February 2009 - Data Center Industrialization

Bring Standardization To The Data Center By Sixto Ortiz Jr., February 13, 2009, Vol.31 Issue 7

The process of designing and building a brand new data center is much like building cathedrals once was during the Middle Ages: Developers, as medieval architects and laborers once did, often start with a “white board” approach and essentially reinvent the wheel each time a new data center development and construction project is undertaken. While it doesn’t take decades to get a brand new data center constructed, the fact remains that data center builders often ignore best practices that could make projects more successful, reduce costs, and avoid common pitfalls.

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But, the tide appears to be turning. A variety of factors are now driving the task of data center development and construction toward standardization. Standardization may just save you a bundle on your next data center project.

Drivers For Standardization
Building a data center is a complex endeavor, so it seems logical that standardization should be a common practice. Even though standardization in data center development and construction remains the exception rather than the norm today, there are a number of drivers accelerating the move toward standardization.

Chris Crosby, senior vice president at Digital Realty Trust (www.digitalrealtytrust.com), says there are four main factors driving the trend toward data center design/build standardization: complexity, economics, time to market, and the convergence of three technical trends (rise of high-density computing, energy usage and heat dissipation needs, and the increased cost of energy).

Complexity, says Crosby, is accelerating in such a manner that it is simply too difficult for one person or team of people to have the expertise needed to acquire, design, build, and operate data centers. Unless these projects are done all the time, adds Crosby, they are simply too complex to do in-house.

In terms of economics, he says, the fact is these are extremely expensive projects, and builders and developers cannot tap into economies of scale unless they build a lot of data centers. “For entities constructing facilities on a three- to five-year timetable,” he says, “these economic breakpoints are simply inaccessible.”

Time to market is also an important driver, says Crosby, because more and more companies are mandating the consolidation of operations as quickly as possible. Only via the use of standardization, he adds, can facilities be completed within time frames measured in months, not years. Finally, says Crosby, the rise of high-density computing and storage, energy usage and heat dissipation needs, and the increased cost of energy are all driving data center designers and constructors toward standardization simply because people are looking for proven best practices and want to do away with what Crosby calls older, more idiosyncratic approaches to data centers that made facilities so different from one another. “Companies want a data center that works and runs efficiently,” he adds, “and standardization is a more reliable path to a successful project.”

Best Practices Come To The Forefront

A huge part of data center standardization is the identification and adoption of best practices that can help developers design and build efficient data centers consistently. Jody Cefola, manager of site and facilities services at IBM (www.ibm.com), points to TIA-942 (Telecommunications Infrastructure Standards for Data Centers) as an example of a standard that specifically addresses data center infrastructure.

According to Cefola, the standard is intended for use by data center designers and focuses on site space and layout, cabling infrastructure, tiered reliability based on Uptime Institute Tier levels, and environmental considerations. Also, adds Cefola, the ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers) has published a Datacom series of best practices around equipment layout and data center temperature ranges that ensure energy-efficient data center operation while meeting hardware manufacturers’ requirements for reliable operations.

Matt Kightlinger, director of solutions marketing for the Liebert Products business of Emerson Network Power (www.emerson.com), says some best practices that are becoming standardized include the use of optimized UPS building blocks that allow for scalability, hot aisle/cold aisle rack/row arrangement, increasing use of precision cooling that includes high-density cooling capability, and effective monitoring systems. “From an industry-wide standpoint,” says Digital Realty Trust’s Crosby, “I would say that the concept of modularity is gaining more universal acceptance, but the implementation schemes tend to vary dramatically depending on the vendor.” A potential pitfall to watch out for, adds Crosby, is vendors who claim modularity but then build out the entire electrical backplane for a facility and add their modular space after the fact. This, he adds, is extremely inefficient from a cost perspective since the power architecture comprises the bulk of build-out costs.

The Impact On The SME

Any trend that results in cost reductions is going to have a positive impact on small and medium-sized enterprises, which often don’t have the capital dollars required to make sizable investments in data center development and build-out. For example, says Robert Neave, CTO of GDCM (www.gdcm.com), a data center management solution provider, even though today’s economic climate is challenging, the reality is that many businesses will need to take on new data center builds and upgrades this year. So, he adds, it’s safe to say that companies, particularly SMEs, will be eager to adopt standardized approaches if they result in lower costs.

Digital Realty Trust’s Crosby says the shift to an “industrialized” approach to data center implementation offers substantial benefits to SMEs for whom the skill and economic pressures are greater than their enterprise-class brethren. Modularity, adds Crosby, provides these businesses with a viable alternative to having to build their facilities themselves. In other words, modularity can provide the SME with a consistent approach to data center development and construction that relies on proven approaches and best practices.

Another perceived best practice is hot aisle/cool aisle cooling approaches. With these methods, there is no longer a need to cool the entire data center like a meat locker, says Bill Peldzus, vice president and competency lead of data centers at GlassHouse Technologies (www.glasshouse.com). These approaches, he adds, support many cost and “green” efficiencies when compared to traditional cooling and humidity approaches.

But, just because a method or approach is labeled a “best practice” doesn’t necessarily make it so. John Consoli, CTO at AFCO Systems (www.afcosystems.com), says “the interesting thing about ‘best practices’ is that once they become widely adopted, they quickly become the de facto ‘minimally acceptable standards’ for our industry.” Rarely, if ever, are these practices that have become standards questioned or re-evaluated, he adds.

Data Center Standardization Arrives

It’s clear that data center standardization will be a boon for companies that need to undertake data center development and construction projects and can’t afford to make mistakes that result in cost overruns and wasted time. Whenever best practices and approaches in an industry are codified and available to all, everyone from the largest enterprise to the smallest business reaps the benefits.