Containerized data centres

stand-alone container | IT container | support services container | container farms

Deciding to build a new server room or data centre is the starting point for a large and convoluted project that will touch on technology, construction, M&E and environmental concerns. The average turn around time from decision to operational ability is 18 months; during which time the organizations requirements of it's technology may have changed and the company may have spent large sums of money on consultants and architects.

CETec are able to supply fully operational, self contained server rooms built into a standard ISO shipping container. Containerized data centres have a number of distinct advantages over their hard shell counterparts.

• Rapidly deployable: Containerized data centres take approximately 90 days to build
• Optimized CAPEX through modular growth
• Optimized OPEX through state of the art efficiency technologies
• Plug and play; pre manufactured power and cooling infrastructure
• Mobile: All ISO containers can be transported by truck, ship or C130 aircraft
• Self contained: suitable for operation in remote or hostile environments
• Pay as you grow infrastructure: Container farms offer a high degree of scalability
• Physically secure against the surrounding environment & the human element
• Portable structures: Fewer building & planning regulations

There are a number of different container options to suit different applications:

Stand alone container

This option provides a completely independent infrastructure in which to house your critical systems, it contains within all of the elements you would find in a hard shell data centre; power back up, cooling, fire suppression, access control, racking, structured cabling.

Typical uses

• Remote site and field applications
• Disaster recovery in the event of building fire, flood or collapse
• Military applications
• Oil & Gas
• Airports
• As bolt on capacity to an existing data centre

IT container

This option provides the maximum amount of rackable U space within the foot print of a 20, 30 or 40ft ISO container – providing >30kW power and cooling per cabinet. The high density container offers a number of different cooling options and is usually used in conjunction with a Support Services container.

Typical uses

• As part of a container farm
• As a pre racked and cabled high density area within an existing data centre
• To provide additional floor space at an existing data centre site

Support services container

This is a standard ISO container that houses the plant and technology to provide M&E services to critical systems. This may include UPS, switch gear, gen sets, chiller units and fire suppression cylinders.

Typical uses

• To support a single HD container
• As part of a container farm
• As disaster recovery in the event of plant failure in an existing data centre 

Modular Natural Free Cooling – using the container method to achieve unrivalled efficiency >>

Container farms

The use of multiple containers as a "farm" provides a very real alternative to the traditional means of housing large critical systems. The ability to stack containers on top of one another makes extremely efficient use of floor space; this can either be done out doors or within a warehouse type structure.

The modular approach offers a very simple cost structure to data centre expansion and often a less expensive one too.