Inside Colt's modular co-location datacentre
Summary: Colt's London 3 facility houses its new modular datacentre, featuring a design that aims to cut deployment times, cost and energy usage. ZDNet UK took a look behind the scenes
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Each module has 12 components running through its columns
Ruddock (pictured) told ZDNet UK that the build out for the new halls started in December 2009 and the first customer was in by April 2010.
Colt has based its design techniques on those used on offshore oil and gas platforms to minimise the amount of people it takes to fit a module, Ruddock said. He said that a crew performing on-site installation of a module would number less than 20 and could do it, in ideal circumstances, in between four and six days, although one installation had taken as long as three weeks.
Another design, which Ruddock believes is unique to Colt, has services such as cabling, electricity and fire suppression running through the columns that support the module. This saves on space and, again, cuts the time it takes to cable a module, he said.
The modules are manufactured in Yorkshire, then their infrastructure is tested. They are then broken down into small components that are trucked down to London on the backs of flatbed trucks for reassembly and installation. The installation, transportation and client-site integration process takes less than four months, Ruddock said.
Photo credit: Jack Clark
See more of the datacentre tour on ZDNet UK.
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