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Building a data center, brick by digital brick

Scalable Modular Data Centers are becoming popular especially in the small and medium business market space where customers are not willing to invest huge amounts in large data centers says Malabika Sarkar

The increasing scale of business and high dependence of businesses on software applications and data, calls for increased reliance on data centers. Going for traditional data centers with their massive upfront capital investment and high operational costs is no more an optimal path to pursue. Modular data centers or MDCs bring new levels of affordability, manageability and energy efficiency with the capability to scale up to match the capacity of traditional ones and MDCs are emerging as the most sustainable and long term solution to meet the ever-increasing demands of business.

The amount of data that companies are storing is growing exponentially and so are their data center utility bills. As organizations continue to deploy more servers and storage devices to keep pace with their exploding data storage needs, power consumption requirements and costs are also ballooning to unprecedented levels.

Organizations are struggling to maintain a balance between saving money and ensuring a resilient environment. Majority of data centers are 10-15 years old, this coupled with changing regulatory guidelines are driving resiliency needs (Sarbanes Oxley, HIPAA, Basel II, etc). CIOs are opting to build new data centers designed to host more equipment, have a greater amount of free space and be more resilient.

Jyoti Satyanathan, Vice President, Platform Business, STG IBM India/South Asia, said, “We launched Scalable Modular Data Centers as part of the Project Big Green initiative. This solution provides a fully functional, customized, scalable data center in less time and for a lower cost than designing and building a traditional raised-floor data center and can be installed in almost any existing working environment. The pre-configured data center solution includes servers, storage devices and infrastructure along with power, cooling and management architecture is available in the 500-1,000 square foot range.”

Organizations today are crippled by data centre energy and space constraints. Today’s solutions are clearly failing to meet the needs of Web 2.0. The modular data center is revolutionizing companies, universities, and government sector with its high-density, eco-friendly design that enables rapid deployment, game-changing economics, and unimaginable mobility.

Talking about Sun Microsystems’s initiatives in this space, Karthik Ramarao, Director-Technology Practice, Sun Microsystems India, explained, “Sun’s Modular Data Center, widely known as Project Blackbox, is reaching new customers worldwide who have been waiting for just this type of breakthrough solution. Designed to address the needs of customers who are running out of space, power and cooling, Project Blackbox gives customers a glimpse into the fast, cost-effective data centre deployments coming in the near future, where thinking out of the box means putting an IT infrastructure in a box with 20% higher power efficiency.”

On the other hand, HP’s new data center transformation solutions portfolio comprises of a set of specific integrated solutions that encompass hardware, software and services, designed to turn CIOs’ top data center issues, energy efficiency, automation, virtualization, consolidation and business continuity into opportunities for competitive advantage. HP design capabilities are for any type and size of data center. “Our span is from the rack to hundreds and thousands of data centers. Our concept of scalability and modularity are implemented in our client’s data centers as well as in our own data centers,” said HP spokesperson.

Meeting business goals

There are numerous reasons to why companies are adopting modular data centers, with SMBs embracing the concept the most. The cost effectiveness of a MDC makes it a feasible option for SMBs to scale their mission critical applications whereas conventional data centers would not have been affordable for them. MDCs reduce initial capital expenditure with the capability of incremental expansion as and when dictated by business needs. The reduction of the setup time of a functioning data center is a huge plus point for businesses trying to outpace the competition with innovative and reliable products and services.

A basic MDC can be set up in 8-12 weeks, which is much lower than conventional data centers. In addition, a well-designed MDC will be able to scale smoothly to many times its initial size without affecting existing functionality or design at any point. MDC components are generally designed with energy-efficient operations as a key design requirement. In some of the latest MDC designs, they can be physically transported from one location to another according to business requirements.

Talking about the requirement for modular data center in an enterprise, Anu David, Sr. Research Analyst, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East, said, “There are certain prerequisites before an enterprise can set up its own data centers. A typical new data center in the United States today has a thousand racks, occupies 30,000 square feet, and requires 10 million watts (MW) of power to support the computing infrastructure. However, the requirements of a modular datacenter are much less-demanding than those of conventional data centers. The floor space requirement for a MDC ranges from 200-5,000 square feet per module. IBM’s Modular Data Centers can reduce energy consumption by up to 50%.Other obvious requirements include backup power using one or more uninterruptible power supplies and/or diesel generators, air conditioning and cooling facilities.”

