Member Article

New Data Centre White Paper Examines the Global Trend of ‘Hyperscale’ Data Centres

As data becomes an organisation’s most important asset and the world enters the era of ‘hyperscale’ data centres, a new white paper ‘The Future Data Centre’ has been published today. Analysing the evolving data centre landscape, the white paper, commissioned by Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Government agency, and written by Nick Parfitt, Senior Global Research Analyst of the Data Centre Dynamics Group, examines the trends in data centre procurement, design and construction.

The white paper explores some important questions that are emerging for the data centre market, both globally and in the UK. For example:

1. For enterprise companies juggling a complex set of outsourcing options, what can be expected from cloud, colocation and managed service providers in terms of facilities that are future-proofed on behalf of their clients?
2. For companies which invest in the building of data centres either to meet their own IT requirements or to offer IT, cloud or data centre services commercially, there is considerable difference of opinion as to what the future holds. While it is probable that the technological turbulence of the past 5 years will not be repeated, new disruptions cannot be ruled out and how should they therefore be factored in?
3. The driver of the new data centre era is the cloud but are the hyper-scale facilities that the major cloud providers design and build completely removed from other, smaller data centres or are there connections and learnings between the two?
4. What will the next 5 years bring in terms of technological and infrastructural changes and how will these impact on design and construction? Is the data centre build sector prepared for the coming era of digital transformation and edge computing?
5. The data centre industry is becoming increasingly public-facing. How does this impact on the companies that provide services to it?

The white paper has been commissioned by Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Government agency, as part of the international IrishAdvantage.com campaign, which highlights the advantages and capabilities of Irish companies to international partners and clients Ireland’s strength as a location for data centres has led to the development of a world-class cluster of companies with an unparalleled competency in Data Centre Design, Build and Fit-Out.

John Hunt, Senior Market Advisor, Construction Sector, Enterprise Ireland, said, “Ireland has become one of the principal data centre hubs for many of the world’s technology giants, including Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Dell EMC, Yahoo, IBM, HP, Facebook, Equinix and Digital Realty. Leveraging this domestic capability, the world’s largest data centre operators have gone on to partner with Irish construction and engineering companies to design and build the most sophisticated and largest ‘hyperscale’ data centres across the UK and the globe. It’s Irish companies’ large and directly employed workforces, expertise, adaptability and efficient delivery on complex high-tech projects that has set them apart. We are confident collaboration between the UK and Ireland will continue across a wide range of sectors, enabling Irish companies to provide a vital skills injection to the UK economy.”

Nick Parfitt, Senior Global Research Analyst, Data Centre Dynamics Group and the author of the white paper said “Data centres represent the foundation of the digitalised world. The processes of initial design and construction are key to maximising the opportunities and minimising the risks associated with data centre investment, as well as building in the technologies that will deliver on key requirements such as resilience, efficiency, scalability, flexibility and security. The quality of what is designed and built today will impact the future scope of the digitalised era.”

Case Studies: Irish companies leading the way internationally in Data Centre design, build and fit-out: Jones Engineering Group Jones Engineering is a leading international Engineering Contracting Group of companies providing mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, fire protection and maintenance solutions to world-class clients. Jones Engineering Group has a track record of delivering mechanical & electrical services to data centres since 2000. We have completed over €500m of data centre works and successfully delivered over 450MW through large scale & fit-out projects. Jones Engineering Group have completed over seven data centres in Ireland. In addition to these projects, Jones Engineering has completed data centres for clients in UK, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Bahrain. Jones Engineering Group has registered offices in Ireland, London, Denmark, Holland, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Qatar and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We are 127 years working in the engineering and construction industry with the original company been founded in 1890. The Group currently employs almost 2,500 people with a turnover of c. €385 million per annum. Our objective is the delivery of quality work through quality people.

