Optimize Your Data Center with Vertiv’s Smart Solutions

A President from a Local Vertiv Office servicing the Pennsylvania and Ohio region recently shared insights about challenges of conventional data centers and what IT and facility managers can do to optimize their infrastructures without having to sacrifice availability.

Having been around data centers my entire adult life (I am 43), I can say that no one’s definition is quite the same. One person’s server room is another person’s IT closet, or another’s MDF/IDF.

Are these all data centers? My answer is yes and we should just go with it.

Further compounding the issue, the move of main data operations to cloud and colo providers is the new industry standard.

This leaves most users with a small space in each facility which handles the transmission, storage, and creation of some amount of data.

In the current vernacular, we are calling this the “Edge.”

Protecting the Edge in Small, Traditional IT Facilities

There are a few schools of thought in protecting the Edge.

Conventional wisdom advocates that users build a small data center in their facility. Most of these edge deployments use a Liebert MiniMate or in the row Liebert CRV for cooling.

Most of these spaces have small single phase electrical loads and will utilize a Liebert GXT series, or possibly larger UPS.

They certainly all require 1-10 server racks with redundant in-rack power and monitoring. Additionally, it will need some form of fire protection and some security to physically protect the data.

The above scenario will require a construction plan, a project manager, permitting, and a litany of strategies and moves to physically prepare the building for the construction project.

This is not to say that this strategy is bad. In fact, these rooms are intensely robust and reliable, and have worked very well for decades.

But there is a downside.

Failure to appropriately design and deploy an IT infrastructure can lead to underutilized systems, insufficient capacity, and higher operating costs.

Faced with these challenges, data centers need infrastructure strategies that are alternatives to conventional methods.

Fortunately, we live in a great time for technology. The smart and innovative thought leaders at Vertiv have delivered a choice at the Edge.

Vertiv’s Smart Solutions

Many Edge users choose Vertiv’s Smart Solutions rather than constructing traditional edge data rooms.

Smart Solutions help you cost-effectively carry out and manage higher levels of density, availability, and efficiency.

These systems are factory built, modular, comprehensive edge data solutions offering all the features of traditional designs including precision cooling, UPS, power distribution/conditioning, management software and racks.

Benefits of Vertiv’s Smart Solutions

Smart Solutions deploy much quicker.

Once the modules are delivered, most users can have about 10 data racks up and running in about 72 hours. Smart Solutions can move along with a growing business from leased space to a new home.

Additionally, many users find that there may be tax advantages, and can depreciate a smart solution quicker, as it becomes IT equipment and is not ‘building attached’.

Smart Solutions come in a variety of sizes and configurations, too many to list for a blog post.

There are options for one rack to as many as one could imagine, each configured with scalability, redundancy, and flexibility in mind. I run a growing business, and I find it a challenge to make my space work for moves, adds and changes.

I see the modular Smart Solutions as competitive advantage for Edge data deployments. These solutions offer superior flexibility for the user, while offering cost efficiency, tax benefits, and factory tested performance.

Let’s look at some of Vertiv’s Smart Solutions highlights.

The SmartRow™ Plus

The SmartRow™ Plus optimizes design for a cost-effective power, thermal and infrastructure management, to help achieve your IT goals regardless of data center size and complexity.

• Capacity: 20-36kW; 3-10 racks
• Type: Self-contained
• Floor: Primarily non-raised
• Key Applications: Small data centers; remote sites; disaster recovery

SmartCabinet™

Vertiv’s SmartCabinet™ is a great turn-key solution for network closets or small server rooms that need standard pre-configurations tailored to their needs.

• Capacity: 1.5-16kW
• Rack Sizes: 13U, 24U, 42U and 48U
• Type: Single rack
• Floor: Primarily non-raised
• Key Applications: Computer rooms; network closets; data centers

SmartAisle™

The SmartAisle™ optimizes infrastructure deployment and management with an intelligent row-based system that integrates data center racks, power, row cooling, aisle containment, and more.

• Capacity: Most cost effective up to 400kW
• Type: Open
• Floor: Raised, non-raised
• Key Applications: Small and medium data centers; high-density zones in all data center

The SmartMod™

The SmartMod™ enclosure saves on upfront design and implementation by delivering fully integrated power, precision cooling, integrated fire suppression and management systems in a modular, standalone design.

• Capacity: 30-400kW; 6-28 racks
• Type: Self-contained
• Floor: N/A
• Key Applications: Supplemental data center capacity; remote data centers; disaster recovery

Partner with Your Local Vertiv Office

There is an ever-growing community of IT users looking for a safe place to house the IT infrastructure left behind in the move to colocation.

Thankfully Vertiv offers these users Smart Solutions that deploy quickly without sacrificing availability.

As your Local Vertiv Office, our expert team is committed to helping data centers of all sizes and types optimize their facility with cost-effective solutions.

To learn more about Vertiv’s Smart Solutions and how we can assess your IT infrastructure to help address power, cooling, and management needs, get in touch with us today.