Why wait to build a datacenter when you can just unpack one?

Prefab SmartRun kit from Vertiv promises 85% faster deployment and fewer plumbing headaches

With rack space at a premium amid unrelenting demand for datacenter capacity, more modular solutions are hitting the market to speed deployment times, even for infrastructure prefabricated for AI training.

Vertiv is the latest to step forward with new ready-made modular systems that it claims offer bit barn operators an accelerated datacenter fit-out.

SmartRun integrates a power distribution busbar, liquid cooling pipe network, hot-aisle containment, and network infrastructure into a single unit, with most of the complex piping and cabling running above the hot aisle itself.

According to Vertiv, SmartRun allows for deployments up to 85 percent faster on-site than traditional build methods, due to its prefabricated assembly, plug-and-play design, and one-lift installation process.

Vertiv SmartRun infrastructure

Vertiv isn't the only company touting modular build bit barn blocks; long-time Register readers will have seen this stuff before. For instance, Sun and HP.

Another example is Schneider Electric and its portfolio in 2022 that combines power, cooling, and IT kit into a single pre-configured unit.

Those are not quite the same as Vertiv's. Schneider is selling infrastructure housed in enclosures resembling shipping containers, while Vertiv is pitching ready-made racks to fill out a data hall.

The latest example of a prefabricated DC infrastructure was on show last week in Heraklion, Crete, when Digital Realty opened a carrier-neutral facility on the Greek island, using Schneider Electric's purpose-built system. It includes two power modules housing MV/LV transformers, UPS kit, and air-cooling kit.

Schneider also deployed two all-in-one data halls with power, cooling, and IT using EcoStruxure for buildings management and electrical power management systems.

The HER1 facility, which was built in 12 months, has 19 racks per data hall with 5.15 kW per rack on average, and has secured a 10 MW grid connection so it is expandable and more prefabricated modules can be added as needed. We're told it runs on 100 percent renewable energy.

Omdia expects global sales of prefabricated modular DC systems to generate $10.8 billion in 2028. Benefits pertain mostly to speed of builds, pre-validated testing, and lower building costs – such as deferring capacity deployment until needed, reducing labor, and minimizing change orders.

The HER1 site was chosen as an interconnection hub that links Europe, Africa, and Asia because Crete is next to the landing point of several subsea cable systems..

According to Schneider, there is a shift towards more prefabricated solutions, although the traditional way of building and fitting out a datacenter still predominates in the European market.

"The demand is shifting, especially when you look at the international companies coming from the US, and taking into consideration that now we're building larger sites, which are so big that you need to replicate and to standardize and to deliver in a consistent way with a certain frequency, that the most suitable solution is the prefabricated one," said Pablo Ruiz Escribano, SVP of Schneider's Secure Power & Datacenter Business.

"We see rising demand for prefabrication because of speed, cost, capacity," he told The Register, claiming that if an operator is building from scratch, the cost savings can be up to 30 percent, plus it can deploy infrastructure in a shorter time and start earning or selling capacity earlier.

Alan Howard, Principal Analyst for Colocation and DC Building, agrees this is an expanding area.

"The demand for different types of prefab is steadily growing with prefab power modules having the highest demand. It definitely offers many benefits, from economic savings to faster build timelines etc. But the challenge many builders face is the need for varying customized solutions for unique datacenter needs," he said.

Synergy Research Group Chief Analyst John Dinsdale argued that modular prefabricated infrastructure is likely to remain a relatively small part of the total market.

"The prime benefits are flexibility and speed to market (or speed to deployment). The main downside is that it isn't scalable in any reasonable way. So it will remain a very small part of the overall datacenter market," he claimed.

IDC's Senior Research Director Andrew Buss also raised doubts about scalability.

"We've seen this as a way to get DC infrastructure and capacity deployed and in production in the very short term. Generally, though, this ends up being complicated and hard to scale," Buss said. "So from our view, the proportion of DCs built this way is in the single figures, and will likely remain this way as the economics and rationale shift as the infrastructure needs scale up." ®