Linesight Linesight is a multinational construction consultancy firm with over 40 years’ experience, providing cost and general consultancy services to the construction industry. Linesight works with Tier One clients across a multitude of sectors including Data Centers, Commercial, Life Sciences, High-Tech Industrial, Residential, Hospitality, Healthcare and Retail. Having worked on 158 data center facilities worldwide, delivering over 2300MW of critical power and 20 million sq. ft. of white space, Linesight has extensive experience and expertise in the sector. Its specialist data center team provides faster project delivery and cost-effectiveness, and delivers innovative, efficient and sustainable solutions that achieve maximum value for money.

Linesight works with 9 out of 10 of the largest data center owner occupiers, colocation and cloud providers in the world, with clients in recent years including Global Switch, Digital Realty and RagingWire. Linesight is expanding rapidly, planning to open new offices in the USA and China in 2018, in response to client needs in those regions. Number of data centers by region: USA – 47, Middle East – 24, Ireland – 23, UK – 20, Europe – 18, Australia/New Zealand – 17, Southeast Asia – 8, South Africa – 1

Mercury Engineering MERCURY is an Internationally-recognised provider of complex engineering and construction services. With projects completed in 33 Countries on four continents, the company has an unrivalled track record Constructing Data Centres and has become the vendor of choice for some of for the world’s major operators. Services offered include: Project management, Design, Procurement, General contracting, Specialist Commissioning and Maintenance. MERCURY completed its first data centre project in 1999. In the last 11 years MERCURY has been awarded data centre projects approaching a value of €2bn in 11 countries, including; Ireland, Isle of Man, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Russia and the Middle East.

KES Group KES specialise in the testing and handover of the cooling and ventilation systems in medium to large scale data centres across the EU, including Ireland, UK, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland.

This involves being at the very start of the project with the client, design team and contractor representatives to agree a plan of how the project HVAC systems are to be commissioned and handed over. This includes the generation of test documents detailing all procedures from commissioning feasibility checks, system walk downs up to system start-up, flushing of cooling and chemical treatment of systems, testing and commissioning, demonstration and handover and final system sign off. We also provide assistance for IST as required by the site team to ensure that the final outcome at handover is in line with specific client requirements. Our core business is data centre testing and handover. We have been working with the majority of our clients for over 10 years and have an in-depth knowledge of their systems, their requirements and industry wide system operational improvements.

We have also invested heavily in equipment for the cleaning of steel pipework systems without the use of cleaning chemicals or water dis-charge and have sufficient overall equipment and trained individuals to perform our activities on multiple large-scale projects in multiple countries at the same time.

Collen Construction Established in 1810, Collen Construction is an internationally Irish family owned company with an established reputation for delivering quality and excellence. The company has a broad portfolio specialising in data centres & pharmaceutical projects and is recognised as a leader within the data centre build environment.

Collen Construction provide a full turn-key solution through procurement, installation, and commissioning of all elements of the project including fit-out in order to provide a fully functional project to the client’s needs and standards, upon completion. With increasing technical complexity on many of the projects, the company are focused on leading industry best practice and incorporating new technologies for the benefit of clients.

Collen Construction is currently working with a confidential US Based multi-national building data centres in Dublin, Frankfurt and Sweden. Collen Construction has completed projects in excess of €700 million (build value) for this Client across five campuses since 2010. Our projects are fast paced, highly technical build projects on brown-field and green-field sites in major European Cities. Our site management teams are highly competent and adept at managing large numbers of resources onsite, completing projects within extremely tight programmes and within budget, whilst adhering to our stringent ISO accredited health, safety, environmental and quality policies.

Winthrop Headquartered in Dublin Ireland and delivering throughout Europe, Winthrop is a leading engineering company, with a turnover of €200m, employing over 700 people in 2017. Winthrop core business encompasses the delivery of Mission Critical projects, specialising in Turnkey Data Centre Solutions. Established in 1995 on the principle of knowledge-based solutions, we have grown to become one of the leading and most trusted companies in our sector. Winthrop has a dedicated, highly experienced Mission Critical delivery team for New Build and Technical Fitouts. The company is currently delivering €450m of Data Centre Mission Critical Projects, equating to 61MW of IT load.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Enterprise Ireland .