The data centre industry is facing significant challenges worldwide, including;
- Developing sustainable solutions and construction techniques
- Managing a struggling supply chain
- Understanding better the macro changes in power, its pricing and availability
- Developing new modular construction solutions, standardising data centres and reducing onsite construction teams
- Understanding that data centres largely fall into one of three types, rural engine room, near urban colocation and urban edge facilities. The pattern is largely driven by the availability of power coupled with demographics and industrial demand.
- Availability of qualified resources to construct and operate data centres long into the future.
With a decade of expertise and experience, Datalec Precision Installations fully comprehends the European market and the complex challenges faced, including, but not limited to, the issues surrounding five key data centre themes: Power, Sustainability, Geography, Access and Demography.
In this series of articles, Datalec Precision Installations will explore each theme in turn and how they each play a crucial role and our efforts to support our customers in dealing with them.
Challenges faced by Data Centres
Power consumption is typically the highest operational costs in a data centre. As the cost of power continues to rise, data centre operators and ultimately clients are feeling the pressure; ‘these increases significantly impact the bottom line’. This is especially true for those data centres located in areas where the price of power is highest such as London, Amsterdam, Dublin and Paris. To remain competitive, data centre developers must find every possible efficiency to manage this somewhat overwhelming overhead.
Data centre operators must also focus on sustainable operations, sourcing power more efficiently and using renewable resources. This will not only help to reduce operational costs but also help to reduce their carbon footprint.
In the short term, recruiting specialised staff can help assess and implement power-saving measures and prepare a data centre for the future. Yet, this poses another significant challenge; it is an ageing industry seemingly unable to recruit college leavers. However, things like automation, AI, and ML could be used to better effect to attract a younger generation to consider this industry as an inspiring and engaging career path, which would help offset this predicted loss of expertise.
How Datalec is supporting Data Centres
Datalec is committed to helping its customers overcome industry challenges by providing expert support to ensure they are designed, built and operated efficiently to keep costs down.
We do this by helping DC operators carefully consider power usage effectiveness (PUE). There are many other ways we provide innovative solutions including the recent launch of our LED Luminaire, a stand-alone modular efficient lighting system with low power consumption and minimal heat generation, providing long term affordability. Our bespoke pre-term facility not only lowers our carbon footprint through reducing the number of construction site journeys, importantly it also supports our customers achieving tight programme time frames with works completed at our offsite facility prior to arriving at the DC construction site. In addition to other initiatives, Datalec is continually working to reduce its own carbon footprint at its headquarters in Hertfordshire and at all its locations.
Northern European clients, especially in Sweden and Norway, are well-positioned to take advantage of significant opportunities to improve data centre operations. These countries are emerging leaders in this area due to their welcoming regulatory environment, stable infrastructure, very low-cost energy, and high availability of renewable resources.
If you’re looking for innovative ways to overcome data centre challenges, Datalec has the expertise and knowledge to lend a hand. We help data centre operators identify the most efficient and sustainable options in the industry to build efficient, secure and reliable data centre facilities. Contact us today to learn more about our work and how we can help you make your data centre better prepared for the industry’s future.