AST Modular Moves Beyond ISO Containers

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AST Modular recently used its new non-ISO modular data center design to create this facility for an Ontario educational institution. (Photo: AST Modular)

AST Modular, the Spanish firm specializing in pre-fabricated data centers, has moved beyond the container. The company recently completed its first non-ISO Modular Data Center (MDC) project for a leading educational institution in Ontario, Canada.

AST is the latest in a series of modular specialists to move beyond standard ISO sizes for shipping containers and develop more versatile designs using several modules to assemble a data hall. AST is offering its non-ISO MDC in either 25-foot or 45-foot sizes, with multiple power and cooling options. The larger enclosures provide options for users that want to take advantage of pre-fabricated designs without compromising space and operational requirements.

“Our client had run out of space inside its existing DC facilities and there was no room for a quick expansion," said George Sutton, US & Canada Sales Director at AST Modular. "At the same time their IT team was concerned with the constraints that a containerized data center could have brought. This is how we came to propose our NON ISO MDC which is suited to fast deployments and provides the appearance of a traditional data room when assembled.”

With the non-ISO modules, AST can remove partition walls to create contiguous white space environments within large-scale modular data centers. Standard configurations start at 12 rack installations supporting 8kW per rack, up to 240 racks with 25kW a  rack, in either a Tier II or Tier III configuration.

“We are very excited about our first MDC project,” said Henry Daunert, AST Modular’s CEO. “It has been the proof of concept for a solution we had envisioned a couple of years ago. We are already working with other enterprise customers who appreciate our efforts of bringing all benefits of containerization within a wider physical footprint.”

Here's a closer look at the Ontario project:

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A crane moves one of the AST modules into place. (Photo: AST Modular)

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This view shows the two modules that will be joined to create the data hall, offering more space and configurability than a single container. (Photo: AST Modular)

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The end result: a single wider cold aisle within the non-ISO module. (Photo: AST Modular)