Schneider Electric has released a new data center reference design that the company says brings a new approach to data center builds and expansions, bringing outstanding consistency and predictability to facilities. The design hinges on a flexible "build and expansion" concept that is applicable to data centers at any point in their lifecycle, says Schneider.
The new approach is formalized in the company's new Reference Design 21, one of over 70 designs in Schneider Electric’s Reference Design Library. The new concept aims to provide data center owners in the colocation, cloud/ hosting, and multi-tenant data center to enterprise data center spaces with the flexibility and customization capability needed to meet cost and speed-to-market challenges, says the company. Developed by Schneider Electric’s Data Center Service Provider team, the ultra-flexible design utilizes modular building blocks, easily scalable from 200kW to 3.6MW of capacity, or more, that can be implemented in a piecemeal fashion as individual solutions or as a comprehensive, cohesive system. The components can also be configured into layouts that fit the specific tier, scale, and cost requirements of data center designers, enabling them to decrease expenses, decrease time to market and reduce business risk.
The heart of this design concept’s flexibility and scalability lies in Schneider Electric's new prefabricated 1200kW (600kW + 600kW) Facility Power Skid and EcoBreeze Air Economizer products. The Facility Power Skids integrate UPSs, switchgear and management software in a compact, modular form, while the units' unique output power bus design makes it easy to go from 2N to an N or N+1 configuration with double the power capacity. The cooling plant design employs an extremely efficient air delivery system bringing indirect, clean, and conditioned air to the data center utilizing two different economization modes. Operating from a central location outside of the white space, the EcoBreeze air economizers eliminate the need for CRAC or CRAH units, enabling data centers to achieve a low PUE, reduce OPEX, and, for multi-tenant data centers, free up valuable, i.e. income-generating, operating floor space.
Related: Expert: Options key to modular data center design
Easily implemented through incremental chunks as needed, the company says the new reference design can be easily configured to provide flexible data hall and IT rack design layouts including on slab, traditional raised floors and prefab structures. Reference Design 21 specifies various module options and configurations, applicable to greenfield and brownfield data centers, enabling the infrastructure to be deployed and scaled as necessary to meet demand. Simplified building design options reduce complexity, while streamlined pricing tools provide the ability to make informed decisions quickly. Capital spending reductions may result from the ability to right-size the data center as needed, eliminating complicated new construction or expensive building retrofits. Prefabrication and factory testing reduces human error and on-site construction risks while improving compliance, safety, and efficiency. Design and manufacturing are closely coupled to greatly minimize uncertainty, which results in more predictable performance of the data center infrastructure.
“Today’s increasingly digital business environment is causing a rapidly growing demand for more flexible, scalable and quickly deployable data centers, leaving many businesses asking how they will meet this need while reducing total cost of ownership,” comments Joe Reele, Vice President, Data Center Solutions Architects, Schneider Electric. “With this flexible design approach, Schneider Electric provides data center managers with the customizable design guidance they need to quickly right-size their facility without excessive capital overlay or risk, at a cost per KW entry point that is below industry standards.”
Reference Design 21 is now available for download through Schneider Electric’s online selector site.
Joseph Reele, the company's vice president of data center solutions architects, will be giving a webinar on June 11 to introduce the reference design. Register for the webinar here.
Learn more about Schneider Electric's Data Center Service Provider team.