Containerized Power and Cooling Modules for Data Centers

by Dennis Bouley and Wendy Torell

Executive Summary

Standardized, pre-assembled and integrated data center facility power and cooling modules are at least 60% faster to deploy, and provide a first cost savings of 13% or more compared to traditional data center power and cooling infrastructure. Facility modules, also referred to in the data center industry as containerized power and cooling plants, allow data center designers to shift their thinking from a customized “construction” mentality to a standardized “site integration” mentality. This white paper compares the cost of both scenarios, presents the advantages and disadvantages of each, and identifies which environments can best leverage the facility module approach.

Conclusion

The introduction of facility power and cooling modules presents an alternative to the traditional “craft industry” approach of designing and building data centers. New economic realities make it no longer possible to bear the brunt of heavy upfront costs and extended construction times for building a traditional data center. The availability of pre-engineered facility modules allows the planning cycle to switch from an onsite construction focus to onsite integration of pre-manufactured, pre-tested blocks of power and cooling. The result of this change in focus is a lower cost, and faster delivery solution. The ideal applications for facility modules are as follows:

A new data center seeking faster, cheaper ways to “step and repeat” computer power and support systems (especially when load growth is uncertain).
An organization with vacant space (i.e. warehouse space) that can be leveraged for a more quickly-deployed new data center without the expense of brick and mortar construction.
Existing data centers that are constrained by space and power / cooling capacity. Facility modules can power and cool traditional data center IT rooms that are out of power and cooling capacity. They can also be used to power and cool IT modules (containers of IT equipment). Among leading edge corporations, a migration from brick and mortar to facility module “parks” will take place. Cloud computing business models will also accelerate the deployment of rapid facility module provisioning.