Schneider's Modular Data Center Infrastructure, discussed the Emerging Market scenario and Tax impact

Schneider Electric's Neil Rasmussen gave a Keynote talk at Uptime.

Six Reasons Why Modular Power and Cooling Plants Will Make Traditional Data Center Designs Obsolete
Neil Rasmussen
Senior Vice President of Innovation, IT Business, Schneider Electric

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The press release is here.

Schneider Electric Advances Data Centers With New Modular Power and Cooling Facility Solutions

New Facility Modules Offer 500kW of Power & Cooling in Four Parking Spots -- 10-20% Less Capital Than Traditional Methods

For more technical details you can check out this pdf.

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After Neil's keynote I got a chance to chat with him in more detail.  Two issues I brought up is most people are thinking only in their existing data center space, and not thinking about how to expand capacity in areas like emerging markets where a modular design could be used vs. traditional construction and the size of 500kW is a good starting point.

The other question I asked is what are tax implications and depreciation schedules for a modular design vs. traditional.  Too many people think of cost and don't understand the way things are expensed.  Even Ken Brill at Uptime said the cost of land is an expense.  Land is not an expense!  Land is not  depreciated as an expense.

Land is classified as a separate category for one major reason - land is not a subject to depreciation or depletion. Land is considered to have an infinite life, which makes it impossible to estimate its depreciation or depletion.

Before I decided in degree in Industrial Engineering, I actually thought about accounting, so I took lots of accounting and business classes in high school which reminds why I look at many data centers from a business perspective in addition to the IT technology.

If you are looking at modular data center construction, think about emerging markets and tax implications, and you may be surprised at what you discover.