The mainstream trend of global data Center product transformation and development

March 29, 2014, Shenzhen Cloud base and China's first prefabricated modular data center officially opened. The first phase of the data center project from September 2013 to January 2014 the entire project completed smoothly, less than 4 months, one of the most talked about is a "fast" word, and this "fast" word just highly summarizes the advantages of prefabricated modular data center.

Factory prefabrication feasible

Prefabricated modular data centers follow modular data center design and construction ideas, the modular approach to deployment is undoubtedly the mainstream of today's data center construction, followed by Factory prefabrication, in which the assembly, connectivity and testing of data center-related infrastructure are completed at the plant, minimizing the amount of work on the data center site , thereby shortening the construction cycle of the data center, improving the quality of the project, can also reduce the cost.

The Shenzhen Cloud Base data Center, located in the modern logistics center of Shenzhen Yantian Port Group, is said to be the first large data center to be built in China using the prefabricated method of a base-type plant. The total building area of the data centre is 60,000 sq m and is scheduled to be completed in three phases within a few years. The first phase of the project has been completed, the total area of 5000 square meters, the existing cabinet of 680, and also reserved 158.

Base-type factory prefabrication means dividing a large data center into appropriate modules, assembling each module on the base in the factory and testing it, then transporting the modules to the data center construction site for stitching and installation. The traditional data center construction is a huge field project, which often requires dozens of or even hundreds of people of different jobs to cross work to complete the building of data center. The base-type factory prefabrication method turns a difficult data center project into a prefabricated product, not only accelerates the construction speed of the data center, improves the quality, but also effectively lowers the construction cost.

Shenzhen former Hai Tianyun Data Center Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Cloud Data center technology) chief executive Hu Yin said: "Data center construction from engineering to product transformation is the current global data Center building a major development trend." Yantian Port Data Center is a benchmark for prefabricated modular data centers. Its successful construction has proven that it is possible to build a high level data center that meets the full needs of large data center users through factory prefabrication. It gives the vast data center users and data center designers, builders to provide reference and inspiration. ”

The first phase of the Shenzhen Yantian Port Data Center project has been put into operation, and the operation of the data center is under the responsibility of the cloud Base's professional services company, which is said to have been leased by corporate customers. The Shenzhen Yantian Port data Center is the same as the "crab-eating Man", and its launch shows that the prefabricated modular data centers that have become popular abroad can also meet the needs of Chinese users.

Data Center Engineering Product

Rapid deployment, flexible scaling, high availability, and low cost have been the core requirements for users in designing and deploying data centers. In today's China, where cloud computing and big data are growing, the demand is more pronounced, and modularity and factory prefabrication are clearly better at meeting these needs.

In fact, factory prefabrication is not a patent of the data center industry. Hu Yin said that in the pharmaceutical industry, some large pharmaceutical companies in the construction of production lines and plants are also used in factory prefabrication this way, that is, the product line required to produce the equipment or modules, and then to the site to install. The same is true in the area of renewable architecture. One of the core business of broad air conditioning is a renewable building, which builds a building in the park within 15 days of the Shanghai World Expo, thanks to the way the factory is prefabricated, that all parts are manufactured in factories and then assembled at the construction site. Factory prefabrication can greatly speed up the construction of a project and reduce costs, so it has been applied in many industries. Because of the special application requirements, the data center industry may be more complex than other industries in adopting factory prefabrication.

In foreign countries, prefabricated modular data centers have been popular for nearly two or three years. Through in-depth research, especially the past year's practice, Hu Yin has a deeper understanding of prefabricated modular data centers. He summed up the advantages of prefabricated modular data centers in the following four areas.

