Data Centre Architecture Insights & Best Practices

'Cranes key to productivity in data centre construction'

With companies and consumers increasingly reliant on cloud-based computing and services, data centre construction has moved higher up the agenda across the world. Recently re-categorised as 'Critical National Infrastructure' in the UK, the market is highly competitive and demand for new facilities is high. However, these projects are very sensitive to risk. Challenges include the highly technical nature of some of the work, which relies on a specialist supply chain, and long lead times for equipment such as servers, computer chips, and backup generators – in some cases, up to two years. Time is of the essence. Every day of delay during a construction programme can have a multimillion-pound impact in lost income, and project teams can be penalised for falling behind. However, help is at hand from an unexpected source: the cranage provider. Cutting construction time by half Marr Contracting, an Australian provider of heavy-lift luffing tower cranes and cranage services, has been working on data centres around the world for several years. Its methodology is helping data centre projects reach completion in half of the average time. “The first time that I spoke to a client about their data centre project, they told me that they were struggling with the lifting requirements,” explains Simon Marr, Managing Director at Marr Contracting. “There were lots of heavy precast components and sequencing them correctly alongside other elements of the programme was proving difficult. “It was a traditional set-up with mobile cranes sitting outside the building structure, which made the site congested and ‘confused.’ "There was a clash between the critical path works of installing the in-ground services and the construction of the main structure, as the required mobile crane locations were hindering the in-ground works and the in-ground works were hindering where the mobile cranes could be placed. This in turn resulted in an extended programme.” The team at Marr suggested a different approach: to place fewer, yet larger-capacity cranes in strategic locations so that they could service the whole site and allow the in-ground works to proceed concurrently. By adopting this philosophy, the project was completed in half the time of a typical build. Marr has partnered with the client on every development since, with the latest project completed in just 35 weeks. “It’s been transformational,” claims Simon. “The solution removes complexity and improves productivity by allowing construction to happen across multiple work fronts. This, in turn, reduces the number of cranes on the project.” Early engagement is key Simon believes early engagement is key to achieving productivity and efficiency gains on data centre projects. He says, “There is often a disconnect between the engineering and planning of a project and how cranes integrate into the project’s construction logic. "The current approach, where the end-user of the crane issues a list of requirements for a project, with no visibility on the logic behind how these cranes will align with the construction methodology, is flawed. “It creates a situation where more cranes are usually added to an already congested site to fill the gap that could have been covered by one single tower crane.” One of the main pressure points on projects that is specific to data centres is the requirements around services. “The challenge with data centres is that a lot of power and water is needed, which means lots of in-ground services,” continues Simon. “The ideal would be to build these together, but that’s not possible with a traditional cranage solution because you’re making a compromise on whether you install the in-ground services or whether you delay that work so that the mobile cranes can support the construction of the structure. Ultimately, the programme falls behind.” “We’ve seen clients try to save money by downsizing the tower crane and putting it in the centre of the server hall. But this hinders the completion of the main structure and delays the internal fit out works. “Our approach is to use cranes that can do heavier lifts but that take up a smaller area, away from the critical path and outside the building structure. The crane solution should allow the concurrent delivery of critical path works – in turn, making the crane a servant to the project, not the hero. “With more sites being developed in congested urban areas, particularly new, taller data centres with heavier components, this is going to be more of an issue in the future.” Thinking big One of the benefits of early engagement and strategically deploying heavy lift tower cranes is that it opens the door for the constructor to “think big” with their construction methodology. This appeals to the data centre market as it enables constructors to work to design for manufacturer and assembly (DfMA). By using prefabricated, pre-engineered modules, DfMA aims to allow for the rapid construction and deployment of data centre facilities. Fewer, heavier lifts should reduce risk and improve safety because more components can be assembled offsite, delivered to the site, and then placed through fewer major crane lifts instead of multiple, smaller lifts. Simon claims, “By seeking advice from cranage experts early in the bid and design development stage of a project, the project can benefit from lower project costs, improved safety, higher quality, and quicker construction."

