Prefabricated Data Centers – Winning Edge Data Centers

Speed ​​is critical for data. Data is being generated all over the world, not just in Tier 1 cities, and the winners in the race for hosting and cloud computing services will be the companies that can deliver data fastest to users around the world.

In order to meet the needs of enterprises outsourcing to the cloud, or end consumers wanting a faster experience when using social media or content streaming services, users have increasingly higher requirements for data processing and transmission. Most existing hyperscale data centers are too far away from users, and there are fewer data centers operating in second-tier or third-tier cities, which results in increased latency and affects the user experience.

Of course, the solution is to build new data centers closer to users, but large manufacturers, hosting and cloud service providers have not seriously considered how to build data center facilities close to the user edge due to security issues. In addition, in some regional cities or developing markets, the cost of building hyperscale data center facilities is high and time-consuming, and will far exceed the needs of the local market. Therefore, the construction and deployment of more flexible prefabricated data center facilities can meet the needs of these markets.

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Lower the cost of entering the market

The upfront cost of prefabricated data centers is much lower than that of traditional large-scale data center facilities, which can reduce the cost of entering the market, making the edge data center market more accessible to service providers and providing more attractive services to end customers. Through prefabricated solutions, the initial capital expenditure on individual data centers can be minimized, and data center hosting companies can also enter more markets and increase investment in modular data centers.

These factors will provide colocation providers with opportunities to tap into the edge data center market, reducing overall investment risk and thus making it more economically viable.

Rapidly growing revenue

While building a traditional data center can sometimes take several years, prefabricated data centers can be built much faster, allowing hosting providers to get up and running faster and respond more quickly to customer needs.

In fact, the speed of prefabricated data center construction allows data center hosting companies to take on new orders while construction is ongoing, without any greater risk.

Smart planning

Traditionally built data centers are built in large scale and need to be built in phases over time and opened sequentially, which is a costly and inefficient process. In contrast, because prefabricated facilities are manufactured in factories before being assembled on site, companies can plan construction capacity in a shorter time frame and gradually expand if more capacity is needed.

This provides some key advantages:

• Allowing data center colocation providers to extend orders until they are closer to the actual needs of their customers, giving them a clearer picture of how much and what kind of additional capacity their customers will need
• Keep capital expenditures in line with business growth
• Significantly reduce business risks
• Each new stage can take advantage of the latest innovations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs

The adoption of a prefabricated approach effectively introduces an on-demand or just-in-time (JIT) model for the provision of data center capacity, a concept that has not been available to date.

Reuse Design

Part of the cost of a data center is planning and design. Despite the use of prefabricated solutions, using a repetitive design approach will simplify the process, minimize costs, and standardize not only the facility design, but also the related operational processes such as training, support, spare parts, engineering, etc. Repetition in this way not only reduces capital expenses (continuously reducing design costs), but also saves operating expenses, and the operational process is more streamlined.

Using the same design across multiple data centers means that design costs are incurred only once. While there may be some variation over time, the specific design of the data center can be kept to a minimum. In addition, standardized designs facilitate repeated production, further improving efficiency and reducing costs.

Rapidly growing market

As more businesses and consumers demand faster access to data outside of the world’s first-tier cities, the market opportunity for edge data centers is growing rapidly.

There is no doubt that the next wave of data center development will be the expansion of edge data centers, and hosting companies that adopt a prefabricated approach to building new facilities will undoubtedly be the biggest beneficiaries, taking advantage of this market growth while minimizing risk. The speed at which businesses move to edge data centers will translate into data speeds for customers, which will be a win-win situation.