Designing a data center takes more than just considerable money and time. This article will explore, in detail, the optimal way a data center should be built; including all of the basic requirements for this data center to serve as a colocation facility; as well as the requirements that constitute a ‘modern-day’ fully functional data center.
The Modern Data Center
Previously, data center’s sold colocation services was based on space. Equipment was large and bulky, companies were paying for the real estate based on the square footage needed to house their servers. This trend has passed, the primary consideration for companies nowadays is power and whether the data center has enough power to service and cool them. According to research by DatacenterDynamics, a dozen years ago, data centers, on average, used 30 to 50 watts of power per square foot; while today’s facilities consume 150 to 225 watts per square foot.
Additionally, because data centers dominate power and cooling resources, there is an industry-wide push for them to be designed in an energy efficient manner. For example, designing a data center with recycled materials, raised floors for maximum cooling efficiency, and alternative natural power sources is the acceptable, ‘green’ way to go. And while ‘green’ stands for efficiency, the upfront costs to make a data center truly green are substantial.
If a company is looking to build its own data center, it’s important to keep these key objectives in mind:
- Capital Investment – Depending on location and amount of space required, companies should expect to spend millions of dollars for a reliable data center. According to HostDiscussion.com, the costs per square foot vary widely because of tier level, power consumption and square footage of white space vs. building square footage, redundancy, etc. There are 20,000 sq. ft. data centers that can be built for $11M but likewise, there are 100,000 sq. ft. data centers that cost $200M – it really depends on what the design intent is.
- Aim for Maximum Efficiency – Data center equipment should be configured in a way that allows for efficiency with regards to both operation and maintenance. This can be achieved through raised floors, hot aisle/cold aisle design and efficient rack structuring, all these factors will contribute to better efficiency and reduced costs.
- Be flexible – Data centers should be built with the future in mind, this infrastructure will be be utilized for the next 20-40 years. With this, it is highly important to enable the accomodate modification, scalablity and easy access for upgrading power and connectivity.
- Go ‘Green’ by Exploring Renewable Power Sources – Consider therenewable power sources to power your data center or act as a back up. Solar or wind energy can be stored and used as an alternative to a diesel generator.
- Integrate redundancy –Redundancy refers to having a backup proceedure for every important system that powers the data center – multiple power feeds, generators, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems, and cooling. These systems ensure that the data center remains operational during a planned or unplanned outage and ultimately that a client’s data is safe, secure, and experiences maximum uptime. Providing redundancy across all systems is the most crucial element in the design of a data center.
Data Centers as Colocation Facilities
For companies who are considering designing a data center that will serve as a multi-tenant or colocation facility, (a type of data center that houses multiple customers’ servers within a shared infrastructure) below are the features that such data centers provide:
- Space
- Power (in a variety of formats)
- Cooling
- Security (video surveillance, 24/7 security staff, biometric/badge access, etc.)
- Storage (lockable rack cabinets/cages)
- Networking equipment of other firms, connecting tenants to a variety of telecom and network service providers
- Cost savings
- Redundancy (to eliminate/reduce risk of downtime)
Learn more about leading global data center provider, TELEHOUSE or contact us!