A 7-page white paper from APC by Schneider Electric presents a “total cost of ownership” (TCO) analysis of a traditional data center vs. a scalable, containerized data center. The analysis suggests that "standardized, scalable, pre-assembled, and integrated data center facility power and cooling modules" may provide a TCO savings of 30% compared to traditional, built-out data center power and cooling infrastructure.
Authored by Wendy Torell, the white paper provides a quantitative TCO analysis of the two architectures, and illustrates key drivers of both capex and opex savings associated with containerized designs. Avoiding overbuilt capacity and scaling these data centers' footprints over time contributes to a significant percentage of the overall savings, notes the analysis.