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: