Best Practices to Deploy Sustainable and Resilient Data Centers at Scale at the Network Edge

Overview

The paper splits the network edge into three classes: legacy telco rooms, distributed cloud sites and future multi-access edge computing (MEC) sites. Table 1 gives typical rack densities for each: legacy telco below 5 kW/rack, distributed cloud 3-30 kW/rack and MEC 3-20 kW/rack. All three are typically a few racks with no medium voltage, limited low voltage and UPS, and no genset. Power type also varies: -48 V DC for telco, AC for distributed cloud, and AC, -48 V DC or hybrid for MEC.

The authors list seven scaling challenges, among them diverse equipment, limited space, harsh outdoor environments, poor PUE, lack of on-site staff and cyber exposure. Three environments are defined: IT, commercial and office, and industrial and harsh. Harsh sites may need NEMA 4 and IP 65 rated enclosures. On efficiency, today's edge sites run an annual PUE of about 2.0 because of legacy loads near 1 kW per rack, against as low as 1.1 for core cloud.

Recommended practice starts with lithium-ion rather than VRLA batteries behind UPSs and rectifiers: typically 10 years of life, embedded monitoring and tolerance of temperatures above 40 °C. Critical sites should have redundant power and cooling for concurrent maintainability. Air or liquid cooling is chosen by density and environment, prefabricated modules and wall-mount enclosures are paired with physical security, and the paper expects IEC 62443-aligned cybersecurity plus DCIM and sustainability software.

The text also relays Schneider forecasts: 7.5 million new micro data centres by 2025 and, by 2040, a peak-power footprint that could reach 192 GW with energy above 1,679 TWh. Citing integrator data, it adds that pre-configured integrated solutions can cut field engineering cost by 25% to 40%. These are vendor and cited-source projections, and as a vendor white paper the document is best read as guidance rather than neutral evidence.

Key points

1. Typical rack density: legacy telco below 5 kW/rack, distributed cloud 3-30 kW/rack, MEC 3-20 kW/rack.
2. Power: telco -48 V DC, distributed cloud AC, MEC AC/-48 V DC/hybrid; distributed cloud may use inverters with 2-4 hours of battery.
3. Harsh environments may need NEMA 4 and IP 65 enclosures.
4. Today's network-edge sites run an annual PUE around 2.0, versus as low as 1.1 for core cloud; 5G edge uses three times the energy of 4G on average.
5. Lithium-ion batteries: typically 10 years life, embedded monitoring, tolerance above 40 °C.
6. Integrated pre-configured solutions can cut field engineering 25-40% and maintenance 7%, and raise order processing speed 20%.
7. By 2040 edge peak power could reach 192 GW and energy over 1,679 TWh (Schneider forecast).

Using it in design

• Add site type (legacy telco, distributed cloud, MEC), environment class and power type (AC, -48 V DC, hybrid) to the project template.
• Require an IP65/NEMA 4 rated enclosure and self-contained cooling for any harsh-environment site.
• Warn when rack density falls outside the typical band of the chosen site type.
• For genset-free sites, make battery runtime an explicit input and default to lithium-ion.

Who should read it

Design engineers and infrastructure owners planning many small, unstaffed edge or telco sites.

Related standards

• IEC 62443
• ANSI/TIA-942
• IEC 60529
• NEMA 250
• NEBS
• ETSI EN 300 019

Publication details

Authors

Paul Lin; Steven Carlini; Victor Avelar; Andres Vasquez

Publisher

Schneider Electric

Year

2022

Document number

WP 80

Document language

English

Source type

Manufacturer

Access

Free to read

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation