A series of reports focusing on data center construction
How to build a more scientific data center
Economic Daily · China Economic Net reporter Lin Huocan
From the experience of developed countries, the construction and layout of data centers are often combined with local advantageous industries and special resources. Experts suggest that on the one hand, the government should make top-level design through system innovation and rule improvement; on the other hand, it should be oriented to market demand and promote a wider range of application scenarios. In addition, the government should do a good job in strategic planning and system design, unblock social capital and enterprise participation channels, and guide social capital to invest in new infrastructure such as data centers.
The construction and application of the data center, together with transportation and communication networks, constitute the modern social infrastructure, which will have a positive impact on the industry and the entire economic and social development.
Since this year, a number of data center projects have been started in various places. In the construction of data centers, how to scientifically arrange and combine with local characteristic resources to make the data centers play a better role?
Close integration with local superior resources
From the experience of developed countries, the construction and layout of data centers are often combined with local advantageous industries and special resources.
"Combining the development experience of Western countries, when we deploy data centers, we must also fully consider the reality of the East and West regions, and closely integrate with local advantageous resources and special industries to maximize the effectiveness of the data center." Chairman and Chairman of Wan Guo Data CEO Huang Wei suggested that the data center in the eastern region should be integrated with superior resources such as population, high-tech industry, capital, and corporate headquarters to fully meet the higher demands of information technology application level and IT service quality, and according to different needs. , Taking into account the construction of ultra-large-scale data centers and edge data centers, so as to provide more adequate and effective support for the development of local industries. In contrast, the western region should make full use of the advantages of land, climate, and electricity to promote the concentration of resources in core cities and the central cities of urban agglomerations to avoid "sprinkling pepper noodles" and causing unnecessary waste of resources.
The reporter learned that at present, IWC has deployed data centers in the core economic hubs of the country, and will gradually expand to provincial capital cities in the future, and eventually cover more cities in the country.
Pan Helin, Executive Dean of the Digital Economic Research Institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, suggested that the construction of data centers should be integrated with other infrastructures in accordance with market demand. It is necessary to do market research in advance in the top-level design, accurately grasp the market direction, and enable regional advantages such as special resources and advantageous industries to be more effectively released with the help of data centers. At the same time, the construction scale and overall positioning of the data center should be reasonably determined, and the relationship between the data center and the “new infrastructure” such as local smart transportation and smart energy infrastructure should be handled in an integrated manner to promote integrated development.
Some experts also said that as more and more technologies such as 5G, cloud-network convergence, and SD-WAN mature and apply, they will further break down geographical restrictions, solve long-distance data transmission delays, resources cannot be flexibly configured, and enterprises go to the cloud. Or problems such as difficulty in migration, which will be more conducive to the mutual promotion of data centers and local characteristic resources and advantageous industries.
Handle the relationship between the government and the market
At present, my country's digital economic output value accounts for 30% of GDP, the growth rate is more than twice the GDP, and the number of employees is about 200 million. The digital economy has become a new engine driving economic growth and absorbing employment. Digital infrastructure is the infrastructure of the digital economy, which can directly broaden the breadth of the digital economy, tap the depth of the digital economy, extend the length of the digital economy, and drive the transformation of traditional industries.
Experts said that there is still a gap between the quality of my country's data center development and mature markets in developed countries, and there are still many blind constructions and repeated investments in some areas and localities. The important reason for these phenomena is that the data center industry has a certain degree of professionalism and high threshold. It requires the government to give more policy support, and it also requires companies to continuously improve their own capabilities.
He Baohong, director of the Institute of Cloud Computing and Big Data at the China Academy of Information and Communications, suggested that in order to ensure the progress of data center construction and promote the healthy development of the industry, the government should guide the scientific layout and clarify the layout principles; organize and improve the data center standard system, for enterprise construction, Provide the basis for operating the data center. At the same time, we must accelerate the application of technological innovation and continue to improve the overall service level of the data center.
