Data centers have facilitated digital commerce and online meetings, making digital infrastructure more crucial than ever before. That’s given the data center world perception of success and kept digital businesses running and developing. Investment in new data center infrastructure is often based on a positive take of future technology needs but operators are also aggressively sensible when it comes to preventing downtime. No matter what the cause, faulty equipment, cybercrime, or grid-level power outages, investment in powerful infrastructure combined with rigorous operating applications should assure the lights stay on or, at worst, barely go off for the minimum amount of time. Unfortunately, as recently released research Post Pandemic Data Centers from Uptime Institute Intelligence show, several operators were generally blindsided by Covid-19. Lockdowns have tanked economies around the world. Data centers are part of an ecosystem, assisting customers which pay for their services. Some industries – entertainment and hospitality, for example, have been hit harder than others, and some data centers will suffer a consequence. While there seem to have been relatively few examples of Covid-19 related downtime over the last few months, the pandemic has set more pressure on everything from data center structure and construction to supply chains and staffing.
Securing data centers for future pandemics
The Covid19 pandemic has expedited several real estate trends. Over the past few months, hospitality and retail asset classes have confronted hardships like department store bankruptcies and commercial mortgage-backed securities defaults. Meanwhile, data center assets have undergone rent and value growth over this same period. As Uptime defines it- “COVID-19 will almost certainly not be the last pandemic, and it may just be one of many. Operators, therefore, are not making these modifications in response to COVID-19, but in the uncertainty of future pandemics.” The rise in the adoption of modular UPS systems is expected to drive the data center UPS demand. The major benefits of the modular approach are the power to expand capacity as and when required as well as diminished maintenance expense. Modular UPS systems are of lower capacity, cost less and extra modules can be installed based on capacity requirements. It also costs less in terms of installation and maintenance when compared to large systems, meanwhile providing greater efficiency, which is typically more than 90%. The development of modular systems is also occurring rapidly as it requires less space, which is approximately 40% of what is used by conventional systems. These modular systems will be a reasonable selection for data center operators undergoing continuous growth in rack power consistency. What are those pandemic related changes mainly? Uptime orders them into three present and future stages. The first stage is ‘reaction’ and describes the first few weeks to months and the emergency actions taken by data center operators in response. For example, decreasing on-site staff numbers or initiating strict cleaning regimes. The next stage is mitigation’ and covers the current state most operators find themselves in right now: the procedures established in the reactive phase have now become enduring actions, according to Uptime. While those two initial stages were vital in decreasing much of the initial disruption from C-19, it’s the third and final stage that is arguably more important than a pointer of future direction.
The effect of worldwide stay-at-home declarations and social distancing norms on digital infrastructure was as sudden as it was immense. Whole industries shifted massive numbers of employees to remote work, unleashing demand for digital tools and network services that would enable operations to continue with minimal disruption. Not surprisingly, the consequence of this digital transformation heightens a broader set of challenges for data center operations. First, how can data centers sustain resiliency, efficiency, and reliability amid the exceptional and ever-growing need for cloud-based, business-critical applications? Second, how can data centers ensure their capacities are well capable to scale operations in response to rapidly changing and continuously expanding capacity demands? There are a few major factors that generally constrain data center expansion- physical space, power system capability, and cooling capacity. Nevertheless, a more in-depth look reflects that whether or not power acts as a constraint depends on the type of distribution architecture a data center deploys. For most data centers, a centralized power architecture is the beating heart of the faculty. In this strategy, a centralized uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system converts power from the AC utility grid to DC. The power is then stepped down during a series of extra points of modification to provide the power levels required by the computing appliance in the data center racks. In the event of a crucial disruption like utility failure, backup power is distributed from large battery banks at this central power location to critical appliances across the data center. Centralized UPS power and backup capability support a data center’s expected load based on forecasts made at the earliest facility design stages. Possibly the most critical feature of a decentralized UPS architecture is it enables data centers to meet increased demand by deploying equipment-specific resources that can scale according to demands. New cabinets can enhance capacity as necessary, while additional rectifiers and battery modules can enhance power for servers added to open racks.
So, while the constant fallout from Covid-19 might make it tougher to conjure up positive thoughts about the future, or the near future anyway – it seems the data center industry has already learned a lot of useful lessons when it comes to planning for the worst. Against this backdrop, data centers face common long-term challenges imbued with a new sense of necessity. Now more than ever, data center operators require to reimagine the power architectures at the heart of their capacities. In the face of what are sure to be continuously expanding demands on capacity, introducing a decentralized, distributed power architecture is a critical step towards developing data center infrastructure with the flexibility to adapt and keep pace with whatever arrives next. Right Power Technology, founded in 2000, as a pioneer in developing and manufacturing advanced UPS systems and solutions, Right Power Technology now has the enviable distinction of being a significant player in the industry, education, and commercial fields. Visit our official website to see the best ups suited to your requirements.