IDC Watch | Accelerate Enterprise Growth and Innovation with an Agile and Flexible Deployment of Data Center

Guide:

In this article ，we will analyze the new adjustment and demand of enterprises for data storage and computing in the digital era from the beginning of data center design. We will discuss the upgrading and iteration of different deployment schemes in enterprise development and innovation, and explore the optimal solution of data center deployment suitable for enterprise data management in the process of tracing the data center infrastructure solution.

Updated and Faster Deployment from Initial Construction of IDC

With the acceleration of digital transformation and evolution of new technologies, emerging technologies such as cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence have become the main tools and means of enterprise in digital development. We have entered the golden age of computing power. The cutting-edge industries closely related to the Internet and emerging technologies have further improved their upgrading in such a context. In recent years, the popularity of AIGC concept has promoted the construction of intelligent computing facilities to a new stage. According to data, the market size of China's data center has reached nearly 180 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 24.0%. As the cornerstone of information technology, data centers provide computing and storage services for enterprises and organizations. As an important data carrier and computing hub, data centers are required to offer more agile and flexible solutions to continuously satisfy the changing demand of customers in the Internet and other industries. Therefore, the solution provider needs to enhance the flexibility of solution design according to enterprise needs at the beginning of data center construction.

A Built-to-Suit data center is designed based on different application scenarios and demands. As a strategic decision, various factors are fully considered in the deployment of data center to ensure the security and continuous operation of data. It is necessary to consider policy support, environmental protection requirements, electricity supply, transportation convenience, energy supply and water resources in the preliminary design and preparation stage of data center. In addition, the data center solution design directly also affects the business continuity and growth potential of an enterprise, not just hardware facilities. Therefore, data center solutions should be designed to be flexible and extensible from the beginning to ensure business continuity of enterprises.

Efficient data center solution design can improve the operational efficiency and maintenance cost-effectiveness of data centers while meeting the demands of advanced workloads such as artificial intelligence and big data analytics. Enterprises need to modernize their IT infrastructure strategically and develop more agile and extensible solutions. Data center operators also need to respond quickly. "Flexibility" means deploying data center assets in an innovative way to grow the business faster.

A Variety of Data Deployments Customized for Enterprises

Market demand drives the development of data centers. Especially in the era of high computing power, computing, storage and other functions require a higher level of equipment and networks, and this also puts further requirements on the deployment mode of data center. The demand of Internet companies on data center vary significantly due to differences of company size and type, so the data center solution provider need to choose the most suitable solution for the customer from the beginning of design and construction. Weight the pros and cons of each deployment model , and choose the most suitable solution for the customer.

According to the traditional data center construction process, from the site selection, project approval, engineering design in the early stage, to the mid-term civil construction, mechanical and electrical installations, and then to the final equipment commissioning, acceptance and delivery, each step needs to be carefully considered. Especially the site selection: first, it is necessary to consider local policy support, compliance credentials, contribution commitments, etc., and second, it is necessary to consider the commonality and difference of customer needs, as well as the price and availability of electricity, to ensure that the data center can fully satisfy customer demands in an economically viable manner. In the stage of project approval and engineering design, the provider needs to plan and design the overall architecture and functionality of the data center to meet business needs and ensure data security. In the stage of civil construction, mechanical and electrical installations, environmental protection and energy-saving requirements need to be taken into account while ensuring the quality and progress of construction. During equipment commissioning, the provider needs to ensure that all equipment is running properly following the design requirements. In the final acceptance delivery stage, comprehensive inspection and testing of data centers are required to ensure compliance with relevant standards and regulations and the ability to provide stable and efficient services.

The provider needs to choose the appropriate deployment solution from the beginning of design based on the market positioning of the data center. Currently, the traditional data center is dominant in China. The various stages from design to construction are carried out successively, the traditional data center has the characteristics of large scale, high stability and strong flexibility. Traditional data centers have flexible management and high security. However, on-site assembly and commissioning of equipment and component are required by the traditional data center construction, and the construction cycle is long. Moreover, due to the progressive processes of traditional data center construction, the delay in the progress of a certain process is easy to affect the subsequent. Therefore, the controllability of construction is low.

In addition to the traditional deployment mode, prefabricated and containerized data centers are also the main deployment solutions for data center in recent years, both of which are deployed rapidly with strong extensibility. Each functional block of the prefabricated module can be assembled by parts and components in an independent and extensible structure, and the parts and components are optional with quick assembly and transportation as required by the customer. The solution adapts to different scenarios. Each function block is standardized based on the deepened design drawings, integrated installation in the built framework, and then tested before factory dispatch. Product production and on-site construction can be carried out at the same time, greatly reducing the workload of on-site construction, and improving the speed and quality of data center delivery; a containerized data center is a mobile data center transformed from a container configuration to store IT equipment of tech companies. The containerized data center can free up space for operation of main building and can provide various additional functions as required by the customer, such as shelves, racks, batteries, cooling systems, etc. This solution builds a modular data center in a certain scale. Moreover , the containerized data center adopts high availability design to provide rich security and intelligent operation and maintenance of remote management and control, the deployment speed of computer room construction can be improved to a certain extent.

However, while these deployments offer significant advantages in terms of speed and quality, the flexibility is limited by various factors. The prefabricated solution is often designed, built, and deployed by a single provider, therefore, the lack of flexibility makes it unable to cope with sudden increases in workload; for the containerized data center, there is less scope for other modifications beyond the SKU/ configuration options available. What's more, the cost of maintenance and modification of containerized data centers in the later period is relatively higher.

A More Resilient Solution That Balances Speed With Quality

Enterprises are eager to be reliably supported by adopting high-density solutions under pressure from growing data and surging AI-centric demands, even at the design stage. Today, many leading enterprises have begun to implement this design solution to optimize data center performance and efficiency by validating the data center platform, and find the balance between data center speed and quality while reducing operating costs and improving return on investment.

Under this trend, Chayora has also made a prospective deployment to create a new data center with higher technology, computing power and energy efficiency. The recently launched Ingenuity, a high-density data center solution, has the outstanding advantages of rapid extension and agile execution to meet needs of customer. For customers who want to expand their business to Southeast Asia or other overseas markets, EdgeConneX's global platform, the strategic partner of Chayora, can support them quickly access to 50+ popular markets globally to speed up their progress of overseas expansion. In addition, Chayora will keep a close contact with the customer prior to the installation of data center, carefully designing and delivering a highly transparent Build-to-Suit solution according to the customer's needs. Chayora maintains close communication with customers to create highly transparent solutions based on the principle of Build-to-Suit design.

In the future, the pace of change will continue to accelerate, and the demand for data will be more variable. As the "computing power carrier" and "data hub" of enterprises, the data center need to be designed in a more agile, scalable and flexible way. "To find out a rapid-response and more resilient solution to keep a balance between deployment speed and quality of data center", this is the continuous pursuit and iteration goal of data center, and also a booster for enterprise development and innovation.