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To meet capacity demands, many organizations are implementing high-density computing solutions, including blade servers. But high-density servers place greater demands on the data center’s energy consumption. As energy prices continue to rise, so does the cost of operating the data center.
Other organizations are finding themselves simply running out of usable floor space. But building another traditional, raised-floor data center is frequently out of the question. The up-front capital expenditures often make new data centers unaffordable. Designing and building a new facility can take months. And the space available for new data centers often constrains the implementation of traditional designs.
If an organization can’t build a new data center, it may be forced to install critical IT equip-ment in unconditioned, unsecured and unmonitored space. Mergers and acquisitions further disrupt the IT infrastructure, increasing the tendency of data center operations to sprawl out over multiple buildings, companies or even countries.
The beat goes on—keeping pace with business growth while controlling costs
To address the many challenges facing the physical data center, IBM is leading the development of a new concept in data center design and deployment—scalable, modular data centers. This approach provides design and construction for a complete, turnkey, high-density and energy-efficient data center environment in a short amount of time.
Scalable, modular data centers can be deployed in a wide range of configurations to take advantage of the space available and to provide a precise solution to the problem at hand. They help minimize up-front capital expenditures and, through energy efficiencies, provide lower operating costs. They also provide an efficient means to implement server consolidation and rationalize scattered and fragmented IT infrastructures.
Built-in flexibility to meet a variety of deployment needs
Scalable, modular data centers provide the flexibility needed to solve a wide range of data center challenges. Unlike a traditional raised-floor data center, a scalable, modular data center contains most of its IT infrastructure in rows of racks, helping to increase power and cooling and saving floor space. The traditional raised floor may be eliminated entirely, significantly reducing the time and cost of deployment. Standard racks also enable multi-vendor support, including support for IBM BladeCenter® servers.
Scalable, modular data centers can be designed and implemented in as little as 8 to 12 weeks. They can be installed in almost any working environment. They feature lower design, build and daily operating costs than traditional raised-floor data center solutions. They use proven methodologies and standardized components to help reduce implementation risks. Most importantly, scalable, modular data centers are energy efficient and help deliver sustainable operating cost savings.
IBM has successfully deployed its own IBM Scalable Modular Data Center (S M D C) offering in a wide variety of applications for its clients globally. Here are just a few examples that illustrate how an S M D C can help organizations of all types.
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