In May 2023, Crestchic participated in the first-ever Data Center World Build Conference in Austin, TX. Steven Bacon, Business Development Manager at Crestchic, shares his five top takeaways from the event.
Efficiency is key: During the two-day conference, there was a lot of talk about efficiency in the data center sector. Many of our customers and prospects want to do testing promptly, making rental turnaround a key driver in selecting a provider.
Labor shortages are an ongoing issue: Many data centers do not have the right labor pool to execute daily operations, let alone testing. This means that having access to trained technicians is an important factor when selecting a solution provider.
Heat load testing is as important as genset testing: Most facilities managers and data center operators are aware of the need to test generators to keep backup power running efficiently. Speaking to customers and prospects, it would seem that there is an increased interest in using load bank solutions to heat load test server halls at the commissioning phase.
Backup power lead times are long: In some cases, lead times for generators are up to two years. This means that data centers must invest in backup power solutions early in the planning and commissioning phase. To avoid this, some data centers rent generators. While this is a temporary solution, rental generators are often older, making it vital that load testing is completed frequently.
De-risking data centers is high on the agenda: From my many conversations with customers, I heard them speak about de-risking their data center. Some load banked their data centers monthly; others only did it when their generator services company scheduled it. The overwhelming sentiment was that they want to test more often and efficiently to avoid the risk of outages.
To find out more about how Crestchic can help to address these issues, speak to our rental team here.