Why Prefabricated Solutions Are a Perfect Fit for Edge Data Centres

As companies continue to put more and more IT resources into the cloud, it’s putting greater emphasis on the need for edge data centres, which serve at least two main purposes: providing localized processing for applications that remain on-premises, and connectivity to cloud-based applications and resources.

These edge data centres have become so critical that companies can’t afford for them to suffer downtime, because it would mean losing not only local processing, but the connection to the larger network and cloud resources beyond the edge data centre walls.

The question is how to build an edge data centre that provides the kind of reliability companies need, but without the same amount of time, effort, and expense that goes into building a traditional data centre. In many cases, the answer will be by using prefabricated, modular data center components.

When people hear the term “prefabricated modular data centre,” many immediately think of large ISO containers, which is indeed one option. But modular data centres come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. It could be a single-rack, self-contained enclosure that fits in a closet, or a modular room built from pre-fab wall panels that can be used to carve out data centre space within the confines of a larger room.

No matter the size, prefabricated data centre modules share a few things in common:

• They can provide all the security and resiliency of a traditional data centre.
• They’re flexible, able to be built to fit just about any environment.
• They’re scalable, with the capability to expand as demand grows.
• They’re repeatable, giving users the capability to install identical implementations in multiple locations, providing the ultimate predictability in efficiency, reliability and operation. Also, training and implementation standards are easy to deploy.

We’re seeing all sorts of implementations of prefabricated modular data centres at the edge. Hospitals, for example, connect to cloud-based applications that collect data from instruments such as infusion pumps and dispensing devices, to ensure no patient receives drugs that may have adverse reactions with one another.

Hospitals also have significant local processing requirements, including systems to collect, share and store patient records locally, to comply with privacy regulations. Similarly, applications such as MRI scans benefit from local processing because they produce such large files.

In such an environment, the on-site edge data centre is no less important than the cloud-based resources to which it connects. A highly resilient, functional edge data centre can deliver the kind of local processing performance that’s required, without the latency issues that a strictly cloud-based data centre would present. A prefabricated module can provide all of that, yet be designed to fit in wherever the hospital may have available space – even outdoors.

In these types of applications, a prefabricated, modular data centre is a great option compared to building a traditional data centre from scratch. The modules are pre-built in a controlled factory environment, which is superior to construction variances one might encounter in a “stick built” data centre that’s built on site. They can also be delivered far more quickly, in 12 to 16 weeks in most cases – about 20% to 30% of the time it takes to build a data center from scratch.

To find out more about prefabricated, modular data centres for edge computing, get in touch with Source UPS today!

Call: 01252 692559 or email: info@sourceups.co.uk