It’s been more than five years since the unveiling of the Sun Blackbox, the first commercial data center container. Modular designs are now common in huge cloud data centers and high-performance computing (HPC), and vendors say they are poised to push further into the mainstream.

What’s the state of the modular market? Five years in, the questions abound: Are any customers really buying them? Who are they? How large is the potential market? What does the analyst community think about modular data centers?

Here’s an update in which we answer these questions.

Who Are the Companies Using Modular Data Centers?

Running servers in shipping containers was initially viewed as a niche play by many in the data center industry, limited to mobile requirements, temporary capacity, or novel designs like cloud computing facilities. Analysts and industry watchers have debated whether the efficiencies of modular data centers would be embraced by enterprise users, who are sometimes slow to adopt new technology.

Here’s a look at IO isn’t alone in public announcements of modular customers:

• IO has 35 customers using its IO Anywhere modules, who have deployed about 50 modules in the company’s immense data centers in Phoenix and New Jersey. IO customers using modules include Photobucket, Allianz, Avnet, Logicalis and Suntron. Cloud computing provider Red Cloud, will install 4.5 megawatts of modular capacity at three sites across Australia, demonstrating the remote deployment capability.
• HP recently cited momentum for its modular offering, the Portable Optimized Datacenter (POD). Customers who have recently used PODs to expand their IT operations include UCLA, Skoda Power, the Australian government and the city of El Paso, Texas.
• Modules from Dell’s Data Center Solutions Group (DCS) are powering Bing Maps, the Janus Supercomputer at the University of Colorado and a Tier 5 facility in Australia, and will populate Dell’s own cloud data center in Quincy, Washington.
• Colt has supplied its factory-built modules to Verne Global in Iceland, where they will house servers for managed hosting provider Datapipe, as well as a substantial deployment for systems integrator Phoenix IT in London.
• Modules from AST Global have populated a 21-unit data center park for a financial customer in Denmark, as well as servers for Opera within the Thor Data Center in Iceland.
• eBay has used a new modular design for a new data center in Phoenix, and will also use modules to power the second phase of its major data center near Salt Lake City.
• Cloud computing pioneer Amazon Web Services is using a modular design known as Perdix to deploy data center capacity at several sites in central Oregon.
• Microsoft has been among the most aggressive in adopting the modular form factor, using it as the building block for major data centers in Chicago, Washington state, Virginia and Iowa.
• Google was perhaps the first company to use container in a large-scale deployment, using them in a data center it built in 2005.

How Large is the Modular Market, and the Potential Market?

One of the challenges in assessing the uptake of modular data centers has been the lack of customers that will publicly acknowledge their use. One presumed explanation is that the earliest adopters were the U.S. military and other organizations that simply don’t talk about their data centers.

There’s one analyst number out there: In discussing demand for modular data center, HP noted a projection by IDC analyst Michelle Bailey that modular deployments will rise from 144 units this year to about 220 units in 2012.

How about the potential market? An August 2011 survey of Data Center Knowledge readers found that 35 percent are currently either using modular products or evaluating them with an eye towards adopting the technology in the next 12 to 24 months. Here’s how it broke down:

• Implementing modular data centers broadly: 7 percent
• Implementing selectively: 10 percent
• Modular data centers in testing and development: 7 percent
• Planning to implement in next 12 months: 3 percent
• Planning to implement in 12-24 months: 7 percent
• No plans for modular data centers: 65 percent

That data suggests that these new designs aren’t going to put traditional brick-and-mortar data centers out of business anytime soon, with two-thirds of the market unlikely to consider modular data centers in the short term. But it also shows that there will soon be a meaningful number of companies using modular designs. If they perform as billed and deliver savings, the appeal of modular construction may grow over time.

What does the analyst community think about modular data centers?

The economics of modular data centers vs. brick-and-mortar facilities is debated within the data center industry. Some in the industry believe enterprise customers will always want raised-floor environments inside hardened structures. What’s undeniable is that the economic downturn and corporate belt-tightening has prompted many data center operators to consider new approaches. The beneficiaries of this trend include turn-key wholesale data centers, cloud computing providers and modular data centers.