Datum launches second Manchester data centre, MCR2

UK data centre provider Datum Datacentres has officially launched MCR2, its newest data centre in Manchester, marking a milestone for both the company and the region’s £500 million regeneration initiative. The well-attended opening ceremony took place on Thursday, 26 June and celebrated the completion of the almost two-year construction project, signalling a boost for Manchester’s position as a UK tech hub. The ribbon was cut by Emma Taylor, Labour Councillor for the Sharston Ward, and the event was attended by distinguished guests including members of Manchester City Council, who collaborated closely with Datum throughout the project. Their joint efforts sought to ensure the facility aligns with the goals of Wythenshawe's ongoing regeneration, creating a resource to support the community's sustainable growth and innovation. Commenting on the launch, Matt Edgley, COO at Datum Datacentres, says, “We are thrilled to have officially opened MCR2. From the outset, our vision for MCR2 was to set new standards in operational resilience and reliability while embedding sustainability at its core. This facility stands as a testament to our commitment to fostering positive social and environmental change, supporting the local economy and playing an active role in the regeneration of Wythenshawe.” MCR2 was built in response to Manchester’s rapidly growing demand for data centre infrastructure. The new facility provides capacity for up to 1,200 racks, each capable of up to 30kW power delivery on dual circuits, supported by 2N level resilience. MCR2 offers a design PUE of 1.25, a 100% power availability SLA, and a focus on sustainability, security, and "operational excellence." Security is further bolstered by the inclusion of an on-site police-linked Alarm Receiving Centre and the site’s NSI Gold certification (BS5979 SOC). Emma Taylor, Labour Councillor for the Sharston Ward, comments, “Data centres are a critical part of our data infrastructure in Manchester and, as anchors for investment, play a really important part in supporting local growth. This multimillion pound investment by Datum really demonstrates the confidence in the region and I’m really excited for what the future holds. As someone who grew up just metres from the site of what is now MCR2, I’d like to thank the team at Datum for bringing a bit of life back into the fringes of Wythenshawe town centre.” Datum’s design and construction partner Keysource delivered the facility. Jon Healy, Managing Director at Keysource, a Salute company, adds, “It’s been great to deliver on another successful project with Datum Datacentres. We set out to challenge the status quo and drive the highest possible standards across the project design, construction, and sustainability. Collaboration between Datum and Keysource has been at the fore to deliver on key business drivers and is testament to our talented people involved. We look forward to the next project.” For more from Datum Datacentres, click here.

Puglia 'Data Center Valley' set to become biggest AI hub in Europe

Puglia, a region of southern Italy located at the 'heel' of the peninsula, is seeking to redefine the digital landscape of the Mediterranean with the creation of the Puglia Data Center Valley, a development program that brings together three AI hyperscale data centre projects totalling more than 2 GW of power capacity. Data centre company Adriatic DC’s plans include the redevelopment of Bari’s former Manifattura Tabacchi industrial area into a 200 MW data centre, the development of a second 500 MW greenfield facility in Brindisi’s industrial area, and the Adriatic DC Hub, a 1.5 GW greenfield campus spanning 2,000 acres. Said hub is set to become the largest data centre complex currently under development in Europe and among the largest in the world, on par with the Stargate campus in the United States. This initiative arises from an unprecedented global demand for computing power - driven by the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) - and aims to position Southern Italy at the heart of this epochal transformation. The overall strategy rests on solid infrastructural foundations. Puglia is the leading Italian region for electricity production from renewable sources, boasts operational international submarine digital backbones, and will soon be connected to the new Italy–Albania energy cable, designed to further strengthen the flow of renewable energy along the Adriatic corridor. In this context, the Regional Government of Puglia has established an interdepartmental working group on data centres, tasked with effectively coordinating permitting processes, defining technical guidelines, and facilitating dialogue with local authorities, thereby offering operators guidance and a dedicated institutional channel. "The Puglia Data Center Valley was created to place Southern Italy and Southern Europe at the centre of the new geopolitics of artificial intelligence," states Lorenzo Avello, CEO of Adriatic DC. "Global demand for computing power is growing at record rates. Our goal is to build an industrial platform capable of attracting strategic investment to projects with reliable execution timelines, generating skilled employment, and strengthening both European digital sovereignty and national data security. "Puglia offers industrial land availability, energy networks targeted for major future development by the TSO, global submarine digital links, and a favourable institutional environment - a rare and unique mix in Europe. We are firmly convinced that the south can position itself in the new global chessboard of artificial intelligence.” The first construction sites are scheduled to break ground by the end of 2026, with an initial investment phase of approximately €2 billion (£1.72 billion) for the first project. However, estimates suggest that, once fully operational, the total investment across the three projects - including direct, indirect, and infrastructure-related components - could exceed €100 billion (£85.88 billion) - an unprecedented level of capital for Southern Italy. The anticipated impacts include thousands of direct and indirect jobs, as well as the creation of new industrial supply chains in the ICT sector, such as AI-as-a-Service and cybersecurity. In a Europe that must accelerate toward strategic autonomy, digital resilience, and decarbonisation, the Puglia Data Center Valley seeks to position itself as an active platform, ready to engage with stakeholders in the global technological transformation.

