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POD Architecture 2.0®: The Continuing Evolution of the Modular Datacenter

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Jim Smith

Jim Smith is CTO at Digital Realty Trust where he oversees data center development, the company's efficiency & green strategy, and power procurement & energy management. In the past four years, Jim and the Digital Realty Trust team have delivered more than 300MW of UPS capacity on over 60 datacenter projects in North America and Europe. This portfolio includes the industry's first LEED Gold certified data center and the UK’s first BREEAM certified Excellent datacenter. Jim has a BSc in Chemistry from Fort Lewis College and an MBA from London Business School. He was named an InfoWorld top 25 CTO of 2008.

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Jim Smith, CTO, Digital Realty Trust

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POD Architecture 2.0®: The Evolution of the Modular Datacenter

Athough datacenter requirements vary from one company to another, at their core there is a high level of consistency. Like a car in which a basic model is modified in terms of its features and color to suit the particular demands of a customer, the majority of the vehicle is built using the same components and processes as the thousands of others of its type that are sold annually. Digital Realty Trust applied these “factory” concepts to the the datacenter with its POD Architecture. Developed at a time modular construction approaches were in their infancy and customers were forced to live with extended delivery schedules, the POD Architecture uses a standard Bill of Materials (BOM) and construction procedures (Digital Realty Trust’s proprietary Gating Process®) to support the delivery of 8-12,000 square foot1

As a result the POD Architecture facilitated high reliability, improved performance, short delivery cycles (less than 26 weeks for a Turn-Key Datacenter®) and more cost efficient site operation.

“PODs”.

POD Architecture 2.0 represents the next evolutionary step in modular datacenter design and construction. Forged from the combination of new process capabilities derived from innovations in contemporary construction methods, POD Architecture 2.0 accelerates datacenter delivery schedules through the introduction of off-site manufacturing into the build-out equation.

Understanding the Competitive Landscape

The definition of a “modular data center” has become more opaque over the last 12 to 24 months. Among the offerings that now are lumped by many into the modular category are: - Containers - Pre-fabricated - Shared power and cooling backplanes

1 500-800m² in Europe

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Originally developed by leading server providers like Dell, HP and IBM, containers are essentially a small computing environment (~300kW) within the equivalent of a metal shipping container. Containers are best used for niche applications requiring a homogeneous computing environment. Demand for containers is expected to remain limited with 84 units shipped in 2010 and rising to only 385 by 2013.

Containers

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Containers are complimentary, rather than complete data center solutions. Ideal for applications greater than 50 racks with high compute requirements, containers offer modular, repeatable designs. Although time to market is one of their key drivers they do require site prepraration that can take from a few weeks to months. At the present time containers are primarily offered by server providers like HP, IBM and Dell. Although, these providers assert that their products can support equipment from competing vendors they also emphasize that their container products are “optimized” for use with their own equipment.

Pre-fabricated data centers, as the name implies, are pre-built facilities that are delivered to a site. In a sense they are data centers that fit on the back of a truck. Pre-fabricated data centers come in a fixed size and require specific building specifications. They also have a constrained IT form factor. Thus they are limited by the layout prescribed by the provider. Power and cooling redundancy are also often available in a single fixed configuration as well. In short, pre-fabricated data centers are a “what you see is what you get proposition”.

Pre-Fabricated

In assessing both containers and pre-fabricated data centers as viable modular solutions it is readily apparent that both suffer from a limited expansionary vision and a distinct lack of flexibility. In today’s rapidly expanding data center environment both of these difficiencies are substantial shortcomings. A truly modular data center uses specified components that have been selected based on their ability to service a prescribed area in the most energy and cost efficient mode possible. Data centers constructed using a true modular approach are built out incrementally, thereby enabling a customer to add only the additional space they require as they need it. Based on the ability for this modular construct to support incremental growth, it offers the end user greater

2 IDC, Data center futures

Containers are best used for niche applications requiring a homogeneous computing environment

Pre-fabricated data centers come in a fixed size and have a pre-defined IT form factor

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flexibility in both expansion and site configuration than either containers or pre-fabricated facilities. . Digital Realty Trust’s POD Architecture is a prime example of a true modular archtecture. Based around a core group of components including a generator, switchboards and transformer the POD Architecture was developed in 2005 to support physical spaces ranging from 8,000 to 12,000 square feet3

and has been used by Digital Realty Trust to build out over $2.5B in data center facilities. Over the course of time, this design has been repeatedly modified and improved to incorporate the new developments in building construction methods and improvements in data center technology and energy efficiency. POD Architecture 2.0 represents the next phase in this evolutionary process of development and refinement to deliver on Digital Realty Trust’s long term vision of the definition of modularity.