“Today’s data center is obsolete when taking modularity and the fast maturation of this market into consideration,” said Jason Schafer, research manager at Tier1 Research. “If data center owners and operators are not at least exploring and considering modular components as a means for data center expansions and new builds, they are putting themselves at a significant disadvantage from a scalability, cost and possibly maintenance standpoint.”

Tier 1 was initially skeptical of modular designs. But it’s not alone among leading analyst firms in believing that modular designs have a place at the table. David Cappuccio, chief of research for the Infrastructure team at Gartner, discussed the growing appeal of modular designs.

“When planning for data center growth, it is important that all alternatives be reviewed,” Cappuccio said last year. “Newer modular design techniques and container-based solutions should be a critical piece of your analysis. When used appropriately, they can solve specific problems, while reducing capital costs and the time it takes to implement new capacity.”

Modular designs will be a focal point for the 2012 Uptime Symposium this May. Last year the Uptime Institute’s Professional Services unit hired a veteran of HP’s modular program, Debbie Seidman, as its new Director of Technical Services. She will be managing Uptime Institute’s delivery of Design and Facility Tier Certifications worldwide.

“I don’t think we’ll see the entire data center market going modular,” Seidman said. “It’s adaptable, compact, and can be less expensive in upfront costs. But you can’t just plug these things in, you need to ensure the infrastructure is in place.”

For a deeper dive into the modular market, check out the DCK Guide to Modular Data Centers, in which John Rath examines the different approaches to modular design, provides some definitions, and looks at the players in this emerging market.

Components for modular data centers are lined up inside the IO factory in Phoenix, where the company mass produces its IO Anywhere modules.

PHOENIX – From the outside, the IO factory is unremarkable. But inside, the building is stocked with the raw materials of data center disruption.

This 225,000 square foot facility is the back-end of IO’s effort to reshape the face of the data center market. It’s an assembly line for modular data centers.

“Each production line can do stock-to-dock in six days,” said George Slessman, chief executive officer of IO, who says the facility is now in the “full-blown production process. We’re seeing a tremendous amount of demand.”

The Back End of Modular Supply Chain

As adoption of modular designs begins to scale up, the infrastructure focus is shifting from the modules themselves to the back end – the factories to enable mass production of these products.

The IO factory is on the front lines of this effort. At the time of our visit in November, nine completed modules were on site at the factory, and 12 more were under construction on the two production lines. The components for an additional 30 modules were already on site, lined up in rows and ready to be moved onto the line as finished units roll off.

“We’ve accumulated stock to be ready for the initial wave of demand,” said Andreas Zoll, the Vice President of Engineering and Product Development at IO.

Once the modules are finished, they are tested on-site at a commissioning station featuring a generator and a modular chiller plant. They can then be shipped via truck, ship or plane to their final destination.

Economics, Speed and Scale

Modular systems are disruptive on several levels. They shift data center construction from a work site to factories like the IO facility, help drive standardization of components, and shorten delivery times for IT capacity.

Slessman says the combination of the modular design and the factory production can deploy IT capacity cheaper and faster than traditional facilities, which are built for long-term use. “No one goes out and buys 20 years of storage,” says Slessman. “Why would you buy your data center that way?”

“I think everyone’s wanted a solution for their data center that didn’t cost $150 million,” says Slessman. “Even the largest companies don’t want to spend that kind of money. Going to the CFO with a $5 million question is a lot easier.”

Disruption and Adoption

IO has 35 customers using its IO Anywhere modules, who have deployed about 50 modules in the company’s immense data centers in Phoenix and New Jersey. IO modular customers include Photobucket, Allianz, Avnet, Logicalis and Suntron. Cloud computing provider Red Cloud will soon install 4.5 megawatts of modular capacity at three sites across Australia, demonstrating the remote deployment capability.

