Minkels, a global provider of modular thus flexible data center solutions with a focus on energy-efficiency, part of the publicly traded company Legrand (NYSE Euronext Paris: LR), recently introduced its first micro data center, Minkels MatrixCube. Minkels now announces a second, even more compact micro data center to be launched during the first quarter of 2017. This solution is named Minkels MiniCube.
Data center solutions vendor Minkels, a company with a broad portfolio of integrated and highly customizable solutions tailored to the needs of a diverse customer base – from large to small scale data center facilities, is noticing a growing demand for micro data centers.
“The data landscape is changing completely, driven by, among others the Internet of Things (IoT),” said Bas Jacobs, Product Manager Minkels. “In 2014, there were about 14 billion devices connected worldwide. By 2020 there will be 50 billion (source: Cisco). This will also mean a boost for the micro data center market, globally: from 1.7 billion dollars in 2015 to 6.3 billion dollars by 2020. This is because centralized data processing is not sufficient for the IoT, for instance because of low latency requirements. The IoT therefore requires this data to be handled locally, for example using micro data centers.”
Cloud Adoption, Operational Costs
According to Minkels, another trend that is affecting the micro data center market is adoption of the cloud. “More and more applications are ending up in the cloud. Take office automation, for example, or CRM and ERP systems,” added Mr. Jacobs. “It means that you are able in many cases to shrink your data centers, simply because your physical hardware requirements are less. In addition, IT miniaturization and virtualization are advancing, which means that less space is needed. As a result, lots of companies only need a small and clear data center environment – though it still has to meet the requirements of a large one. These companies are choosing to accommodate operationally critical applications and information – with a high level of reliability at low costs – within these micro data centers. You also see these small data centers being used as a backup.”
In addition, operational and other costs are a driving force in the growth of the micro data center market, stated Mr. Jacobs. “Companies who outsource their IT to commercial data centers or cloud data centers often do so because these large data centers can operate extremely efficiently in terms of energy because of their size. That’s also positive for a company’s green image, of course. In the meantime, they can also reduce the size of their in-house data centers, which means lower energy use. Standardization of micro data center solutions means that the operational and other costs are much more predictable.”
Finally, a “reliable and cost-efficient” micro data center genuinely removes one source of worry for an IT manager, added Mr. Jacobs. “IT managers don’t have to be specialists in order to put this kind of micro data center together. It’s a completely pre-configured plug-and-play solution that can be up and running quickly.”
Minkels is part of the brand portfolio of Legrand, a publicly traded company with worldwide sales in the low voltage installation, data network and data center markets. Legrand operates in more than 180 countries and achieved worldwide revenues of 4.8 billion euros in 2015.
Related articles across the web
