GDS's Changshu hyperscale data center campus has a total floor area of about 350,000 square meters and a planned number of server racks of more than 16,000. Currently, Changshu #1 Data Center (CS 1) (Phase I) and Changshu #2 (CS 2) (Phases I and II) have been put into operation, with a net server room area of nearly 12,000 square meters.

By applying the full range of Smart DC 1.0 solutions, CS1 (Phase I) achieved delivery of 1,000 server racks in 90 days and achieved significantly better performance than the traditional model in the areas of full-life-cycle digital construction, zero-carbon energy architecture and innovation, and digital intelligent management.

With the continuous development of cloud computing, AI, metaverse, the digital economy is growing rapidly, the role of the data center as a key “digital base” is becoming more and more prominent. With the continuous development of cloud computing, AI, metaverse, the digital economy is growing rapidly, the role of the data center as a key “digital base” is becoming more and more prominent. At the same time, the dual carbon goals is combined with the continuous “cloudization” of enterprise business, and the development process of the data center industry is facing more complex internal and external challenges such as fast on-line, high stability, green and low carbon, elasticity and flexibility, innovation and iteration, intelligence, intensification, and so on.

For hyperscale data centers, how to meet the usage requirements of different customers to a greater extent, complete the whole life cycle process from design, installation to testing and operation more efficiently and agilely, undertake data storage, transmission, processing, and other related links more quickly, and support stable and continuous operation of the business has become the most concerned issue of the whole industry.

The Changshu hyperscale data center campus is a key component of the Company's interconnected infrastructure platform to support the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. The campus can be directly connected to the backbone network of the three major carriers and interconnected with the data center clusters of GDS covering Shanghai and Kunshan, constituting a “three-city linkage” data center platform, which can satisfy the demand for high-speed interconnection and data exchange in the region, and provide services for customers in the financial, Internet, cloud computing and other industries in the Yangtze River Delta region.

During the design and construction of Changshu Data Center Campus, GDS abandoned the traditional mode and adopted the new Smart DC solution starting from CS 1 (Phase I), upgrading and optimizing the whole life cycle process and integrating cutting-edge technologies in energy saving, consumption reduction and intelligent operation.

The CS 1 (Phase I), which applies the Smart DC 1.0 solution, has made breakthroughs in whole-life cycle digital construction, green and low-carbon, and digital intelligent operation, etc. This solution will be replicated and promoted in later projects and even more data centers in the campus in the future. At the same time, it also provides new paths and references for the industry to enhance the overall level of design, construction, and operation.

Agile Delivery, Flexible on Demand

Based on the innovation of prefabrication and the combination of hardware and software, CS 1 (Phase I) achieved the delivery of all 1,000 server racks for the project in 90 days, which dramatically shortened the overall cycle time by 30% compared with the traditional method, creating a new speed of agile delivery for data centers.

Digital Design

Through accurate modeling of BIM technology and convergence of customer needs and application scenarios, four categories of prefabricated module products including IT, power distribution, refrigeration and diesel fuel are designed in the dimension of module and each category of module can be divided into 2~3 models according to the technological architecture, which can be flexibly combined to match different application scenarios.

Prefabricated Production

In 30 days, we completed the prefabricated production of 16 IT modules, 9 power distribution modules, 1 cold station module, 2 diesel fuel modules and 30% of the common parts. Intelligent controllers and sensors were pre-provisioned in each module by means of “weak power front-end”, and tests were completed in advance in the factory.

Intelligent Scheduling

By optimizing the supply chain management, it perfectly matches the progress of the factory production and the project site, with regular stocking in the factory and on-demand delivery at the site.

Assembly Installation

In 30 days, the installation of all the modules was completed through on-site assembly construction. At the same time, digital construction tools were used to display the on-site assembly progress, assembly quality and on-site assembly rules in the data center visualization model, so as to realize remote real-time control of the on-site assembly process.

White-box Connection and Maintenance

In 15 days, we completed on-site testing at the module level and on-site maintenance connection at the DCU level, with 160,000+ on-site core data points, utilized white-box maintenance connection tools to verify the accuracy and validity of the weak power data, and conducted functional and performance testing for the module equipment.

For CS 1 (Phase II) of the same scale, based on the construction experience of Phase I, GDS can complete the expansion of the same module within 2 months, and the flexible upgrade of 8~50kW power density, realizing fast replication and on-demand construction, plug-and-use and fast iteration of modules such as liquid cooling, AHU and energy storage.

Zero Carbon Energy, Green Innovation

As a key receiving city of the “West-to-East Power Transmission” strategy, Changshu's annual clean energy input power reaches 8 million kilowatts, and its unique green energy advantage is one of the key reasons why GDS chose to deploy a new-generation hyperscale data center campus here.

On the basis of fully utilizing the local green energy advantages, GDS will also build a new energy architecture for the whole campus by adopting a 200MWh integrated structure of light and storage, supporting waste heat recovery, energy storage/lithium battery, and high-efficiency pre-fabricated cooling station/AHU/liquid-cooling system, etc.

The Changshu data center campus will be equipped with a total of 2,200kW of convergent liquid-cooling solutions in phases, and the average annual PUE of liquid-cooling data centers is expected to be as low as 1.09 in the future. Combined with the direct green power procurement and carbon trading methods, the green attributes of the campus are expected to be further enhanced.

Hardware and Software Combination, Digital Intelligence

Combined with its 90+ data centers construction and operation experience, GDS has independently developed digital construction tools, white-box connection tools and BMS platforms. Through the in-depth combination of “platform+tools+hardware”, GDS has realized the digital upgrading and transformation for modules delivery, digital and transparent validation for test connection, and digital value realizations for DCU-level operation.

By connecting to GDS's ROCC regional operation command system, CS 1 can reach the level 3 of data center autopilot, which means self-testing when it is switched on, strengthening when it is connected to the network, and connecting to the network when it is accepted. On this basis, combined with the “expert system + AI technology” linkage optimization, it realizes intelligent empowerment of white-box connection and maintenance, and comprehensively optimizes the performance of CS 1 in terms of operation, energy efficiency and security management.

Continuous Iteration, Creating Future

Focusing on the three core business segments of Agile Delivery, Green Low Carbon, and Digital Intelligence, GDS Smart DC solution integrates the company's experience of building and operating more than 90 data centers over the past 21 years, which can help customers respond to the internal and external challenges more comfortably and provide a solid digital base for the rapid deployment of customers' business.

CS 1 is a case of successful application of Smart DC 1.0 solution in a hyperscale data center campus. With the continuous iteration of Smart DC, GDS will further apply this solution in data centers around the world to build a new IT infrastructure with high quality and high performance more agilely and quickly, providing strong support for the development of digital economy.