Equinix responds to new research by think-tank Ember

Think-tank Ember has published new research warning that poor electricity grid planning could cause a major shift in Europe’s data centre landscape, particularly as developers increasingly seek locations with faster and easier grid connections rather than traditional hubs like Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and Paris. Data centres are a key part of critical infrastructure. In 2024, techUK published a report highlighting the essential role they play in enabling digital transformation across all sectors of the economy. As well as contributing £4.7 billion in gross added value (GVA) to the UK economy and 43,500 jobs, they are the backbone of our digital world. Data centres play a role in everything from delivering our favourite TV shows to ensuring we have access to banking, education, and healthcare. The opportunity AI has unlocked demands further data centre capacity which, in turn, requires energy. Equinix, an American multinational data centre and colocation company operating interconnection and data centre facilities worldwide, says it is responding to this need by investing in and expanding its campuses. The energy grid is evidently an important consideration in that process, with some campuses located in areas where both land and energy infrastructure are readily available. Other sites are built in areas where temporary energy solutions are needed while grid access is extended. In markets like the UK, the Government is making significant investment in the grid through programs like the RIIO-T3 Business Plan, which commits £35 billion to up-level the UK’s energy transmission system over the next 5 years, doubling the amount of transferable power by 2029 - creating great optimism. Equinix claims it has made significant investments in its energy programs. Examples include renewable energy adoption and the global Equinix Heat Export program, which intends to contribute heat and energy to communities that surround its campus locations. By adopting cleaner energy alternatives and innovative technologies, the company says it limits its reliance on the grid in some countries as well as reducing emissions globally. Its power purchase agreements (PPAs) are long-term wind and solar agreements where it partners directly with producers, helping to fund the development of projects like new wind and solar farms, increasing the amount of renewable energy available to the grid while supporting the long-term goal of reaching net zero by 2040. Globally, the Equinix Heat Export program takes waste heat from its data centres and, in partnership with energy utilities, distributes this heat to surrounding communities. In Helsinki, this program provides heat for local homes and, in Paris, heat is delivered to the Plaine Saulneir urban development zone which, alongside local houses, is home to the Olympic swimming pool. The energy grid is critical for supporting data centre infrastructure, and it’s certainly exciting to see innovation coming from both energy utilities and data centre operators. A collaboration between the two is crucial for unlocking opportunities for businesses, enriching the services they can offer to consumers, and achieving climate goals. For more from Equinix, click here.

Gcore and Ampere to provide high-performance cloud solutions

Gcore has announced its collaboration with Ampere. The collaboration brings together Gcore's cloud infrastructure expertise with Ampere's innovative 128-core processors based on the ARM architecture and optimised for cloud workloads. Gcore virtual machines (VMs) now support configurations based on the Ampere Altra processor family, a cloud-native processor that delivers predictable high performance, linear scalability, and power efficiency for data centre deployments, from hyperscale cloud to edge cloud. Ampere's processors offer high core counts, allowing for efficient parallel processing of workloads. A performance comparison of Ampere, Intel, and AMD processors on a single node running typical workloads shows that Ampere is on average faster than Intel Xeon third Gen and AMD EPYC third Gen. Gcore VMs are hosted on HPE ProLiant RL300 Gen11 servers, which are equipped with Ampere Altra processors. This is the server designed specifically for providers and digital-first enterprises that need to deploy cloud applications. The scalability of the Ampere Altra product family enables cloud providers and data centres to handle a large number of concurrent tasks and efficiently scale their infrastructure as demand increases. It is also cloud-optimised and helps to maximise overall performance and cores-per-rack density. Ampere processors are based on the ARM architecture, which offers several advantages for cloud-native environments, including power efficiency, performance per watt, and support for heterogeneous workloads.

