match existing needs and then grow it), but the oil industry thought about this problem way back in late 1980s, when it build oil platforms to be scalable,” said Ruddock.

“This option is going to become the normal option for customers that don’t have a lot of money to spend on data centres,” said Ruddock. “When companies were flush with cash, OPEX was not a big issue, but now it is.”

Containers vs Modular

“Our approach differs from the shipping container approach,” said Ruddock. “Containers are a great idea but are for a different problem. They tend to house small servers, stripped down, and it is then run until it breaks, and are used in disasters and war zones. It won’t work in something more traditional.”

Colt claims that it also offers improved power efficiency. In addition to the 1500W and 1625W per square metre standard products already on offer today, Colt is able to increase the power density of its Modular Data Centre to up to 3000W per square metre or reduce it to as low as 750W per square metre, depending on the customer requirements. These new power densities are available across all new modular designs.

And Colt also provides the Tier levels 2, 3, 3+ or 4 throughout the entire range of Modular Data Centres. It is working with the Uptime Institute to have the new designs independently certified.

Page: 1 2

Tom Jowitt

Tom Jowitt is a leading British tech freelancer and long standing contributor to Silicon UK. He is also a bit of a Lord of the Rings nut...

View Comments

  • It all sounds great, but why would I want a telecommunications company to provide me with an unpowered box. I still need power to the site I still need transformers and services, after-all 375sq/m. at 3,000w/m with a PUE of 1.3 is over 1.4MW.

    If my firm was to invest the millions it would take I would want the PI of the worlds leading engineering and design companies and I'd want a deliver firm whose sole focus is the delivery of world-class data centres.

    How long before the telecoms company decides it isn't a data centre developer and wants to go back to be a co-lo and teleco.....

    Sorry guys just too risky, but good luck.

Recent Posts

US Supreme Court Agrees To Hear TikTok Appeal

US Supreme Court says it will hear appeal of TikTok and parent ByteDance against ban…

2 days ago

Japanese Space Start-Up Destroys Second Rocket After Launch

Japanese start-up Space One destroys Kairos rocket for second time shortly after launch, as country…

2 days ago

CATL Aims To Massively Expand EV Battery-Swap Infrastructure

World's biggest EV battery maker CATL aims to build 1,000 battery-swap stations next year, rising…

2 days ago

Facebook ‘Restricted’ Palestinian News Content

Facebook has 'severely restricted' news content from Palestinian outlets since October 2023 amidst bias concerns,…

2 days ago

Amazon Faces Strike Action In US Ahead Of Christmas

Amazon faces strike actions at facilities across US days before Christmas as union members authorise…

2 days ago