CV_JulyAug_2017

These factors will open up edge

market opportunities for colocation

providers, reducing overall investment

risk and thereby making them more

financially viable.

Speed to revenue

Unlike traditionally built data centers,

which can sometimes take years to

build, the much faster speed of construc-

tion of prefabricated data centers will en-

able colocation providers to start bring-

ing in revenue faster and to respond to

customer demands more quickly.

In fact, the speed of prefabricated

construction allows a colocation com-

pany to build an order book at the

same time as building the facility off-

site, without any serious risk that they

will be late to deliver service.

Informed expansion

planning

Traditionally constructed data

centers are typically built oversized

and then fractionally occupied over

time – an expensive and highly inef-

ficient process. By contrast, because

prefabricated facilities are built in a

controlled factory environment before

being assembled on site, the lead

times are shorter. This enables capac-

ity to be planned over a much shorter

time horizon and then incrementally

expanded as the need for more ca-

pacity arises.

This provides a number of key benefits:

• allowing colocation providers to

delay expansion orders until much

closer to when they actually are

needed, when they will have a

clearer view of exactly how much

and what kind of additional capac-

ity they’re going to need;

• enabling capex outlay to be phased

more in line with business growth;

• significantly reducing business risk;

• and each new phase can take ad-

vantage of the latest innovations

that typically increase efficiency

and reduce cost.

Taking a prefabricated approach

effectively introduces an on-demand

or just-in-time (JIT) model to the pro-

visioning of data center capacity – an

unheard-of concept until now.

Leveraging repetition

A large element of the cost of data

centers is the design element. With a

prefabricated solution though, using a

repetitive design approach will stream-

line the process, minimize the cost and

standardize not only the facility design

but also the associated operational pro-

cesses such as training, support, spares,

engineering, etc. In this way repetition

not only reduces capital expenses (with

lower ongoing design costs) but also op-

erating expenses (with lower and more

streamlined operational processes).

Using the same design for every

site means the design cost is only

incurred once for the very first facility.

Regional variations may be added over

time, but site-specific designs can be

kept to a minimum. Additionally, a stan-

dard design opens up the possibility

of repetitive manufacturing that further

increases efficiency and reduces cost.

Speed to the edge

With increasing numbers of busi-

nesses and consumers demanding

quicker access to data outside the

world’s Tier 1 cities, market opportunity

at the edge is growing fast.

There is no question that the next

wave of data center development will

be the land grab at the edge, and the

colocation companies that take a pre-

fabricated approach to building their

new facilities will undoubtedly be best

positioned to take full advantage of

this growth market while at the same

time minimizing their risks.

Speed to the edge for providers

translates into speed to data for custom-

ers – a winning formula for both.

Mark O’Sullivan is regional sales

director, EMEA, at Flexenclosure, a

designer and manufacturer of prefab-

ricated data centers and intelligent

power management systems for the

ICT industry.

Virtual Realities

Channel

Vision

July - August, 2017