British rack and cabinet maker Dataracks has launched a self-contained rack unit which contains all the power and cooling required for a micro data center” which can be installed anywhere.
Dataracks has been making data center racks and cabinets for 25 years, and has been doing cold aisle containment since 2007, which must make it a pioneer. The company’s British-made Micro Data Centre (MDC) product is a 19 in rack on casters, pre-populated with cooling, security and power supply options. It can be placed anywhere subject to power and ventilation requirements, but does not need a raised floor.
Wheel it in
“Instead of spending tens of thousands on building a room, you can literally wheel one of these in,” said Tim Russell, business development manager at Dataracks. ”When your needs change, you can disconnect it and put it somewhere else.”
The units have direct expansion or chilled water cooling cooling, with close coupled air handling, inline UPS, and access control options including combination locks, biometrics and CCTV. They are mainly intended for areas with limited space, such as office blocks, hospitals, retail spaces, industrial automation and academic institutions, but Dataracks is also selling them as in-rack cooling systems for data centers which use outside air (“free”) cooling but contain a few racks with more demanding needs, such as a supercomputing node.
“As a company with a strong history of innovation in server cabinet and rack technology, we are proud to be leading the way in data centre miniaturisation,” said Jeremy Hartley, managing director of Dataracks. ”Regardless of their size, most organisations are looking for the same features in a data centre – flexibility, security and cost effectiveness – and the MDC offers all the features and benefits of a complete data centre without the cost and complexity of bespoke installations.”
The announcement comes at at time when interest in edge data centers is booming, and Schneider Electric launched micro data centers in the UK at DCD Europe in London.