Juniper Networks announces enhanced data centre capabilities

Juniper Networks has announced new Juniper Apstra capabilities that enhance operator experiences to facilitate the deployment and operations of private data centre infrastructures. With the introduction of new experience-first data centre features, including simplified data collection and visualisation via graph databases, tighter flow data integration from multivendor switches and automated provisioning via Terraform, Juniper's customers can continue to leverage Apstra as the premier solution for intent-based networking and automated data centre assurance with even more management capabilities, that make private data centres as flexible and agile to operate as cloud-based infrastructures. Budget constraints, skills shortages and increasing complexity continue to drive the need for automated data centre operations. As the pioneer of intent-based networking, Juniper Apstra provides exceptional value by automating and validating the design, deployment and operation of multivendor data centre networks. In addition, it provides a single source of truth for predicting, analysing and troubleshooting ongoing operations. With the latest release of Apstra software, customers and partners get even more value, which includes: Simple data collection and visualisation: Building on Apstra’s powerful, unique graph database, users can now easily customise intent-based analytics probes for telemetry and visibility into network operations, then easily explore and visualise the data using the new database query interface included in Apstra 4.2.0. The easy-to-use, no-code user interface enables new users to easily query and explore the database while allowing experienced users to write customised graph queries. Complete network visibility with integrated flow data: Multivendor flow data through Apstra provides granular visibility for in-depth analysis and insights into the application traffic flows traversing the network without the complexity and cost of a separate monitoring system. When paired with Apstra’s telemetry and analytics features, these capabilities simplify and speed troubleshooting, enable better performance management, capacity planning and cost control, and improve security and compliance - regardless of vendor. Automated and streamlined network provisioning with Terraform: Companies currently using the Terraform Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) platform to automate their public cloud deployments can now use the Terraform provider for Apstra to automatically push configurations to the data centre through Apstra without any API programming. By simplifying network operations, Terraform and Apstra accelerate the delivery of new services, giving organisations a data centre solution modelled after the simplicity and agility of the cloud. When these features are coupled with Apstra’s existing intent-based networking capabilities and Juniper validated designs, organisations can simplify and standardise data centre architectures to achieve hyperscaler-like efficiencies.

RIL partners to expand India's data centre business

Reliance Industries (RIL) has announced that it is entering into an agreement to invest alongside Brookfield Infrastructure and Digital Realty in its Indian SPVs setup for developing data centres in India. RIL will hold 33.33% stake in each of the Indian SPVs and become an equal partner. Digital Realty Trust has a joint venture (JV) with Brookfield Infrastructure, that is developing high quality, highly connected, scalable data centres, to meet the critical infrastructure needs of enterprises and digital services companies in India. RIL will become an equal partner in the JV. The JV will be branded as ‘Digital Connexion: A Brookfield, Jio and Digital Realty Company.’ The JV is currently developing data centres in marquee locations of Chennai and Mumbai. Its first 20MW greenfield data centre (MAA10), on a 100MW campus in Chennai, is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. The JV recently announced the acquisition of 2.15ac of land in Mumbai to build a 40MW data centre. Given the location of these sites, the data centres will be connected to critical terrestrial connectivity infrastructure, as well as undersea cables, and will become hubs for global connectivity for Indian companies and a gateway into India for multinational companies. Data centre capacity in India is expected to increase multi-fold over the next few years. Indians are already amongst the largest mobile data consumers globally. This will further increase significantly with increasing access to various digital services like OTT platforms, gaming and the ongoing 5G rollout. Adoption of 5G use cases by enterprises will lead to the adoption of data-intensive technologies like IoT and AI. The ongoing innovations in generative AI technology have been enabled by hardware and data centre infrastructure, and the requirement of these is only set to increase exponentially. There is also an increased emphasis on localisation of personal data within the country. These drivers will significantly increase the data centre and compute capacity requirements of the country. It will be well positioned to serve global and local enterprises, SMBs and the vibrant start-ups of India, for their cloud and colocation requirements, as they move compute resources on the cloud and off-premise. Data centres developed by the JV will leverage Digital Realty’s energy efficient data centre platform design and operating procedures, highly repeatable Pervasive Data Centre Architecture (PDx) approach and relationships with global customers, Brookfield’s in-depth knowledge of the Indian infrastructure market, and Jio’s massive digital and connectivity ecosystem and strong enterprise relationships with an existing client base of 80% of large named private enterprises in India. Click here for latest data centre news.

