FEATURE
generated in the first place by installing small ‘local’ data centres close to the factory, office block, hospital, or building complex.
This shift from ‘data centres’ to ‘centres of data’ fulfils the desire for low latency processing. It also reduces the strain on bandwidth and enables more data to be kept locally, which minimises the risk of data corruption and the threat of losing sensitive information to cyber-hackers.
“Sending data from sensors
located in offices all the way to a data centre hundreds of miles away, processing it,
then transporting back isn’t a satisfactory solution.”
Moves to micro data centres Life at the edge calls for a different type of data centre to the hyperscale full of storage racks that we’re probably all familiar with.
To start with, it’s neither feasible or financially-viable to simply build a full-size data centre next to any building. Due to its very nature, edge processing often finds a home in a less than ideal environment – an unused office, the corner of a warehouse, outside in the car park, or even on the roof.
This factor explains why micro or modular data centres are becoming the go-to option. These prefabricated facilities are often housed inside a secure weather and fire-proof steel shipping container, meaning they can easily be installed in places not originally built with the needs of a data centre in mind.
Micro data centres carry out exactly the same functions as a standard data centre and incorporate all the same core elements and technologies, just in a heavily reduced footprint.
So there are 19-inch cabinets and server racks, uninterruptible power supplies, PDUs, cabling, air conditioning, and all the necessary management and monitoring software.
Because they’re classed as a temporary structure, many containerised data centres aren’t subject to UK planning regulations, one of the reasons why they can be ready to ‘go live’ within eight weeks of initial design.
Another advantage for facilities managers is that by their very nature – a ‘data centre in a box’ – micro data centres can easily be transported between several locations.
www.tomorrowsfm.com
Powering the change Of course, these micro data centres depend on a stable and continuous electricity supply in the same way as any hyperscale or co-location server room does. That’s why each installation must include a UPS to provide much- needed backup that ensures availability whenever there’s an issue with the mains supply.
Because space in a micro data centre is at a premium, the traditional large-scale tower-style UPS isn’t a particularly practical choice. Luckily enough, recent years have seen the development of compact modular UPS systems, which are the perfect partner for space- restricted ‘edge’ environments.
Modular power supplies use the latest technologies to deliver high power density in a significantly reduced footprint. The modular principle means they can closely mirror a facility’s load requirements, minimising the risk of wasteful oversizing when first installed.
Similarly, it offers facilities managers the in-built scalability to increase power capacity or redundancy as and when required just by adding in more modules and battery packs. On the flip side, if capacity needs to be scaled back, simply remove the required number of modules.
Modular UPS offer several other advantages compared to older systems too. Firstly, they’re transformerless so are capable of much higher operational efficiency. That’s less wasted energy, so lower electricity bills. They’re smaller and lighter, meaning they produce less heat, so expensive air conditioning isn’t as important. While interruption- free maintenance is guaranteed because individual power modules and batteries are hot-swappable.
So, are micro data centres set for domination? Within the next five years, Gartner predicts 75% of all data will be processed at the edge – today that figure stands at approximately 10%.
You’d expect those forecasts to signal the end of data centres as we currently know them. But in reality, that won’t be the case. Yes, micro data centres at the edge will undoubtedly lead the way for the real-time processing and analysis that our increasingly IoT-driven world depends on.
But there are still plenty of tasks where a traditional enterprise data centre, colocation, or cloud facility makes sense. Think wider trend analysis, performance monitoring, data storage, and all the other non-time- sensitive activities.
We’ve heard bold predictions about the ‘death’ of data centres as we know them too many times before. And even though the edge will certainly play an increasingly prominent role, it’s still far too early to be writing any obituaries just yet.
Facilities managers will need to strike the right balance, rather than relying on just one particular type of data centre.
www.riello-ups.co.uk TOMORROW’S FM | 47
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