WP#42 - Deploying and Using Containerized Modular Data Center Facilities

Overview

WP#42 is a Green Grid white paper dated 15 November 2011, edited by Christopher Kelley (Cisco) and Jud Cooley (Oracle), with Ron Bednar, Buster Long and Suzen Shaw among the authors.

The white paper examines containerised and modular data centre facilities (CMDF). They are described as repeatable, pre-engineered, prefabricated and quality-assured building blocks. The approach means thinking of a data centre not as a single structure built on site but as a set of modules prepared in a factory and brought to the site.

The abstract lists the expected benefits: rapid deployment, lower operating and capital cost, and higher density. The paper also notes that multiple implementation approaches exist across suppliers, so CMDF is a category covering different architectures rather than a single product type. Limits: the paper dates from 2011 and its full text was not read, so capacity ranges, cost comparisons and implementation details are absent from this record. For designers its value is in supporting the treatment of prefabricated modules in design tools as catalogue items with fixed capacity, footprint and interfaces.

Key points

1. Dated 15 November 2011; editors Christopher Kelley (Cisco) and Jud Cooley (Oracle).
2. CMDF are repeatable, pre-engineered, prefabricated and quality-assured building blocks.
3. Expected benefits: rapid deployment, lower operating and capital cost, higher density.
4. Multiple implementation approaches exist across suppliers.
5. The author group also includes Ron Bednar, Buster Long and Suzen Shaw.

Using it in design

• Support prefabricated module objects (power skids, container halls) as catalogue items with fixed capacity, footprint and interfaces.
• State supplier-specific implementation differences explicitly in the module definition.
• Plan the need for rapid deployment together with site preparation work (ground, utility connection).
• Verify cost and density claims against supplier data; this record only states expected benefits.

Who should read it

Designers, owners and procurement teams planning data centre capacity for rapid deployment.

Publication details

Authors

Christopher Kelley; Jud Cooley; Ron Bednar; Buster Long; Suzen Shaw

Publisher

The Green Grid

Year

2011

Document number

WP 42

Document language

English

Source type

Industry body

Access

Citation only

Licence

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

Citation