Schneider Electric has introduced its new Easy UPS 3-Phase Modular UPS. It is easy to select, quote, install and maintain, with a modular architecture that enables redundant, scalable options and Live Swap of power and bypass modules with no scheduled down time. This uninterruptible power supply delivers robust power protection and high availability in a cost optimised, 50-250kW N+1 400V package, ideal for small and medium data centres and other business critical applications. It also features a modular design with Live Swap in a compact, one cabinet footprint. Its scalability enables customers to pay-as-they grow, optimising capital investment with competitive acquisition costs. Customers can buy the power modules they need upfront and enjoy optimised operating efficiency. They can then add power modules with third-party verified Live Swap as demand grows. The modular design also enables N+1 internal redundancy, which increases the system’s availability with no extra footprint.

Cato Networks has announced a new SASE throughput record, achieving 5Gbps on a single encrypted tunnel with all security inspections enabled. “Once again, Cato has set the mark for SASE at scale,” says Gur Shatz, Co-Founder, President, and COO of Cato Networks. "Pushing the boundary of SASE throughput worldwide is more than an engineering achievement. It demonstrates how quickly a platform with a cloud-native architecture can make new technology globally available."  As larger enterprises adopt SASE, higher capacity connections are needed for interconnecting data centres and private clouds. Cato meets that need with leading support for 5Gbps throughput on a single, encrypted tunnel regardless of security inspections. Previously, Cato supported a maximum of 3Gbps per tunnel. The improved throughput underscores the benefits of a cloud-native architecture. It nearly doubled the performance of the Cato Socket without requiring any hardware changes. This was only possible because Cato runs the compute-intensive operations that normally degrade edge appliance performance, in the Cato Single Pass Processing Engine (SPACE) running across Cato PoPs. By improving SPACE, all edges connected to the Cato SASE Cloud gain increased throughput. Replacement of the Cato Socket is not required. By contrast, SASE solutions implemented as virtual machines (VMs) in the cloud or modified web proxies remain limited to under 1Gbps of throughput for a single tunnel. This limitation forces enterprises to have their edge appliance create and manage multiple tunnels and load-balance their traffic between them. Cato is also delivering 5Gbps connections to other cloud providers. The new Cato cross-connect will enable private, high-speed layer-2 connections between Cato and any other cloud provider connecting to the Equinix Cloud Exchange (ECX) or Digital Reality. The Cato cross-connect meets the need for multicloud and hybrid cloud deployments that demand reliable, high-throughput connections. It also enables channel partners to deliver Cato SSE 360 into legacy deployments by establishing a network-to-network interface (NNI) into the Cato SASE Cloud.

DigiCert has announced that it will be providing digital trust services to the European Production Giganet project. In doing so, it will be serving a key role in secure data communication and exchange for the manufacturing industry, adhering to European standards of self-sovereign identity. EuProGigant is set to bring about the next step in Industry 4.0 in Europe, by demonstrating a shared, intelligent and automated data ecosystem, that will drive value creation within the European manufacturing sector. This will be the first practical implementation that will make Gaia-X understandable for the manufacturing domain, a framework for federated European data architecture. The company will be providing its digital trust services, based on the DigiCert ONE platform, within the EuProGigant’s federation services for secure identity and authentication. These include content and IoT trust services and following eIDAS guidelines for creating verifiable credential wallets, as well as the self-description principles of Gaia-X. Mike Nelson, DigiCert’s Vice President of Digital Trust, says “DigiCert’s role in EuProGigant reinforces its position as a global leader in digital trust and a driver of digital transformation within the European Manufacturing Industry. We are proud to be involved in this landmark project and hope that our contributions will pave the way for future innovation with the sector.” The project is led by Vienna University of Technology and Darmstadt University of Technology. It involves over 20 companies from within the industrial and technology sectors including manufacturing companies such as voestalpine High Performance Metals, Heller and MTU Aero Engines. The project intends to exhibit how industry can use sovereign data and information exchange, with a shared data ecosystem to revolutionise the manufacturing sector. By automating and improving data-driven value chains, it estimates that the European manufacturing industry will profit from higher data quality and lower costs. In part, this is meant to allow the industry to compete with low cost manufacturers from emerging markets through innovation and establishment of stronger connected systems.