From an outside perspective, designing a data center seems easy. But, anyone who has ever worked in a data center knows this is far from the truth. Data center design involves a complex interplay of factors that present unique challenges.
These factors can significantly impact data center performance, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. Not only that, these factors can also put the safety of the data center on the line.
From temperature control and energy efficiency to facility constraints and costs, designing a data center presents many challenges. We’ve seen even the most experienced data center managers get tripped up by some of these challenges from time to time.
Whether you’re building a new facility from the ground up or upgrading an existing data center, understanding these challenges will help you create an efficient, future-proofed, and safe data center.
Let’s look at some of these challenges in more detail so you know what mistakes to avoid when designing or redesigning your data center.
Power and cooling challenges
Choosing the right build for your data center is crucial. These days, you want to opt for an electrical system that allows for greater scalability and performance.
Modular designs are often favored for their flexibility, allowing racks and servers to be added or removed without disruption.
However, these modern electrical systems also pose challenges, particularly regarding power management. Higher-density configurations increase power consumption meaning you need more robust electrical distribution and redundancy to avoid outages — not to mention the arc flash risk associated with increased rack density.
If you opt for a modern design that makes much more efficient use of the space, prepare to have a data center that runs hot. The concentrated equipment and greater energy output generate significant heat. If the data center gets too hot that poses a critical risk to the safety and reliability of your data center — causing equipment failure and subsequent outages or electrical failure, and worse yet, arc flash incidents.
Maintaining the ideal temperature can be hard work if you don’t have the right solutions in place. Find the most suitable cooling method for your data center design, opting for efficient solutions that control the air temperature while minimizing energy consumption.
Scalability and futureproofing challenges
As the world generates more and more data, the need for data storage will only increase. In fact, global data creation is projected to grow to more than 180 zettabytes by 2025. To stand strong against this exponential growth, data centers should be designed with these future data demands in mind.
Scalability should be at the core of your data center design strategy. Without it, your data center can face serious operational and financial struggles. Before you know it, your data center will be constrained by physical space, power limitations, and outdated infrastructure, making it hard to adapt to rising demands.
Offset these challenges by ensuring your data center is built with scalability and futureproofing at its core. Designing a future-ready data center doesn’t mean building oversized facilities or reserving more space than you currently use. It could mean opting for more modular designs that allow you to make the most of the space you already have.
Embracing virtualization and software-defined networking (SDN) will also allow you to scale your data center while minimizing the amount of physical equipment needed, optimizing energy usage, reducing electrical risks, and increasing efficiency. With SDN, the software is decoupled from the hardware, creating a far more flexible and easier-to-manage solution.
When designing your data center, consider how you can choose design methods and technologies that support evolution and adaptability.
Energy efficiency and sustainability
Green data centers are on the rise. The market for green data centers is expected to reach $279 billion by 2032, presenting a compound annual growth rate of 16.7% between 2024 and 2032.
As sustainability and energy efficiency become increasingly important, designing a green, or sustainable, data center is more critical than ever. Hyperscaler data centers can use as much power as 80,000 houses.
This massive energy demand creates substantial pressure to minimize the environmental impact of data centers. Some governments, such as Singapore and the Netherlands, have introduced data center sustainability regulations for newly built data centers.
However, achieving energy efficiency in a high-density, highly energized environment is challenging. Reducing energy use while maintaining performance requires advanced cooling techniques, energy-efficient hardware and lightning, and the integration of renewable energy sources like solar or wind power.
Yet, these solutions aren’t always easy to implement. Ensuring your data center adheres to an energy-efficient, sustainable design may require substantial investment and planning. Balancing performance demands with environmental impact is an ongoing challenge for data centers, but doing so can put your data center at the forefront of the industry.
"Green data centers are becoming more and more important. We’re seeing several emerging regulations and requirements surrounding data center sustainability in the US. Virginia, for instance, considering legislation that would mandate renewable energy use, set energy efficiency standards, and require sustainability reporting. Beyond national and state-level regulations, there are also voluntary standards you can adhere to such as the LEED certification for sustainable data center design and operation. Adopting a sustainability-first approach to data center design and operation is the best way to future-proof your facilities while aligning with both current and future sustainability standards."
Victoria Steventon Paterson, Global Arc Flash Manager, Skanwear
Facility constraints
We can’t talk about data center design challenges without discussing the physical and logistical facility constraints at play. Space limitations, geographical location, and the need to retrofit older facilities are challenges all data center design teams need to be aware of.
While maximizing space efficiency is often a priority, densely packed equipment can increase arc flash risks. Careful planning and adherence to safety standards is an essential part of data center design. Make sure you’re conducting arc flash risk assessments when planning new data center facilities.
Retrofitting older data centers also presents challenges. A data center retrofit could entail replacing major systems like power infrastructure or HVAC. It may also involve redesigning the data center layout to improve airflow or rack density.
When retrofitting an older data center don’t fall into the trap of thinking newer equipment means lower arc flash risk. In reality, newer, high-performance systems can increase electrical risks due to higher power loads and more complex electrical setups. When redesigning an old data center, be sure to update arc flash risk assessments, electrical safety protocols, staff training, and PPE.
When designing your data center, consider the facility constraints and take careful steps to minimize disruption and costs while maximizing efficiency and safety.
Decentralization
The move toward decentralization and edge computing is changing data center design. As demand grows for faster, more responsive services, decentralized data centers present an opportunity to reduce latency and improve service delivery.
Traditional centralized data centers often struggle to scale effectively to meet the increased processing demands of edge computing. Centralized systems can quickly reach capacity limits due to their fixed power and backup configurations. This leads to power constraints, limiting the ability to add new infrastructure without extensive retrofitting.
Decentralized power systems address these limitations by placing smaller power reserves and UPS systems closer to computing equipment, reducing single points of failure, enhancing resiliency, and improving scalability. However, this decentralization trend presents new challenges. Managing distributed data centers adds a layer of complexity to maintaining reliability and safety across multiple locations.
Cost management
Cost management is a major challenge in data center design. Factors such as supply chain distribution, rising costs of components and services, inaccurate cost-to-build estimates, and poor budget management can all derail a project — not to mention the unexpected costs that can arise along the way.
Accurate cost forecasting and monitoring are crucial for keeping data center design projects on track. From site acquisition and infrastructure to equipment and labor costs, make sure you leave no stone unturned when pricing a potential data center design project. While doing so, be sure to factor in a buffer for potential price changes or delays.
Overcoming data center design challenges
As any data center operator knows, designing a data center is no simple task. From power and cooling challenges to scalability, sustainability, technology, and cost management, each decision you make carries weight.
Navigating the challenges of data center design requires foresight, flexibility, and a deep understanding of the data center industry. Being able to anticipate common pitfalls and plan for the future will help you build a data center that is not only resilient, efficient, and safe, but also ready to meet the demands of tomorrow.
Learn how you can keep your data center electrically safe by downloading the free Electrical Safety Issues in Data Centers eBook.