First, the production of data center engineering. This is the most profound impact and change that the prefabricated modular data center brings to the data center industry. The prefabricated modular data center of Yantian Port transforms the computer room engineering into a customized product, product external material selection, internal equipment selection and assembly methods have to undergo repeated optimization design, technical evaluation and system testing, to ensure that users deliver reliable, safe and highly available data center products. Product-oriented modular data center, internal and external firmware are standardized structure, mainly including fire, lighting, maintenance sockets, equipment support structure. These parts are all produced and assembled on the factory line. A very complex need to distribute the implementation of the Machine Room project now become as simple as the block, construction difficulty greatly reduced, the construction cycle is also shorter. Typically, the construction cycle of a large data center is 1.5 to two years, and the construction cycle of the prefabricated modular data center in Yantian port is only 3.5 months, which is enough to make Hu Yin and his team proud.

Second, the function of modularization. The Modular data center product is to separate the relative independent unit in the Data center infrastructure system, and to reorganize the module, and to ensure the stable output of each module through the system redundancy, backup and fault tolerance. These encapsulated modules are connected through limited cables and pipelines, thus constituting a complete data center system. The concept of prefabricated modularization makes the deployment of the data center in Yantian port more flexible, more convenient and more economical to operate.

The production of standardized modules is Schneider Electric's strength. Schneider Electric can provide modules such as refrigeration, power distribution and so on that are necessary for modular data centers. Schneider Electric is the main equipment supplier of Yantian port data center, including cabinets, power distribution cabinets, UPS units and batteries, precision air-conditioning, dense bus and medium voltage switch, etc., all of the equipment are provided by Schneider Electric. "Schneider Electric is our main supplier of prefabricated modular data centers," said Hu Yin. ”

Third, deployment is quicker. Data centers usually include 9 major systems, namely, construction, decoration, electrical, refrigeration, security, fire, fresh air, transportation and peacekeeping management. Traditional data center in the design phase, each system must be detailed design, reasonable research to determine the final implementation plan, the design cycle of at least 1/3 of the overall construction cycle of the data center, coupled with equipment selection, the project before the implementation of a number of reviews, etc., further extended the data center construction cycle. The Yantian Port Data Center employs modular products that have been optimized, tested and evaluated, dramatically simplifying the design process and shortening the construction cycle.

Four, green operation. In the design process, the data center of Yantian Port considers green energy saving as a key factor. Sometimes, the key equipment in the room, such as electrical, refrigeration and other equipment can not be fully utilized, the low efficiency caused by the low load is the traditional data center is the main reason for inefficient energy. Follow the modular design concept, Yantian port data Center in the various modules to form a complete data center, while abandoning the traditional planning idea of reserving 3-5 years of capacity to achieve on-demand expansion, thereby improving the electrical equipment and mechanical equipment use efficiency, reduce the overall energy consumption.

Yantian Port Data Center in the local has achieved a hot channel closed environment, innovative use of cloud data center technology development of refrigeration system-cold wall. "In the hot Channel closed environment, the use of cold wall can reduce wind speed, improve refrigeration efficiency, and even replace the precision air-conditioning." Some of the big internet companies abroad have adopted the cold wall system. "Unlike standardized precision air-conditioning, cold walls are not standardized products and must be tailored to the different needs of each data center project," Hu Yin said. In the fourth generation data center, the cold wall is becoming the standard, can reduce the PUE value effectively. ”

Backed by prefabricated factories

Previously, the Sky Cloud Data center Technology flagship product is the container data center. But the current Chinese container data center market is not mature, demand is not exuberant. Hu Yin last year took over the cloud data center technology, determined to make business adjustments, the container data center as a product line was retained, and the entire company's business focus shifted to the construction of large data centers. The Yantian Port Data Center is the first t3+-level data center to be built using advanced factory prefabrication after the transformation of the Cloud data center technology business. On the basis of this successful practice, Tian Yun Data center technology is also ready to use this method for the construction of Ningxia Cloud base data center. The base is built to usher in international clients like Amazon AWS.

