Rittal officially opens its Data Centre Container at CeBIT

Rittal launched its Data Centre Container (DCC) yesterday at CeBIT, with Senator Kate Lundy cutting the ribbon to officially open the DCC.

Rittal acknowledges that the concept of a containerised data centre is nothing new, but the company says that previous solutions have just taken existing technology and put it into a shipping container, which doesn’t account for extra space needed for workers.

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Rittal’s DCC at CeBIT.

Rittal says its DCC differs from other solutions in that it is purpose-built and thus designed with operation and maintenance in mind. “We’re not trying to shoehorn a data centre into a shipping container,” said Mark Roberts, Rittal’s Business Development Manager (ANZ).

The DCC measures 3000 x 3250 x 6055 mm, but an XL version 12 m in length is also available. Rittal says the design concept is standardised but flexible and several container modules can be bolted together if required.

The DCC also has direct free cooling, which Rittal claims can give up to 40% energy savings on traditional cooling methods. This is only suitable in certain geographical locations; Rittal’s Solutions Architect (ANZ) Mario Baecker said that it is not suitable for locations in Australia’s north due to warmer temperatures and humidity. Other cooling technologies based on refrigerant or water are available to supplement the direct free cooling.

Rittal anticipates its DCC will be of interest to those in the mining and defence sectors, as well as companies needing data centres in remote locations where critical skills may be in short supply and those with space constraints. It is suitable as a temporary data centre for short-term increases in demand or for businesses needing to expand but lacking the space or resources for a permanent structure to house a data centre.

It’s also suitable, Rittal says, for disaster zones such as earthquake-prone areas in New Zealand. Orion, an NZ electricity network company, is one of Rittal’s first clients in the region, using the DCC following the Christchurch earthquake in February to safeguard the city’s power supply.

The Rittal DCC is travelling to several major cities on a three-month tour to showcase the container, which Roberts says demonstrates the DCC’s mobility. Having already visited Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, it will make its way to Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth throughout June and July.