“The Sun Modular Data Center is appropriate for customers who are out of data center space and need to add capacity rapidly; as well as those who want to deploy their IT infrastructure anywhere worldwide or be able to redeploy to new locations as per requirements,” Ramarao added.

There has been keen interest in this solution from the Indian government, defense agencies, telecommunication businesses, manufacturing establishments etc. What appeals to all of them is the quick deployment and high energy saving features of the data center.

Satyanathan added, “IBM’s scalable modular data centers are quick-to-deploy, cost-effective, high-quality 500 to 1,000 square foot (50 to 100 square meters) data centers that can be installed in a working environment in less time than a traditional raised-floor environment. Our target audience is spread across businesses and sectors. In India, we have executed data center projects exceeding 2.5 lakh square feet for over 55 clients. The savings are substantial for an average 25,000 square foot data center; clients should be able to achieve 42% energy savings.”

Proper system planning can extract the maximal benefit out of a MDC. A thorough understanding of the system requirements is needed to decide the boundaries of modularity. The design decisions taken decide on how easily upgrades can be made on the MDC with minimum downtime, how critical components are isolated and how cost-effectively common infrastructure like safety and power systems can be portioned. An ideal MDC should also have a simple, easy-to-understand structure so that systems can be maintained with minimum effort, and can be flexible for technology upgrades as well.

Advantages of setting up a MDC

The M in MDC is for Modular, which means that going for this option reduces the upfront investment that a company has to make in order to set up a datacenter. It helps an organization, especially a startup to save funds for other purposes than being used to set up a full-fledged conventional data center, which would not be utilized to its full capacity. Scalability is one of the biggest benefits; organizations can grow their data center as their business grows and not have to bear the huge capital expenditure brought about by a traditional data center. They also occupy less floor space than conventional data centers.

Data center providers are making tremendous efforts to make data centers “green” to reduce energy consumption and cut energy costs. IBM’s Modular High Density Zone can save up to 35% of power as compared to the traditional ones. The modular data centers also allow businesses to set-up a data center much quicker than it would have taken for a conventional data center. The portability and mobility of modular data centers are also making them a preferred choice among companies.

Hurdles en route

There have been concerns in the past about the cost and impact, however, many organizations have slowly but steadily understood the implications of Green IT and how this makes for a sound business sense. “One of the first steps towards getting there would be assessing one’s IT needs. A lot many companies do not understand their own requirements and nor do they know how to leverage their existing IT infrastructure in the best possible way. There is this common conception in the market that to shift to Green Computing, ones need to change the entire infrastructure. That is however not true. One can align new Green products with existing infrastructure and create a Green Computing environment. To change their mindset is one of the biggest challenges,” shared Satyanathan.

Further speaking on the same Ramarao said, “There is a considerable interest and appreciation for this solution, but the challenge is mostly lies in apprehension, and resistance to change of norm as any other ground breaking technology has to face. However, this is a challenge we have been able to address successfully. We do this by consulting, educating and sharing the best practices employed as well as leveraging the growing number of references we have for Sun’s MDC deployments.”

The budget that an enterprise need to decide upon before deploying a modular data center depends on various factors such as their current infrastructure in place and the extent to which it is looking at maximizing IT to work in a greener environment.

However, David said, “The budget that a company should keep aside for a modular data center is much lower than what is needed to deploy a traditional data center. MDCs can be acquired at a price of Rs. 50 lakhs whereas a traditional data center would have the organization part with a few crores. The configuration can then be scaled up with time in proportion to growing business needs.”

Companies are showing serious interests in investing in MDCs as they realize their benefits vis- a- vis traditional data centers. A significant portion of their revenue is spent on the maintenance of data centers. MDCs present an opportunity to turn these expenses into savings. As MDC products and practices mature, more companies, particularly SMBs that are looking for lean and cost-effective methods to scale, are expected to deploy them.

malabika.sarkar@expressindia.com