Should you image a knowledge heart in your thoughts, you most likely conjure up a picture of a brief constructing sprawling throughout a large footprint — one thing that appears form of like a giant field retailer.
However going ahead, increasingly more knowledge facilities might look fairly completely different. They will come within the type of multi-story amenities, which have the potential to save lots of prices and enhance sustainability. On the similar time, nevertheless, multi-story knowledge facilities pose some distinctive challenges, making them a tricky promote for sure use circumstances.
What Is a Multi-story Information Middle?
A multi-story knowledge heart is strictly that: a knowledge heart with a number of tales, or flooring.
Multi-story knowledge facilities are notable as a result of historically, nearly all knowledge facilities have been single-story buildings. The one widespread exceptions are knowledge facilities positioned in dense city areas, the place companies may often set up servers on a number of ranges resulting from very tight house limitations. In nearly all different circumstances, knowledge facilities have been housed in single-level amenities.
Two Advantages That Clarify the Rise of Multi-story Information Facilities
There are two principal causes for constructing a knowledge heart with a number of tales.
One is to economize on land. On common, land prices in the US have elevated by about 27% since 2020 — and way more in fast-growing areas the place companies are eager to position new knowledge facilities to assist serve growing populations. In consequence, the price of buying the true property essential to construct a knowledge heart has risen considerably.
On this setting, becoming extra server flooring room house on the identical footprint of land by constructing a number of tales gives an apparent monetary profit.
The second key profit that multi-story knowledge facilities can probably provide is enhanced sustainability. Along with decreasing the quantity of pure land that’s misplaced to improvement, multi-level amenities can probably enhance cooling system effectivity by decreasing the ratio between server room house and constructing floor uncovered to direct daylight.
In brief, taller knowledge facilities can lower your expenses whereas additionally serving to companies obtain their sustainability objectives.
The Challenges of Multi-story Information Facilities
However, multi-story knowledge facilities current some particular challenges.
The largest is constructing design necessities. Most knowledge facilities depend on particular flooring designs to offer house beneath servers for circulating cool air and operating cables. Information heart flooring additionally must be able to supporting the appreciable weight of IT gear. Each elements imply that multi-story building strategies that suffice for traditional workplace buildings might not work for knowledge facilities.
Alongside related traces, architects who work on multi-level knowledge facilities should make sure that the amenities’ energy and HVAC methods are correctly balanced throughout every story — ideally with out bloating prices to the purpose that the cash saved on land acquisition is outweighed by greater building prices.
The necessity for elevators able to shifting giant server racks between tales is a 3rd issue that may make it difficult to design an economical multi-story knowledge heart.
These challenges are all solvable, however solely with a mixture of architectural creativity and cash.
When — and When Not — to Spend money on a Multi-story Information Middle
Deciding if a multi-story knowledge heart is smart for what you are promoting boils down as to whether the advantages of a multi-story knowledge heart outweigh the price of constructing such a facility.
To a big extent, that calculus will hinge on the place the info heart is positioned. Should you’re constructing a facility in a spot the place land is comparatively low cost, and/or the place renewable power is straightforward to supply, you stand to achieve much less on both a monetary or sustainability entrance by investing in a multi-story knowledge heart.
However count on to see extra multi-story amenities in locations the place improvement is already comparatively dense, resulting in excessive land prices, in addition to in conditions the place eking each effectivity out of knowledge heart operations is a enterprise precedence. It is unlikely that almost all of knowledge facilities will embrace a couple of degree anytime quickly, however we might start to see extra such amenities exterior of the ultra-dense city facilities the place they have been historically discovered.
