The Janus Supercomputer is an example of the "custom modular" approach advanced by Data Centers Delivered, which launched this week.
Can modular data centers and custom design go together? That's the approach taken by Data Centers Delivered, the latest entry in the fast-growing modular data center sector.
Data Centers Delivered says it will specialize in custom-built manufactured data center solutions. The company is backed by Epsilon Industries, a manufacturer of custom mechanical and electrical systems, and says it will offer a complete suite of modular solutions for IT and power infrastructure.
Standardization has been one of the key selling points for modular data center design, with pre-fabricated construction offering the potential for lower cost and faster deployment than traditional mission-critical facilities. Data Centers Delivered is seeking to differentiate itself by offering a "best of both worlds" approach offering advantages of both modular and brick-and-mortar construction.
Standard vs. Custom
"Before we built the first custom modular data center, the market lacked a fully customized approach to building a data center off-site," said Trey Austin, a partner at Data Centers Delivered. "Building on Epsilon Industries' design and manufacturing experience, we created Data Centers Delivered to produce custom, modular data centers that clients could not find in currently available products and deliver customers full control of how their data center is designed and what components are used, so that they can have a new data center up and running in a matter of weeks."
On its new web site, Data Centers Delivered features eight projects it has participated in, including the Janus Supercomputer at the University of Colorado at Boulder, a 184 teraflop cluster featuring 16,416 total cores housed in 342 chassis. Data Centers Delivered built the modules for the project, working with Critical Facilities Technology, Dell and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
"Rather than a pre-established solution such as a shipping container, the Janus facility was designed-to-order, fabricated, and fully tested o-site in a three-month period, and then installed in a former parking lot at the university in a single day," notes a white paper (PDF) on the Janus project. The facility features two separate rooms inside of a single structure: a mechanical room and a raised floor data center.
Data Centers Delivered also has provided modular electrical and mechanical infrastructure for Equinix in New Jersey, along with multiple projects for unidentified colocation clients.
The company has offices in Houston, New York, and Toronto, and a manufacturing facility in Kingston, Ontario. Executives of Data Centers Delivered will present Thursday at the 21st Century Data Center Symposium in Dallas.
