The datacenter industry is growing fast and making huge steps towards efficiency, optimization and sustainability. Catalyzed by the growth in entertainment, demand around cloud and edge services, and the COVID context has turned this need into a race of how big datacenter colocation companies have to scale in order to meet these needs.
What are the 5 biggest DCs in the world right now?
- Harbin Data Center in Heilongjiang, China
- Kolos Datacenter in Norway, Europe
- The Citadel in Reno, United States
- China Telecom Inner Mongolia
- Utah Datacenter in United States
What Makes These Data Centers Stand Out?
Specifications:
| Datacenter | Space | Energy | Sustainability | Property | Highlight |
| Harbin Data center | 2.000.000 m2 | 150 MW | Unknown | China Mobile | Building design & gardens |
| Kolos Datacenter | 6.500.000 ft2 600.000 m2 | 70 MW (up to 1000MW) | Will be 100% renewable energy | Kolos | Perfectly integrated with the natural landscape |
| The Citadel | 1.300.000 ft2 120.037 m2 (up to 17.4M ft2) | 650 MW (fully operative) | 100% renewable sources | Switch | 260 patented innovations (construction & operation) |
| China Telecom Inner Mongolia Inform. Park | 3.200.000m2 295.475 m2 | 150 MW | Unknown | China Telecom | Colocation Facility Cloud Node |
| Utah Datacenter | 5.415.000 ft2 500.000 m2 | 65 MW | Unknown | Databank | Cloud Node Colocation Facility DRBC Site |
Fresh New Challenges
The data centers construction industry is anticipated to grow by 21% every year in the next 3 years. This is not surprising if we consider the growing demand for f IoT services, cloud, gaming & rendering and the aftermath of the COVID-19 global pandemic All of this is in addition to the 29 billion devices that will be connected to the global network by 2023.
But, how is this growth gonna be? An indiscriminate era of building the typical data centers? Or is it gonna be a fully optimized new business model?
How to Build/Convert an Existing Data Center Into an Optimized and Huge DC: Starting With the 6 Holy Letters At the Very Core of a Datacenter: TCO & ROI
The first steps you must take when starting the construction of a new data center is, check the TCO and the ROI. But, what indicators should we keep in mind if we want to achieve the lowest TCO and the shortest ROI?
- The power: if it can be 100% renewable, even better! It should be profitable in many different ways, like cost efficiency, regulations and taxes, flexibility, and a sustainable approach will always be a better choice for investors or/and customers.
- The cooling: A few months ago we saw the announcement from Microsoft about the implementation of double-phase cooling, a clear indicator of the need for innovative ways of cooling, far away from air cooling or other complex liquid cooling systems. If our cooling system is able to reduce costs and carbon emissions, while it can monetize the heat of the servers, well… who said that cooling can’t heat?
- The space: The era of making profits from square feet is over. The most efficient data centers have the highest densities in the least space possible. This indicator is closely linked to the cooling system, as with immersion cooling tanks we’re able to achieve the highest densities, even being them (tanks) optimized by themselves in the use of power and cooling when operating at half capacity.
- Automation: W We are not far away from complete automation of the daily operative tasks within a data center. When considering scalability, we always need to think of our Data centre as this huge warehouse of data that can be managed efficiently by good software and our friends the robots.
- Sustainability: The success of this indicator is dependent on all of the others described above. w A conscious strategy that is respectful of the planet and our society is always a win-win. The “green” approach can be implemented from different angles, or from all of them at once: green energies, the smart use of resources (water & power waste), a circular economy plan (with the re-use of heat, monetizing water, etc.) and a compensation program that gives balance to your Datacenter carbon footprint (like social responsibility plans as reforestation, animal shelters, use of green vehicles, recycling policies, etc.).
Looking at all of these indicators together, we also have 4 aspects that the history and the trends of the industry that are screaming at us to keep in mind if we want to build (or convert) the most efficient datacenter in the world:
- Innovation
- Modularity
- Agnosticity
- Plug & Play
Now that we have all the ingredients to start cooking up an amazing Datacenter, shall we?
If you want to know more about how to build a Smart Datacenter take a look at the ebooks: “5 pillars to build a Smart DC”.
China Telecom:https://www.sunbirddcim.com/blog/top-10-energy-consuming-data-centers-infographic
Xataka: https://www.xataka.com/pro/asi-cinco-cpds-grandes-mundo#comments
Technology Magazine: https://www.technologymagazine.com/top10/top-10-data-centres/barcelona-supercomputing-center-1
Datacenters.com: https://www.datacenters.com/locations
Hdrinc: https://www.hdrinc.com/portfolio/kolos-data-center
Kolos: https://kolos.com/why-kolos/#sustainability
Utah: https://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/
Baxtel: https://baxtel.com/data-center/harbin
Pwc Research: https://www.pwccn.com/en/research-and-insights/chinese-cities-of-opportunities-2020-report.pdf
Hhtt News: http://en.hhhtnews.com/2020-04/22/c_57360.htm https://www.reportlinker.com/p05442034/Data-Center-Construction-Market-Global-Outlook-and-Forecast.html?utm_source=GNW
Switch the citadel: https://www.switch.com/the-citadel/