With speed-to-market becoming an important criteria for customers, IO points to the opening of its New Jersey data center in Edison, where the first customer was deployed just 90 days after the company took occupancy of the building, a former New York Times printing plant.

For modular data centers to live up to their promise, vendors must create factories, supply chains and delivery systems that can improve upon the economics of the brick-and-mortar economy.

How the Assembly Line Operates

So how do these facilities work? The IO facility is built to operate five production lines. Two were active when we visited in November, and a third line has since become operational. Each line is manned by 17 people, who are spread across six work stations where specific components are installed to support the power, cooling and mechanical systems. IO factory staff work a specific station for three months at a time, and then rotate to a different station for the next three months.

Each IO Anywhere unit begins as two half-size module shells, which are put together to form a module that is 42 feet long and about 13 feet in height.

IO uses large air casters – also known as “air skates” – to move the modules move down the production line. The air casters use compressed air to raise heavy loads (similar to a hovercraft) and allow one or two IO staffers to move modules as heavy as  40,000 pounds. When the modules make their way through all six stations, they are moved to a seventh station at the commissioning area.

Each production line can produce two to three of the modules per week. Once all five lines are operational, that creates a potential capacity of between 800 and 1,000 modules a year.

Modular Factory, In Several Aspects

It’s not just the products that are modular. “Our manufacturing is modular as well,” said Zoll. “We can take the playbook for this facility and replicate it someplace else. This could even be done at the customer premises.”

The pace of IO’s growth in New Jersey, and plans for a future site in Singapore, will guide decisions on when and where to increase production. Over time, the cost of shipping the modules from Phoenix to the East Coast could make it cheaper to build a similar facility in New Jersey.

For now, the company is focused on churning out modules to meet existing demand. Slessman points to the factory as a symbol of a new way of building and deploying data center space.

“This is a showroom for us,” he said.

A view of the modules, with the ends now attached, as they make their way down the assembly lines at the IO factory.

Intel ships Atom processors.  Intel (INTC) announced the availability of the latest Intel Atom processor-based platform, formerly codenamed “Cedar Trail.” This latest platform is designed to provide small, compact, on-the-go computing with great battery life.  The new design’s dedicated media engine enables full 1080p high-definition playback of videos and Blu-Ray content and includes additional digital display and output options including HDMI and DisplayPort. The dual-core Intel Atom processor N2600 and Intel Atom processor N2800 are paired with the Intel NM10 Express Chipset and feature a small form factor package size that saves system board real estate and enables thinner netbook designs. Devices with the new Atom processor will be available in early 2012 from major OEMs including: Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba.

IO selected by Solugenix. IO announced that it now provides IT consulting firm Solugenix with data center as a service at IO Phoenix, via its modular technology platform IO Anywhere. IO Anywhere adds capacity through data center as a service, which is delivered in a range of colocation cabinets, shared and dedicated modules, multi-megawatt, customer-dedicated data centers, and solutions that are deployed as a product. ”Today’s traditional data centers will soon become obsolete when you consider all the benefits modularity has to offer,” Shashi Jasthi, CEO at Solugenix said in a statement. “After reviewing a number of solutions, IO’s next-generation modular technology puts us at a significant advantage from a scalability, cost and reliability standpoint, to better support the dynamic needs of our IT customers.”

Fire at Airtel data center in Mumbai India.  A fire was reported Tuesday at the Bharti Airtel data center that took down mobile network service across the city for several hours.  The fire gutted the server room, damaging the entire electrical installation. Worst hit were data services offered by the company, particularly a large number of corporate customers from Mumbai. Airtel responded with several tweets throughout the past few days and a company spokesperson said, “a technical outage has affected our network in the western region, resulting in disruption of some services. We are working toward rectifying the outage at the earliest. We deeply regret the inconvenience caused to our customers.”

A look at the double-decker container deployment for opera in the Thor data center in Iceland.

