• • • COVER STORY • • •


Specifying physical infrastructure systems for edge environments


Cloud computing has revolutionised the way in which digital services are delivered and consumed, says Marc Garner, vice president, Schneider Electric UK and Ireland


F


rom government and public services to the retail, education and industrial manufacturing sectors, digital dependency is


accelerating. Now devices ranging from smartphones and in-store kiosks, to enterprise computing and processing plants, all require real-time access to data, connectivity and application availability. Traditionally, many digital services were


delivered from regional or centralised data centres, whose location and distance from the point of consumption was irrelevant. However, the diversity and digitised nature of today’s businesses means that many are deploying physical infrastructure systems closer to the point at which their data is generated or consumed. Network latency, or the speed of response to a


request for data, is critical for many of today’s business and mission-critical applications. There is also the issue of reducing network congestion given the enormous amount of data being generated by emerging applications such as Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices, video calls and streaming services. In many cases, it is beneficial to keep data


traffic within closed, local loops rather than to cause further congestion to the network by transmitting data back and forth from a small number of hyperscale facilities.


Growth at the edge Consequently, more applications are being hosted within physical infrastructure and distributed IT systems at the edge of the network. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 75% of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed at the edge – outside a traditional centralised data centre or cloud. By comparison, in 2018 that figure was a mere 10%. IDC also estimates that enterprise and service


provider spending on edge computing will reach $40 billion in 2022 and grow to nearly $64bn through 2025. To fulfil demand for physical infrastructure at


the edge, the industry has responded with sustainable, resilient and efficient technologies, including the creation of self-contained micro data centres. These are prefabricated, factory- tested, and enclosed units comprising the power, cooling, environmental control and security


components needed to deploy an integrated IT system almost anywhere. Often built on single-rack systems, micro data


centres allow mission-critical infrastructure to be deployed both quickly and efficiently, ensuring standardised computing resources are designed for a specific load and can be scaled as demands increase. As such, businesses can deploy new IT resources as and when they need it, using preconfigured, pre-tested designs to replicate systems over multiple sites.


Key components of


micro data centres Although all micro data centres often share some common characteristics, including integrated power, cooling and IT, there are nevertheless many differences that must be accommodated depending on the requirements of the hosting environment. Regardless of purpose or location all will need: racks and enclosures to house standardised IT equipment and critical systems; physical security to guard against unwanted intrusion, human error or to prevent damage to the


hardware; power infrastructure such as UPS to protect against power failures; cooling infrastructure to maintain optimum operating temperatures; and both remote monitoring and software management systems. The design of a micro data centre is largely


classified by three primary types of environment, they include. IT environments, which are purpose- built IT rooms with temperature control and secure restricted access; commercial and office spaces, which traditionally comprise any available space in an office; and industrial or harsh environments. The latter can include factory floors, manufacturing and logistics environments, or mining and fossil-fuel extraction.


IT environments If a micro data centre is to be deployed within a room that’s purpose built to house IT equipment, then many of the environmental, cooling and security requirements will already be provided. As such, there is no need to duplicate them. However, it may be best practice to provide some additional level of rack security such as doors and a lock, but


10 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • MARCH 2022


electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk


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