Global Prefabricated Modular Data Center Market – An Outlook

The stratospheric integration that spans over a diverse range of industries which are inclusive of but not limited to BFSI, healthcare, ITC, among others has hastened the profusion of Bid Data. Along with the advent of Big Data, there has been a felt need to minimize the expenses pertaining to efficacious control and effective management as well as data storage which is incremented by increased internet penetration. On the other hand, there exists a growing inclination of turning towards modular facilities as a preferred choice over the complicated conventional facilities which is facilitating prefabricated modular data centers’ demand enabling a hassle-free, cost-competitive and effective means of data storage. The market growth also stems from the need for convenient and energy-efficient IT infrastructure and also the organizational policies of integrating such means which would in turn update and systematize the IT operations. Additionally, in contrast with large scale facilities, the prefabricated modular data centers provide a more efficient cooling facility. The value of the global prefabricated modular data center market was estimated at US$2.723 billion for 2019 by Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence.

For instance in June 2020 Delta which is known for its thriving portfolio of smart energy-saving systems and solutions in the fields of building automation, data center infrastructure, energy storage, and display, EV charging, industrial automation, renewable energy, telecom power, to foster smart manufacturing and sustainable cities as well as and for being the global leader in switching power supplies had announced the launch of SmartNode, making them commercially available in five different capacities ranging from 33kW to 90kW. It is a new line of modularized data center infrastructure solutions, which offers flexible power system and cooling designs, quick deployment, and scalable capacity for versatile implementation in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). The essentially Tier II-rated data center infrastructure can be employed by cloud services, colocation providers, data center planners, enterprises, and telecommunications operators to rapidly scale edge computing capacity and provide the infrastructure needed for applications pertaining to IoT as well as low latency. Additionally, the features of the product comprise a reliable power system that reduced the TCO of the data center. It also features a sturdy module structure that allows consumers to fill complete racks and enable fuller utilization of full rack loads. The range of ambient temperature that is standard of this equipment is between -15? and +48?, and sans derating, it is up to +39?.  Further, the implementation of this system in a broad range of ambient conditions is made possible by its EI60 fire resistance and robust construction.

Along with the rationale that is governing the preferences of companies that are incentivizing them to integrate prefab modular systems mentioned above, location also sometimes is another governing factor that resonates with the cost-efficient, safe, and faster installation capabilities of this kind of data centers. In this sense, it is more convenient and logical to mobilize a modular data center as opposed to relocating highly complex mechanical projects from the construction site to a controlled production environment, thereby giving rise to the need for collaborating with such prefab modular systems manufacturers who specialize in utilizing all the white-space available for rack capacity and followed by a collaboration with precision cooling experts. Additionally, the factors of the development of the 5G and the increasing 4G penetration are motivating telecom vendors to invest in the modular data center market. Moreover, the trend of build-to-suit modular solutions alters a substantial proportion of the scope of the project to the factory environment concomitantly enabling the execution of site construction. Further the needs of installation and design of the precision cooling which are normally featured at the front line of the business cycle which further underscores the instrumentality of players who can extend build-to-suit solutions with speed to market, making speed to market another important consideration that has the potential to drive the future market growth.

Besides aspects of speed to market other incentives for installing prefab modular data centers are standardization, scalability, IT equipment lifecycles, flexibility in design/capacity, and the business imperative of staying ahead of the exponential technological developments.  Whenever the need arises prefabricated and modular solutions can be scaled up in size that empowers the operators to stage Capex investment over time simultaneously averting the risk associate with construction projects related to live-data centers. From the aspect of standardization, a lot of operators are keen on streamlining and enhancing the operational efficiency of their data center portfolios. Also, a common platform across the portfolios is offered by the prefabricated modular data center. Further from the perspective of adaptability, it is a fact that for technologies that have not been commercialized or invented for that matter, it is tricky to build mission-critical facilities. Therefore, a prefabricated modular data center offers room for further customization making it adaptable. Supplementarily, the meteoric rise in connected devices, internet traffic, AI, cloud service, among others which are being increasingly used by a plethora of industry are leading to a surge in the demand for smaller data centers at the edge, whereby the prefabricated modular data center are the go-to solutions

Besides, the players in the market space have been known to invest in eco-friendly solutions as a response to the business imperative of adhering to the bottom-line of the planet other that people and profit. To shed light on the aforesaid, a partnership has been announced between Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., and ADM in October 2020 to construct an uptime Tier- IV certified Municipal Disaster Recovery Data Centre. To this end, it is important to note that The Huawei FusionModule2000 Smart Modular Data Centre is reportedly the first-of-a-kind of the world to have received an Uptime Tier-Ready IV certification. And since its prefabricated in the factory, the local engineers are only required to execute a simple on-site installation making it live in no time. With a flexible capacity expansion applicable for a variety of subsystems, that are inclusive of but not limited to power-supply, cooling, and IT cabinets, this product has been built based on a completely modular design addressing the need for sustainable development of the municipal service.