Huang Wei believes that in order to build a data center that better meets the requirements of the new infrastructure, the government and enterprises should play the role of "leader" and "practitioner", respectively, and jointly promote high-quality and sustainable development of the industry. The government should assume the responsibility of standardizing the industry, guiding the direction and formulating supporting policies, and create more favorable conditions for the development of the data center from the policy. At the same time, it will give full play to its role in capital investment and financial means to attract larger-scale funds in the market and provide more dynamic support for the development of the digital economy.
"The enterprise level should give full play to its advantages in terms of professionalism, innovation and market response, meet the diverse needs of different types of customers for data centers, and develop excellent professional qualities in terms of capital, technology and product design and operation." Huang Wei said.
Pan Helin suggested that on the one hand, the government should strengthen the guidance, accelerate the pace of data center R&D and industrialization through system innovation and rule improvement, coordinate the layout, adapt to local conditions, do a top-level design, and improve the efficiency of data center utilization; on the other hand, it must Give play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources, especially oriented by market demand, drive more companies and industries to open up data, use data, and promote a wider range of application scenarios to ensure sustainable development.
Increase social capital participation
The data center is an asset-heavy industry, with large investments and long cycles, and requires relatively high technological innovation capabilities. On March 4, the Politburo Standing Committee meeting of the Communist Party of China clearly emphasized the importance of mobilizing the enthusiasm of private investment.
Huang Wei told reporters that the data center is a heavy asset operation industry, and the recovery period is very long. For a single data center, it takes about 8 to 10 years to truly achieve breakeven. At the same time, it must also take into account the construction efficiency and efficiency of the data center. Cost, and pricing power for customers, so companies need to have a reliable funding guarantee through diversified financing channels and continuous stable income.
He Baohong suggested that at present, to stimulate the enthusiasm of private capital investment, one is to explore the financing model of social capital and private capital; the second is to study and clarify the data center economic benefit measurement method, which can indirectly convert the economic benefits of the local industry carried by the data center The economic benefits of becoming a data center; The third is to strengthen data center standard research to provide a basis for enterprises to invest in the construction of data centers.
In fact, technological innovation capability is also a major obstacle for small and medium-sized private enterprises to participate in the new digital infrastructure. Huang Wei said that the reasonable layout of the data center, predict the future technology trends for a long period of time, and reserve space for future technology upgrades, these are hard indicators of enterprises, which directly affect the future use efficiency, operating costs, resources and efficient operation of funds, etc. .
He Baohong suggested that, compared with the traditional infrastructure, the "new infrastructure" focuses on both the technology-intensive emerging industries and the infrastructure supporting economic and social transformation and upgrading. Therefore, it is necessary to further consolidate the technical foundation of "new infrastructure" and ensure the supply of its underlying key technologies and products.
Some experts also pointed out that in the development of the data center industry, they are also faced with obstacles from policies, including license resources, land permits, energy consumption indicators, etc., which have restricted the development and leading role of market leading companies from different levels.
Huang Wei suggested that the government should formulate more scientific energy consumption approval and monitoring policies to support professional and excellent enterprises; encourage the promotion and application of innovative technologies in the industry, strengthen the flexibility of full-cycle construction, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the industry; encourage Market-oriented competition to improve the efficiency and quality of the data center industry; use the leading role of leading enterprises to promote the common high-quality and sustainable development of the industrial chain.
Pan Helin said that the government should do a good job in strategic planning and system design, and unblock social capital and enterprises' participation channels. Among them, government funds should play the main guiding role, and at the same time play the role of capital market through financial innovation, and guide social capital and private capital to invest in new infrastructure.
Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the Economic Policy Committee of the China Policy Science Research Association, pointed out that the government planning and construction of new infrastructure projects must respect the laws of the digital economy, break stereotypes, change ideas, and innovate boldly. In general, the initiators, investment entities, and operating entities of traditional infrastructure are dominated by governments at all levels and state-owned enterprises. The new infrastructure follows the principle of "market-led and government-led", with different parties flexibly carrying out various forms of cooperation under the market mechanism.