Iceland’s Thor Data Center has been acquired by Skyrr, one of Iceland’s largest IT service providers, he companies said today. Thor provides modular data center services to customers including Opera Software.

Skyrr is based in Iceland but also has a solid position in the Nordic markets through its subsidiaries abroad in Norway and Sweden. Skýrr offers integrated services in software, consulting, hardware, IT operations and hosting.

“We have been looking into developing a data centre here in Iceland for a while now as there are so many great opportunities in this field, especially in foreign markets,” said Gestur G. Gestsson, the CEO of Skýrr. “We expect that Thor Data Center will help bring in foreign currency and contribute to the overall development of the country’s economy.

“Thor Data Center has actively been involved in the marketing of Iceland’s environmentally friendly options for data centre companies. The data centre has great employees with advanced knowledge of the structure and architecture of data centres.”

Thor DC’s facility features data center containers from Spanish tech firm AST Global that use fresh air cooling, allowing servers to run without the use of chillers for air conditioning. Thor said the container-based design allows for quick assembly of the data center, and flexibility in scaling to adapt to a client’s needs.

Thor has secured 3.2 megawatts of electricity to be provided by HS Energy on the Reykjanes peninsula, with an option to expand its capacity to 19.2 megawatts if needed.

Several R.A.S.E.R. HD enclosures from Elliptical Mobile Solutions.

As modular data center solutions have emerged as a viable deployment model, most vendors have continued to offer 20-foot and 40-foot enclosures, sticking with the ISO-standard sizes used in the early container models from Sun Microsystems and Google.

Elliptical Mobile Systems (EMS) has pursued a different course, specializing in “Micro Modular Data Centers,” smaller enclosures that can house a single rack of IT equipment and a heat exchanger. In early testing, the company’s latest model, the R.A.S.E.R. HD, has shown the ability to cool IT equipment using warm water – a capability that offers major energy efficiency gains.

The R.A.S.E.R. HD is a 42U enclosure designed to handle IT loads from 20 kW to 80 kW. It can be deployed indoors or outdoors, and features active fire suppression, electronic security, environmental monitoring and building automation.

Warmer Water = Higher Efficiency

Many data center cooling systems set the chilled water temperature in range between 45 to 55 degrees. Recent testing found that the R.A.S.E.R. HD can cool high-density loads using water in a range of 65 degrees all the way up to 85 degrees.

Using a higher water temperature in a cooling system provides two benefits – it allows you to either use your chiller less, or not at all. Higher inlet water temperature maximizes the number of hours in which “free cooling” is possible through the use of water side economizers. Additionally, chiller efficiencies increase at a higher supply water temperature.

The testing was conducted at the United Metal Products facility in Tempe, Arizona, with the enclosures placed outdoors on a 100-degree day. The testing used a 23kW load bank to simulate IT loads. After working effectively with 65 degree water, the unit was able to maintain a server inlet temperature around 85 degrees after the water temperature was raised to 85 degrees. While not all companies are comfortable running their data centers at that temperature, the test illustrates the potential to gain savings by running warmer.

“The R.A.S.E.R. HD provides solutions for eliminating chiller systems altogether while maintaining very low PUEs,” said Scott Good of gkkworks, who conducted the testing on behalf of EMS and has authored a white paper (PDF) detailing his findings.

Uses Air/Water Heat Exchanger

The cooling system for R.A.S.E.R. HD consists of an air loop and a water loop. The fans of the cooling unit draw warm air from the rear section of the cabinet and into an air/water heat exchanger. The air is cooled and then blown into the front area of the cabinet. Inside the air/water heat exchanger, the heat energy of the warm air is transferred to the medium of water. The heat exchanger is connected to an external reciprocal chiller unit, where the water is cooled again.

“The closed loop/coupled design offers consistency in cooling performance, independent of the raised floors, floor tiles, and fans associated with traditional cooling,” said Good. “These products scale to successfully support the full gamut of rack loads, from minimal to high density. A user with a closed-loop, close-coupled design knows that a predictable capacity is available as operations grow.”