POD Architecture 2.0 POD Architecture 2.0 is the perfected next generation of Digital Realty Trust’s modular vision. While maintaining its use of standard Bills of Materials (BOMs) for its core components, POD Architecture 2.0 expands on Digital Realty Trust’s concept of modular construction.

Through the incorporation of recent innovations in building construction methodology and our new concept of the “tightly coupled supply chain”, POD Architecture 2.0 melds the concept of on and off-site development to change the fundamental concept of data center delivery from one of on-site construction to on-site assembly.

3 800-1200m²

POD Architecture 2.0 melds the concept of on and off-site development to change the fundamental concept of data center delivery from one of on-site construction to on-site assembly

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POD Architecture 2.0 uses on-site assembly not constructruction

Unblocking the Critical Path In any datacenter project the construction and testing of the site’s electrical and mechanical infrastructure systems/rooms represent the largest critical path elements. The on-site build out of these two core components has traditionally resulted in an extended period of sequential, rather than parallel, activity in the datacenter construction process. POD Architecture 2.0 solves these issues by constructing each of these elements in off-site “factories” and then shipping them to the site when needed for installation. Through the use of this methodology Digital Realty Trust is able to build, cable and pre-commission the site’s power and cooling infrastructure on transportable “skids” while on-site activities that were previously done sequentially are now performed in parallel. Digital Realty Trust dramatically reduces delivery schedules and increases on-site health and safety considerations while improving quality control.

Digital Realty Trust builds, cables and pre-commissions the power and cooling infrastructure on transportable “skids” while on-site activities that were previously done sequentially are now performed in parallel

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Key Components are “factory-built” and tested and shipped to site on custom-designed “skids” Two prime examples of this “schedule compression” encapsulated in POD Architecture 2.0 may be found in the improvements delivered in the construction of the electrical and pump rooms. Rate limited is the term that appropriately describes the typical mode of construction for the typical electrical room. Due to the volume of equipment housed within the room that needed to be installed, construction is normally a challenging process characterized by many types of skilled tradesman working within a small space—a situation exacerbated by the need for painting and lighting personnel to complete their work at the same time. By pre-building the UPS room off-site at our factory, the time-consuming process of UPS room completion is drastically reduced. Now, on-site assembly requires approximately 2 dozen connections to be made yielding considerable time savings, coupled with an obvious increase in the health and safety benefits. Pump room construction for sites using water cooled chillers was previously a nine week process. As part of our philosophy of the “collaborative supply chain”, Digital Realty Trust worked with our suppliers to develop a process in which they pre-build the room at one of their facilities, including level 3 and 4 commissioning, and then ship it to the required location when it is needed. Based on this use of parallel

Parallel development of the pump room components has reduced its schedule by over 75%

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development the final on-site assembly of the pump room components has been reduced to just 2 weeks—a schedule decrease of over 75%.

Skids arrive on site as they are needed

Stream-lined Certification and Inventoriable Configurations The off-site manufacturing of electrical and mechanical infrastructure systems/rooms enables Digital Realty Trust to build them out and inventory them as standard components. Thus, delivery schedules are further solidified as a result of these structures being incorporated into the BOMs of our various product options to simplify order processing and supply chain processes. POD Architecture 2.0 represents a major evolution in datacenter construction as it introduces “plug and play” capabiltiy without the a pre-built backplane into the process. Unlike completely, pre-fabbed facilities like containers, Digital Realty Trust’s vision for future datacenter construction is based on the warehousing of all pre-built and tested components that are shipped and assembled on site rather than built. At present, Digital Realty Trust is pursuing UL-certification for these components to further reduce the time required for building code inspection. Rather than having to certify compliance of each individual component, certification is performed on the pre-manufactured assembly. Thus, certification can be obtained at the factory to allow the entire code approved configuration to be shipped to the site.

POD Architecture 2.0 represents a major evolution in datacenter construction as it introduces “plug and play” capability into the process

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Enhanced Customer Flexibility Although seemingly similar products have recently been announced, Digital Realty Trust has used POD Architecture 2.0 to better incorporate the increasing levels of flexibility that today’s datacenter customer’s demand. Under POD Architecture 2.0 electical and mechanical component configurations will be built and commissioned to be held in inventory to support the multiple space, redundancy and cooling options (air-cooled chilled water or airside economization for instance) that the customer may desire. Any configuration will still benefit from Digital Realty Trust’s use of “right-sized” components that enable customers to build out space incrementally using components that operate in the most cost efficient manner. And unlike competing firms, POD Architecture 2.0 not only supports horizontal implementations but vertical configurations as well. In many of today’s real estate constrained locations (urban locations for example) the ability of POD Architecture 2.0 to scale vertically enables it to deliver solutions that are simply not practicable with competing product architectures. This enhanced level of flexibility even extends to datacenter flooring as POD Architecture 2.0 supports raised floor and non-raised floor applications.

