F E A T U R E

power can be delivered to the racks via overhead bus and row / room PDUs using standard power formations and architecture .

Sustainability is a key consideration ; developers and operators require unprecedented levels of flexibility and scale , delivered at speed to drive competition and meet the industry demands . Operating temperatures and resulting plant and equipment efficiencies often form the majority of opinions when it comes to energy consumption and this may still be the case , but a more holistic approach is being considered that accounts for embodied ‘ energy and carbon ’ throughout the various stages of a facilities life cycle . Strategies are being devised that allow developers and owners to quantify carbon and then focus attention on how this can be managed , in a fashion that permits net zero qualification .

Newer designs target modularity , repetition and controlled preassembly ; supply chains and contractors can target more efficient production , shorter timescales and less waste production , accordingly . Alternative and greener materials formed from recycled material or aggregates are considered , along with products and equipment comprising a ‘ green ’ or ‘ carbon ’ passport . Locally sourced materials are sought to reduce transport and logistic energy consumption .

towards reducing and offsetting carbon footprint via the adoption of green energy through investment and collaboration with local utility and energy providers . This will only increase as we approach a ‘ giga scale ’ and further strain is placed on the existing energy networks . Measures being taken to offset carbon emissions produced include sequestration and carbon capture projects often involving wider communities .

Sebastian Sassi , VP of Sales , Atlantic Vision :

Hyperscale data centres are evolving in a lot of ways , and most of them are around making better use of the whitespace available while providing more power , cooling and density .

In the fiber passives and optical glass manufacturing space , we ’ re seeing the emergent popularity in data centres of newer small form factor connectors like the MDC . There ’ s a trend towards use of fiber count , larger outer diameter trunk cables , versus extended longer run simplex and duplex patch cords , to connect from rack to rack and bay to bay . In a nutshell , hyperscalers want this hardware for scalability and efficiency .

By using a trunk cable form factor that basically bundles a bunch of cables into one , it leaves more space in the cable raceways and routing areas are conserved . But we ’ re seeing an increased challenge : the demand for cables like this is resulting in longer lead times for production of MPO ( multi-fiber push on ) and MTP ( multi-fiber termination push on ) connectorised glass .

Reports of lead times for multimode and singlemode trunk cables are extending out to three or four months . Before the AI boom , it would have been three to four weeks . Hyperscalers running vast facilities have enormous challenges around power capacity and space for structured cabling solutions , so connectorised optical glass manufacturers are facing a crunch to maintain production capacity for the dense , flexible , high-performance cabling solutions needed to make this growth a reality .

Production facilities are definitely aware of this trend . The demands placed on hyperscale data centres by burgeoning growth in automation , distributed computing , virtualisation , and Generative AI make for a perfect storm . There will be a lot more need to make efficient use of space , even on massive data centre projects . Supply chains that serve the hyperscale facilities are adapting to the unprecedented demand for connectivity . �

Workflows and processes are being developed to streamline and optimise operational efficiency ; in some instances , automation and robotics are being leveraged .

More is being done outside of the facility envelope and concentrated efforts

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