Elliptical Mobile claims that the R.A.S.E.R. HD can achieve Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratings of 1.1, an extremely efficient performance. Good said he is confident that given an IT load to test he could the unit accomplishing a PUE of 1.03.

Intriguing Deployment Options

One of the intriguing aspects of the R.A.S.E.R. HD is that it offers the potential to deploy IT equipment in a small space, without the need for a controlled data center environment. The enclosure could easily replace an IT closet or small server room, making it ideal for small businesses, satellite offices and remote worksites.

But with the R.A.S.E.R. HD, Elliptical Mobile also sees the potential to solve problems that have vexed larger data center operators, offering a different vision for how high-density IT capacity might be deployed efficiently and in bite-sized installments.

“Close-coupled cooling embodies two of the industry’s favorite buzzwords: modularity and scalability,” Good said. “Instead of building larger spaces and installing more air conditioners, professionals can ‘right-size’ from the very beginning instead of trying to reinvent the wheel.”

In this video, Good provides an overview of the testing and a closer look at the enclosures in action.

A look inside one of HP's latest designs for its Performance Optimized Datacenter (POD). Airbus just deployed two PODs for a supercomputing cluster in Europe.

Enterprises are getting comfortable with containers and modular data centers, which is boosting demand for HP’s Portable Optimized Datacenter (POD) offerings, the company said today. HP is also investing to expand its production capacity for its modular units, including PODWorks facilities in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

To illustrate the growth of its POD business, HP today identified customers who have recently expanded their IT operations, including UCLA, Skoda Power, the Australian government and the city of El Paso, Texas.

These customers are representative of a gradual shift in which the user base for containers and modular data centers has expanded beyond its origins in the “hyper-scale” computing community.

“It’s evolved into a very nice business,” said Jon Mormile, HP’s Worldwide Product Marketing Manager for Performance-Optimized Data Centers. “The conversations have really shifted from ‘is this a solution that’s viable?’ to ‘it’s viable, but how can we deploy this?’”

HP entered the container business in 2008, when the leading players in the market were Sun Microsystems, Verari and Rackable. The market has many more players now, and HP’s POD business has evolved along with it.

Moving Beyond A Niche Play

Running servers in shipping containers was initially viewed as a niche play by many in the data center industry, limited to mobile requirements, temporary capacity, or novel designs like the cloud computing facilities being built by Microsoft and Google. Analysts and industry watchers have debated whether the efficiencies of modular data centers would be embraced by enterprise users, who are sometimes slow to adopt new technology.

Mormile says that began to change last year as designs evolved and HP and other modular vendors continued to evangelize the merits of pre-fabricated construction.

“In early 2010, we started to see a nice shift to enterprise customers,” he said. “We believe the enterprise ice market was listening, but being cautious. What we saw was a shift from enterprises kicking the tires to placing orders.”

HP’s offerings reflect the growing variety of modular options. The company offers both water-cooled and air-cooled PODs, and the newest version – the HP POD 240a, or EcoPOD – a highly-efficient design that uses outside air (free cooling) and features a “double-wide” design that joins two 40-foot containers to create a hot aisle/cold aisle design. The result is a modular design that looks and feels much like a traditional data center.

HP has released details of several recent POD installations:

