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Insights: Data Centre

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PropTech Overview

What are Data Centres
A Data Centre is a centralised physical facility that organisations use to house their computer systems, servers and equipment that supports critical applications and data.

These giant computer warehouses are designed to provide a controlled environment for IT equipment to ensure optimal performance and reliability. They include redundant or backup power supplies, data communication connections, environmental controls (e.g. air conditioning, fire suppression) and various security devices.

 

Types of Data Centres

Data centres can be categorised into several types based on their construction and deployment approach. Below are the main types:

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  • Greenfield Data Centres
    A greenfield data centre is built from scratch on a completely new site. This type of data centre begins with a clean slate, typically on undeveloped land. Greenfield data centres are brand-new facilities in every way, involving both constructing a new building and implementing new IT infrastructure and systems from the ground up. Because they are not constrained by an existing layout, size, or location, they can be tailored specifically to an enterprise’s data needs
     

  • Brownfield Data Centres
    A brownfield data centre involves repurposing or upgrading an existing structure, such as a warehouse or an older data centre, to meet new IT requirements. This approach can be more cost-effective and quicker to deploy than building a new facility from scratch. However, it may come with limitations due to the constraints of the existing infrastructure
     

  • Modular Data Centres
    Modular data centres are pre-fabricated units that can be quickly deployed and scaled as needed. These units are often built off-site and then transported to the data centre location, where they are assembled. Modular data centres offer flexibility and can be an efficient solution for expanding capacity without significant construction
     

  • Colocation Data Centres
    Colocation data centres, or "colos," are facilities where multiple organizations rent space for their servers and other computing hardware. These data centres provide the necessary infrastructure, such as power, cooling, and connectivity, allowing businesses to avoid the capital expenditures associated with building and maintaining their own data centres
     

  • Edge Data Centres
    Edge data centres are smaller facilities located closer to the end-users they serve. These data centres are designed to reduce latency and improve the performance of applications by processing data closer to its source. Edge data centres are becoming increasingly important with the rise of IoT and other latency-sensitive applications.
     

  • Hyperscalers
    Hyperscale data centres, also known as cloud data centres, are massive, centralized, highly-efficient, and custom-built computing facilities operated by a single company. These facilities support primarily cloud service providers (CSPs) and large internet companies with enormous compute, storage, and networking requirements1.

    Hyperscalers like AWS, Google Cloud, Meta, and Microsoft Azure represent a significant portion of the global hyperscale capacity.


    These data centres are designed to scale dynamically on demand to handle huge workloads, supporting business services including big data analytics, infrastructure-as-a-service, and content delivery networks.
     

  • Green Data Centres
    Green data centres, or sustainable data centres, are facilities that utilize energy-efficient technologies to optimize energy use and minimize environmental impact. These data centres often use renewable energy sources like solar and wind power, repurpose or recycle physical equipment, and employ intelligent approaches to energy management4. Metrics such as Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE) are used to assess the efficiency and sustainability of these data centres. The goal is to achieve greater energy and resource efficiency, reduce data centre costs, and minimize carbon impact.

     

  • AI-Powered Data Centres
    AI-powered data centres are highly specialized facilities equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software designed to handle computationally intensive AI and machine learning workloads. These data centres are built to support the high computational power and power density required by AI workloads. They often incorporate advanced cooling technologies, such as liquid cooling, to manage the heat generated by high-performance computing7. AI data centres are crucial for supporting the growing demand for AI services and applications, providing the necessary infrastructure for high-performance computing.

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Data Centre Certifications
The Uptime Institute developed the Tier Certification system over 30 years ago to measure how well a data centre can meet the needs of an organization. These certifications are globally recognized and provide a mark of excellence unique to high-performing businesses12. The Uptime Institute's Tier Standards define the topology and operational sustainability performance requirements for each Tier Classification, and the certification verifies the application of these standards to ensure the facility is designed, constructed, and operated to those specifications2.

 

The Uptime Institute's Tier Certifications are divided into four levels:

  • Tier I: Basic Capacity – This level provides dedicated site infrastructure to support IT systems, including a dedicated space for IT systems, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and dedicated cooling equipment.

  • Tier II: Redundant Capacity Components – This level includes redundant capacity components to ensure maintenance can be performed without disrupting IT operations.

  • Tier III: Concurrently Maintainable – This level ensures that each and every component needed to support the IT environment can be maintained without impacting IT operations.

  • Tier IV: Fault Tolerant – This level provides the highest level of fault tolerance and redundancy, ensuring that any single failure will not impact IT operations.