Market analysis companies predict that over the next 5 years, more than half of the world's data centers, especially large data centers will be built in the form of factory prefabrication. "Our current idea is to take advantage of the flow and build large data centers as their core business." Large Internet companies and IDC are our target customers. "The factory's prefabricated data centers are not limited by customer base and can be used to build cloud data centers for Internet companies as well as data centers for commercial enterprises," Hu Yin said. The essence of the factory's prefabricated data centers is to turn data center engineering into a data center product. In this respect, Schneider Electric has done a more extreme job of turning all the components into standardized modules. In addition to the standardized components, we sometimes have to provide customized solutions to our customers ' specific needs. ”

The factory prefabrication method and the modular data center design idea complement each other. Each module in the data center is independent of each other, and the modules will not interact with each other even if there is a problem with the module. In the fourth generation data center, the way of factory prefabrication and modular construction thought has been accepted. "We have found that there is a growing trend in data center modules, such as Tencent's use of micro-modules in a data center built in Shanghai." Schneider Electric also has a strong capability in micro-modules. Hu Yin said, "Factory prefabrication this way is very suitable for data center rolling Development, data center in the process of upgrading and expansion, can add new modules at any time, more than 10 cabinets are installed on a base, one-time push into the room can be." ”

Sky Cloud Data center technology in Yangzhou has also built the first domestic, international leading new generation of modular data center prefabricated plant. The plant has been put into operation recently and will produce container data centers in addition to the production of prefabricated components for modular data centers. Sky Cloud Data center technology hopes to recruit a number of professional and technical workers and research and testing personnel, for a few years to reach the scale of 500 people. By then, the plant will be the world's largest prefabricated plant for modular data centers. "What we aim at is not the domestic market, but the international market." We are now in the process of accumulating technology, talent and experience. We must first have a successful factory prefabricated modular data center model, such as Yantian Port data center, then is to build a modular data center prefabricated factory, will have a wealth of data center building experience of the professionals to unite together, out of a path of their own development. "Hu Yin said.

Talking about why the prefabricated plant was built in Yangzhou, Hu Yin said: "At first, we are ready to work with Schneider Electric to build this prefabricated plant." Later, for a variety of reasons, we decided to build the factory ourselves. The reason why the factory was built in Yangzhou is mainly because of the unique geographical advantages of Yangzhou. Yangzhou is located in the Yangtze River delta area, on the one hand, there is a strong demand for data center construction, on the other hand, Yangzhou traffic developed, and close to the port, for our future international business is very beneficial. Cost is a very important factor in the production of data center engineering. Our manufacturing costs are only half that of the United States. ”

Find a breakthrough

For the vast number of Chinese users, factory prefabrication this way is relatively new, users accept that there is a process. For Schneider Electric, cloud data center technology in the prefabricated modular data center to make a difference in the field of manufacturers, it is urgent to find out the needs of users, while looking for a breakthrough in the industry, to find some model customers, so that customers to convince customers. Schneider Electric acquired the AST has been developed for many years, in the field of prefabricated modular data center has accumulated a wealth of experience and a wide range of customer base, involving the army, IT services, real estate, chemical, government, manufacturing, banking and many other industries. However, if you want to introduce the factory prefabrication this way into China, but also pay attention to whether there is a situation of acclimatized. Schneider Electric has been trying to collaborate with large Chinese internet companies on prefabricated modular data centers.

Yantian Port Factory prefabricated large high-end data center is the sky Cloud data center technology and Schneider Electric strategic cooperation of the latest achievements. Hu Yin that the construction process of the data center is very convincing, it used factory prefabrication way to meet the needs of enterprise-class customers, construction speed, low cost, quality assurance. It is said that after the completion of the data center, many peers have come to visit and given full recognition. "Factory prefabrication is suitable for new data centers, but not for old data centers." Although we push the factory prefabrication this way, it does not mean that all data centers must be built in this way. We just want to use the example of the Yantian port data centre to show that there is a better way to build the data centre today. "Hu Yin said.

Yantian Port Data Center is the Schneider Electric and cloud data center technology cooperation, complementary advantages of a model. Hu Yin said: "Our cooperation with Schneider Electric belongs to the strategic level of cooperation, specific to each project, cooperation will be different." In the project of Yantian Port data center, we initially made a joint design, the main equipment in the room is also provided by Schneider Electric. ”