• The City and County of El Paso, Texas chose an 40-foot HP POD housing HP blade servers and storage as the primary data center to support IT operations for its police, judicial system and administration. El Paso says its POD deployment resulted in taxpayer savings of nearly $6 million by eliminating service duplication and consolidating IT departments. The deployment helped El Paso “deliver modern and redundant data center facilities that benefit the taxpayer at large through better public service delivery,” said David Garcia, director, Information Technology and Project Oversight.
• Skoda Power, a power plant equipment maker in the Czech Republic, recently deployed a 40-foot HP POD to help consolidate its IT operations after the company was acquired by Doosan. The water-cooled HP POD consumes up to 40 percent less power than alternative solutions, decreasing operating expenses and delivering increased power capacity.
• Australian research firm iVEC deployed an HP POD 20c to support a new supercomputer system as part of the Australian government’s $1.1 billion Super Science Initiative. The 20-foot module will help fuel research in the radio astronomy, nanoscience, geoscience and other leading computational communities. “In order to service our community effectively, we needed a facility that could deliver massive scale-up capabilities” said Andrew Rohl, executive director, iVEC. “HP’s POD technology will enable Australian research organizations to compete on the global stage as we further development of codes, techniques and best practices to significantly increase our compute capacity.”
• UCLA used a POD to extend its virtual HPC cluster to house 1,500 compute nodes – the equivalent of 5,000 square feet. As a result, the university is currently saving nearly $198,000 per year in power costs.

How big is the market? HP isn’t disclosing its sales, but noted a projection by IDC analyst Michelle Bailey that modular deployments will rise from 144 units this year to about 220 units in 2012.

“Our unit volume has increased steadily over the past couple of years,” said Mormile. “We’ve got customers who have ordered five EcoPODs, and others who are considering orders for tens of containers.”

That has prompted HP to ramp up its production capabilities. The company has added three more bays to its PODWorks facility in Houston, where its modular units are assembled and commissioned.

“We had a tremendous amount of demand, and wanted to ensure availability of these units,” said Mormile. “We’ve also had to upgrade facilities in EMEA and recently began one in APJ. It has required a substantial investment by HP.”

IO’s modular data center is named “IO Anywhere” for its portability and ability to be deployed at customer premises. But the early public deployments of modular capacity were installed within the company’s data centers in Phoenix and New Jersey.

Until now. Australian data center service provider Red Cloud has signed a multi-module contract with IO, and will deploy 4.5 megawatts of IT capacity in new modular facilities in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. The deal includes both data modules and power modules, which will be built in IO’s factory in Phoenix and then delivered across the Pacific and installed on-site in Australia.

The contract launches a strategic venture between IO and Red Cloud, which will work together in the region to promote IO Anywhere modular technology and the IO OS data center management software.

“IO’s modular technology will provide a foundation for our Australasian data center and cloud computing services,” said Garry Henley, CEO of Red Cloud. “With IO, capacity is not only delivered rapidly, but we will also be able to control efficiency, utilization and operating costs of our entire infrastructure using the capabilities of IO OS. This partnership provides us with the next-generation data center infrastructure to rapidly drive our business.”

Red Cloud’s Melbourne and Perth locations are expected to be live in the second quarter of 2012 with Sydney following shortly thereafter. Red Cloud’s IO Anywhere deployments will be delivered to Tier III standards.

“The Cloud requires an intelligently controlled elastic data center and that is what IO’s technology delivers to our customers ANYWHERE in the world.” said George Slessman, CEO of IO.

A shrink-wrapped data center module built by Colt in its UK factory en route to Verne Global's facility in Iceland.

Verne Global’s new data center in Iceland will deploy customer servers in a factory-built modular server hall designed and built by Colt in its UK factory and shipped to Verne’s site in a former NATO command center.

Twelve separate Colt modules are assembled to create a 500 square meter (5,400 square foot) data hall, which will soon house servers for managed hosting provider Datapipe. The module is housed inside a large structure on Verne’s 45-acre campus in Kevlavik. In this video, Verne CTO Tate Cantrell discuss why the company selected Colt’s Modular Data Centre for its facility. This video runs

Can Wales become a destination for modular data centers? Next Generation Data (NGD) has prepared the top floor of its massive facility in Newport, Wales to house containerized data centers.

The 140,000 square foot space includes just four pillars, which NGD executives say has made it ideal for a major modular deployment, perhaps for a U.S. cloud computing provider seeking to add capacity in Europe. The new space spans one of the three floors at the 750,000 square foot NGD facility, with the other two floors housing traditional raised-floor data center space.