EIA/TIA-942 Standards
The EIA/TIA-942 standard, developed by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), provides guidelines for the design and implementation of data centre infrastructure. This standard covers various aspects of data centre design, including site space and layout, cabling infrastructure, tiered reliability, and environmental considerations5.

The EIA/TIA-942 standard includes different levels of certification, similar to the Uptime Institute's Tier system:

  • Level 1: Basic Site Infrastructure – Similar to Tier I, this level provides basic infrastructure to support IT systems.

  • Level 2: Redundant Site Infrastructure Capacity Components – Similar to Tier II, this level includes redundant capacity components.

  • Level 3: Concurrently Maintainable Site Infrastructure – Similar to Tier III, this level ensures that maintenance can be performed without impacting IT operations.

  • Level 4: Fault Tolerant Site Infrastructure – Similar to Tier IV, this level provides the highest level of fault tolerance and redundancy6.

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Key Differences between the two

  1. Approach: EIA/TIA-942 is prescriptive, providing detailed technical specifications, while Uptime Institute's standards are goal-oriented, focusing on performance, fault tolerance and operational sustainability.
     

  2. Focus: EIA/TIA-942 focuses on the technical aspects of data centre design and construction, ensuring that the infrastructure meets specific technical criteria. In the context of network infrastructure, the EIA/TIA standard is preferred due to its detailed technical specfications for planning and building telecommunications infrastructure. Uptime Institute's standards focus on the overall performance and reliability of the data centre, including its ability to handle failures and maintenance without impacting operation

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  3. Certification: EIA/TIA-942 certification can be completed by any accredited auditor, while Uptime Institute's Tier Certification is managed and certified only by the Uptime Institute

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Both the Uptime Institute and EIA/TIA-942 standards are widely recognized and respected in the industry, providing a framework for designing, building, and operating reliable and efficient data centres.

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Statistics pertaining to Data Centres:

* 40% of the total energy consumed by a modern data centre is used for cooling

The Global Data Centre Industry to emit 2.5 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions globally through the end of the decade

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* Singapore requires Data Centres to have a PUE of at least 1.3 while the global average in 2022 was 1.5.

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As of January 2022, there were more than 70 operational data centres in Singapore, with four new data centres being approved in July 2023 (Straits Times)

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Data Centres are responsible for about 7% of total electricity consumption in 2020 (Ministry of Trade and Industry)

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What are White Sites?

​A "white site" in the context of data centres (DC) and colocation (Colo) refers to a plot of land or a facility that is designated for the development of data centres. These sites are typically pre-approved for data centre use, meaning they have the necessary infrastructure, such as power, cooling, and connectivity, to support data centre operations. This makes them attractive for companies looking to build or expand their data centre facilities without the need for extensive site preparation or regulatory approvals.
 

What are the Considerations when considering a Colocation Site?

Temperature: Data Centres typically maintains 22°C or lower temperatures to ensure that their IT equipment, particularly servers, operates efficiently and does not overheat.

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Power Usage Efficiency: Used to measure the energy efficiency of data centres.  Total Electricity Usage to the power consumed by the core IT Equipment The closer the PUE is to 1, the more efficient the data centre is as less energy goes into cooling.

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Data Centre Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE) measures effiiency.

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Energy Efficiency: 

 

Carbon capture, utilisation, and sequestration (CCUS) technology and carbon dioxide removal (CDR)

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For example, a rack-based solution that integrates the appropriate power solution with liquid cooling will enable you to extract the best compute performance while ensuring optimal energy efficiency and carbon emissions. Data centre operators also need to futureproof themselves by moving towards modular data centres, [which are more flexible than traditional data centres as they are formed by assembling individual modules designed and built separately],” adds Lee

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Types of Cooling Strategies/Methods:

Hot & Cold Aisle

 

Air Cooling: Most common and traditional method of cooling data centres. Use of Air Conditioning, Fans & Vents to circulate ambient air & expel hot air produced y computing equipment

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Liquid Cooling

Direct-to-chip and immersion cooling fall under the liquid cooling method, which is more effective than air cooling in drawing heat away from high-power density racks in data centres.

In direct-to-chip cooling, cold plates sit atop the heat-generating chips inside a server to draw away heat through single-phase cold plates or two-phase evaporation units. This approach can eliminate most of the heat the rack equipment generates, leaving the remaining heat to be removed by air-cooling systems.

Meanwhile, immersion cooling systems submerge servers and other rack components in a thermally conductive dielectric liquid or fluid. This maximises the liquid’s thermal transfer properties and eliminates the need for air cooling.

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A significant amount of water would need to be used, which may stress local water sources.

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Growing in popularity but rarely deployed on a large scale yet.

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