Attribute “Modular Architectures” POD Architecture 2.0 Overhead cabling support (v. underfloor)

No (fixed) Yes

Standard 2N Power Architecture

No (N+1) Yes

Multi-Story Support No Yes Raised and Non-Raised Floor Support

No (fixed) Yes

12 Week Ready Before You Are™ Availability*

No Yes

*In conjunction with PBB+ building POD Architecture 2.0 offers greater flexibility than today’s competing “modular” alternatives

POD Architecture 2.0 supports horizontal implementations and vertical configurations

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Digital Realty Trust pre-builds and inventories component options at its “factory” in Texas Introducing PBBAs part of its POD Architecture 2.0 efforts, Digital Realty Trust is also introducing a new standard design for its future facilities; the Powered Base Building Plus or PBB

+

+ for short. Optimized to support the skid-based structure of POD Architecture 2.0, each PBB+ facility is designed to support multiple 2.0-based modules using a configuration where each 8-10,000 square foot IT space is supporting it’s own “equipment” area that houses the two standard skid designs: three skids to support UPS configurations with a pump room for water cooled chiller configurations, and the UPS component with extra room available for storage in air side economized sites. Additional space is also easily incorporated into the design to provide office capacity if the customer desires.

Each PBB+ facility is designed to support multiple 2.0-based modules using a configuration where each 8-10,000 square foot of IT space is supporting it’s own “equipment” area

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Each 2.0 ready space in a PBB+

configuration including containers supports any skid

As a result of the POD Architecture 2.0 optimized design of the PBB+, Digital Realty Trust will be able to deliver a datacenter in just 12 weeks (including commissioning). Based on the average time required to obtain network connectivity for a new data center a PBB+-based Turn Key Datacenter will literally be ready before you are. This unmatched speed of delivery is only slightly longer within existing Digital Realty Trust facilities as a POD Architecture 2.0 data center can still be delivered in as little as 16-20 weeks.

PBB+ Buildings offer support for up to 8

POD Architecture 2.0-based Data Centers

OR OR

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Built-in Green and Energy Efficient Operation Energy efficiency and green operation are essential elements of any new datacenter. However, designing and building a facility that achieves these objectives can often result in final products that may achieve these results but at costs far above what is actually necessary. The enhanced modularity delivered by the “plug and play” elements of POD Architecture 2.0 eliminates the risk of overdesign through their built-in compliance with the LEED and BREEAM standards to ensure that all POD Architecture 2.0 facilities feature “off-the-shelf” standards-based green operation. Further, the evolution of Digital Realty Trust’s datacenter architectural foundation has been crafted to deliver PUE ratings as low as 1.20 to further reduce this figure to ensure that your facility is operating in the most energy and cost-efficient manner possible with no sacrifice for reliability. This enhanced level of efficiency is delivered with no sacrifices to reliability as POD Architecture 2.0 delivers a 2N, Tier III facility.

With POD Architecture 2.0 PUE as low as 1.2 is achievable Increasing Customer Value POD Architecture 2.0 has been developed by Digital Realty Trust to provide a platform that will continue our efforts to maximize customer value. Through this new design approach, Digital Realty Trust is able to build these new facilities with: - reduced capital requirements - Safer, faster off-site production - Pre-built and tested components - Enhanced customer flexibility Both individually and collectively these attributes enable Digital Realty Trust to build your new datacenter better, faster, simpler and cheaper than our competitors and pass along the increase value of the facility on to you.

The enhanced modularity eliminates the risk of overdesign coupled with built-in compliance with the LEED and BREEAM standards ensures that all POD Architecture 2.0 facilities feature “off-the-shelf” standards-based green operations

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Summary POD Architecture 2.0 represents the latest evolution of Digital Realty Trust’s long-term goal of delivering a true “plug and play” datacenter solution that is delivered to the site pre-commissioned and ready for final assembly and commissioning. The incorporation of the off-site manufacturing of the primary elements of datacenter operation not only enables time saving parallel build-out activities to take place on site but further expands customer flexibility by adding these components to our “factory inventories” that change the concept of datacenter delivery from one of individualized construction to customized assembly. Thus, POD Architecture 2.0 not only enables your Digital Realty Trust facility to be delivered in as little as 12 weeks while also enhancing the value that we are able to deliver to our customers.

About Digital Realty Trust Digital Realty Trust, Inc. Is the world’s largest wholesale datacenter provider. The Company is focused on providing Turn-Key Datacenter® and Powered Base Building® datacenter solutions for domestic and international tenants across a variety of industry verticals ranging from information technology and Internet enterprises, to manufacturing and financial services. Digital Realty Trust's portfolio is located in 27 markets throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. For additional information, please visit Digital Realty Trust's website at http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com.