“We believe we have one of the premier locations in the world for containerized computing,” said Simon Taylor, chairman of Next Generation Data. “Our new container floor offers the ultimate in accommodation for a very select number of large cloud providers searching for exceptional space, power and security all from under one roof. As with our popular custom built data halls, we are able to offer container tenants highly competitive rates which are substantially lower than London-area facilities.”

The new container floor, which will be officially unveiled later this week, is part of a broader effort by Next Generation Data to attract American companies. NGD recently signed up its first American tenant, a Fortune 100 company, for a raised-floor pod.

“It’s great for us, because it’s helped us crack the American market,” said Taylor. “We’ve had a few American companies take a look at (NGD Europe) as an environment for containerized computing.”

The Newport facility was completed last year, and is one of the world’s largest data centers. The huge facility was previously used as an LG semiconductor plant, but has been converted into a three-story data center facility that will feature more than 375,000 square feet of wholesale data center space.

One of the unusual features of the facility is the ability to install data center modules and containers into the third floor. “There are large panels that can slide open, whichwill allow containers to be craned in fairly easily,” said Taylor.

One of the attractions for large users is the power profile of the NGD site, which has an on-site substation and 180 megawatts of capacity – with half of that supply originating from renewable energy sources such as biomass and wind generation.

Taylor said NGD is pleased with its progress, and continues to make the case for the facility’s location outside of Cardiff, Wales.

“We’ve got some fantastic early adopters,” Taylor said. “But there’s also a traditional view that London is the center of the universe, and for our business that’s completely wrong. Where we’ve come in 18 months is quite phenomenal.”

The exterior of the Next Generation Data Center, a three-story building that supports 375,000 square feet of wholesale data center space.

Modular solutions can benefit a variety of businesses and requirements – but not all. Similar to any data center project, proper planning is paramount. While predicting future IT requirements can be more guesswork than science, it remains a vital part of the larger strategy. Investigating a modular approach means optimizing your research and making that perfect fit for realizing your objectives.  Here are some items to consider when investigating modular products or providers.

Modular Products:

• Is the product UL and/or CE certified?  What local or state codes may be applicable to bringing this type of device to your site?
• Will you need additional protection for the module?  While many of the modular solutions are able to withstand a variety of outside conditions, there are security factors to consider as well as how to optimally fit the modules into the structure or site you have.
• On-site integration – can your facility/site accommodate modules and the overall power requirements?
• What voltage distribution is required to the module and how will you provide it?
• Do you require true mobility in a modular solution?
• Do you need an integrated modular data center or separate power and cooling modules?

Modular Providers:

• Where do you need the modular solution provided?  On-site, at a dedicated site or colocated with the provider?
• What integration options are available to manage and automate IT and infrastructure within the module?
• What type of monitoring and security is required?
• What data needs to be collected and reported?

The Bottom Line

In some regards, the decision about modular mirrors that of build vs. buy.  The choice is to put a lot of up-front capital into constructing a facility that you estimate will fulfill IT requirements for the next decade or so, or to build (and invest) modularly in increments that will match IT needs in years to come. Similarly there are cost analysis exercises to look at between the operational costs of running a large facility with matching infrastructure, or the cost per module or modules deployed and the efficiencies in both. Modular data centers are somewhat of a disruptor to the traditional build vs. buy decision, as it offers an alternative approach to building that can save significant capital expense and operational expense over the constructed data center.

While modular solutions are increasingly taking market share, they are still not a perfect fit for every need.  Like all other aspects of a data center strategy, it requires knowing what IT needs are now and in the future, and what the specific requirements are for efficiently optimizing the supporting data center infrastructure.  In many cases the modular product or provider are a perfect fit for a retrofit, expansion or new data center project. Finding the right modular solution means knowing which one will benefit your needs the best. Taking a modular approach toward data center design is an innovative way to tightly integrate IT and facilities, and deliver it with extreme agility.

The entire Guide to Modular Data Centers white paper can be downloaded here, courtesy of IO.

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