Connected construction powers the future of data centres

Data connectivity and data centres have become as essential to construction as construction is to the continued growth of data centres. The explosion of data centre development in 2025 and beyond, from the largest cloud providers to medium and small data centre operators. However, both industries constantly work against being crippled by the same problem, downtime.

After years of hype, the level of data connectivity is still relatively immature in construction, but increasingly it is becoming embedded, and will strengthen the ecosystem considerably, providing the data required to get ahead of the game, tracking sites, logistics, materials, machines and using that capability to analyse and predict any eventuality. This is already helping to reduce downtime, increase productivity, safety and on-budget, and on-time projects.

The change is happening, and greater levels of data and analysis will help align the owners and builders' objectives, which previously were different, as owners want a data centre that best matches cost, schedule and its overall business needs, which includes data centre availability. However, the builder wants to meet project targets and schedules while preserving its margin. 

Construction is a fiendishly complicated industry, and that very complexity is a barrier to efficiency, driving connectivity becoming the norm. There is often no network on jobsites, and only those who have the resource and capital can create their own gateway hardware which is the foundation of a network on site. It's estimated that currently as few as 3% of job sites in North America, and 1.5% in South America, and 5% of sites in Europe has an effective setup which demonstrates the problem and the opportunity.

Automated connectivity

There is so much focus on networks as the conduit for connected jobsites. Currently, just being some distance away from the portacabin, with its shaky Wi-Fi connection, and having to step back to stay in data or video contact with HQ, demonstrates exactly what it is that networks offer and why it is potentially such a boom to construction.

Furthermore, there's more than just offering a degree of connectivity that Wi-Fi can't support. It would also enable workers to quickly locate tools and equipment and not waste valuable time searching for misplaced or stolen items. 

Place a network within a construction context with its tunnels, floors, walls and numerous other obstacles that would make a Wi-Fi signal virtually impossible, and the implications start to become obvious. Add to that the beneficial implications of the greater understanding of the network requirements of the finished structure and it is not only construction that gains, but also the building owners and users.

That's why the construction industry has realized that if you're invested in the industry-wide struggle to eliminate downtime, then such connectivity could become the single most impactful development in consigning downtime to the past.

Global consultants McKinsey said in a report that construction projects typically take 20% longer to finish than scheduled and up to 80% of them run over budget, perhaps the single biggest cause of downtime in construction. That, McKinsey says, is partly attributable to the slow uptake of digitization in the industry, meaning it is missing out on the ensuing connectivity benefits that would optimize projects and make delays less inevitable. 

With that in mind, the case for connectivity seems obvious. Except it isn't. And there are some key reasons for this. Firstly, there is the cost. Networks, be they Mesh, Star or another topological setup, are not cheap and, putting in place one that effectively gives you working connectivity on a large construction site with vertical, subterranean and scale challenges is going to require a considerable investment. 

Aside from the technological and cost limits to what construction can do, there is one other principal factor that is also capping connectivity in construction. Over promising and underperforming has gone on for decades, where technologists have promised a magic wand to solve the technology problems in construction which has created a suspicion towards tech innovation.

The requirement for specialised IT support, whether internal or external is another element that must be understood as organisations' requirements will scale up and down as projects start and finish. Therefore, contracts that flex with the work are essential. Trackunit works with customers across the globe, with over three million active telemetry devices in rental yards and on sites delivering over two billion data points for analysis every day. The Trackunit platform was developed and uses Cisco hardware in the AWS cloud to provide the necessary high-reliability and scalability to its customers in a heavily project-based industry.

Safety

The heavy machinery segment, in particular, has a level of connectivity in place, effectively eliminating or greatly reducing any cost considerations and breaking down cultural resistance to technology. It has become a matter of familiarity as the same dynamics filter through to medium-sized construction equipment and further down the pyramid, right down to hand tools.

There's a safety aspect here too that is very evidently a downtime issue and is compelling. Every time there is an incident on a jobsite that requires an investigation team to be engaged, work has to stop, and often the whole project grinds to a halt while the investigators review the incident.  

People's safety is of course a non-negotiable, but as connectivity makes the likelihood of incidents less, then we're winning the argument on a safety-basis, on a cost-basis, and a downtime-basis. Technology companies working with OEMs, rental and contractors on developments that over the next five years will gather pace to provide the data connectivity, analysis and insights at the heart of more connected construction sites. 

It effectively means harmony between worker, machine and process that will become as near to seamless on developing technology, taking us ever more smoothly from the production phase to the results which are data centres, schools, hospitals, roads and other infrastructure on which we all depend. 

We are in effect transitioning towards a powerful combination between the bandwidth we get with 5G enabling video, and satellite technologies like Starlink, and interacting with Mesh and Star topology networks, and allowing an ecosystem to effectively develop. 

The movement towards a networked solution will be irrevocable. When it's made, it could make processes and communication on the jobsite almost unrecognisable like what is happening within data centres as the demands of AI-led technology drives that development forward.