The US hyperscale cloud sector has a problem. Demand for cloud services is unprecedented, and will continue to grow as the decade continues. But the industry’s attempts to meet this demand are experiencing some frustrating headwinds. The multi-megawatt campus-style projects that have defined the last decade of cloud construction in places like Ashburn, Virginia, and the Nevada desert, are being buffeted by strong supply chain headwinds, increasingly strict regulation, and the ever-present demands from private equity to maximize quarterly revenue.

It seems every major corporation is racing to infuse artificial intelligence (AI) into their IT and software strategies. The question becomes: Can data centers keep up with the resultant accelerated demand on density and bandwidth levels? There aren’t too many aspects of data center design that is free from the extraordinary burdens of expanded computational complexity and data flow needs. This challenge is experienced perhaps most acutely when it comes to data pipelines.

Almost every task you can imagine is much more difficult to complete successfully if you’re required to accomplish it while wearing a blindfold. This is certainly the case with data center configuration. The statistics are overwhelming in favor of providing visuals to assist in grasping complex concepts. Certainly, data center design, build, and maintenance would qualify as a challenging endeavor.

When it comes to data infrastructure planning, building and maintaining, insisting on trying to see the forest through trees can be extraordinarily expensive. As admirable as it is to lean solely on the expertise of your internal team, having a third-party advisor who can provide objective and highly experienced input can be absolutely game changing.

We do not live in a cordless world yet and we won’t anytime soon. Unfortunately, it’s these same cords that can bring the world down. Or at least your data center. Data centers require immense amounts of power and without a steady, uninterrupted stream flowing to them, catastrophic failure is always looming.

The supreme goal of data center infrastructure products is to be able to combine complexity in functionality with simplicity in installation and operation. The myth that all data is flying through the clouds is more prevalent than ever thanks to the omnipresent term of cloud computing. Yet, data center deployers and operators know the world is more hard-wired than ever and being able to connect these cables in a sophisticated and simple fashion is the design engineer’s Holy Grail.

Power is everything when it comes to data centers. Without it, you’re left with lifeless plastic and precious metals. The tremendous challenge is that the requirements for power provision are increasing at hyper warp speeds. This is especially true in high density applications like hyperscale facilities.

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) has long been a material of choice for aerospace applications. Now it’s becoming essential to efficient data center design. FRP is a composite fiber that offers the strength of steel and concrete yet weighs as much as 80% lighter allowing for rapid installation with a fraction of the labor costs. “Essentially it’s less people and less gear for installation,” said Brian Stamper, who is the Chief Revenue Officer of Advantic. “You might utilize a crane if the structure is going on a rooftop, but otherwise installation can almost always be done by hand.” Steel structures typically require a much higher level of technical skill to install as they often need...

As the expansion of data infrastructure capability and capacity accelerates exponentially, the ability to shift on the fly becomes a competitive necessity for organizations.