Mavin Powercube Case study: Brunel University London Containerised Modular Datacentre POP

Key Points

• Tight Timescale – As part of the wider Campus Re-development project, we were given a 16-week window from initial design, civils preparation through to deployment and go-live to ensure compliance with the wider projects critical time-line.
• Security – Physical penetration was a high-lighted concern.
• Noise – With the proximity to Student Halls of Residence and Classroom blocks, noise management was a primary concern.
• Disruption – Brunel is a working Campus and Powercube therefore had to work in close conjunction with the University to minimise disruption to the staff and students.
• Space – The campus location allocated for the new datacentre environment was compact at 13.5mtrs x 6.7mtrs.
• Flood Risk – The allocated space was within an active flood plain.
• Delivery Logistics – The only route in to the location was via a bridge and therefore weight loads and vehicular access had to be considered to ensure successful delivery of the POP.

This is also of course a working Campus and Powercube therefore had to work in close conjunction with the University to minimise disruption to the staff and students.

Partners

Selection

Having carried out extensive consultation, the University identified the location, timescales and budgets for the CMDC POP Unit and established that neither a new build traditional bricks and mortar design, or utilising space with an existing building would support their future plans nor provide the flexibility for future growth and or re-deployment. During the final selection round Mavin Powercube held a Technical Design Workshop with Brunel, where the core capabilities around collaboratively creating a fit-for-purpose, scalable and bespoke solution were tangibly demonstrated to Brunel. Subsequently Mavin Powercube were selected as our solution was able to meet all the design briefs, including the tight deployment time-scale and allocated budget.

Design Stage

Following receiving the build order in March, Mavin Powercube and the Brunel University London IT and Estates teams, collaborated via workshops held at the Mavin Powercube build facility and the University site, liaising with our M&E specialists and design team, establishing the final technical design scope for the CMDC POP itself and the supporting Civils requirements, incorporating the main foundation plinth, sub-terrain power and data ducts, delivered a fully operational CMDC POP Unit within 16 weeks. Furthermore, Mavin Powercube provided the client with an efficient, cost-effective system that not only took full advantage of the environment using combination DX & fresh air cooling systems, utilising full DCIM management and combined Intelligent Rack Management, providing Brunel with the ability to truly maximise efficiency within the Data Room.

Powercube Containerised Modular Data Centres are designed and manufactured from scratch which enabled the University team to tailor the internal layout and specification to suit their particular day 1 requirements, while future proofing to ensure scalability.