There is a misconception about the internet. People perceive it to exist in the clouds, floating somewhere above the Earth’s surface. People upload photos, use applications for work, and watch streaming movies all in cyberspace, floating in mid-air somewhere. When they send emails, save a file, or stream a video, they somehow send it up into the clouds and receive it from there. No wires, cables, or heavy equipment are needed to make the internet work. No, the reality of the cloud is incredibly heavy, requiring thick slabs of concrete, heavy copper cabling, mountains of steel racks, and scores of cooling units that operate around the clock to keep the virtual sky aloft.
But the cloud is incredibly heavy.
The physical data center, which is often forgotten in the online data center, is actually a pretty heavy thing. In addition to a thick slab of concrete on the floor of the data center, miles of heavy copper wiring, stacks of steel server racks, and the big industrial cooling systems that run around the clock to keep all the servers cool and running, there is a lot of physical work that is required to manage the online data center. And while the online data center may be weightless and seemingly amorphous, the physical data center is very much a solid object with a lot of physical features that can be perceived by the senses.
But what happens when the physical infrastructure holding up that virtual sky starts to creak under the weight of its own growth? That is the question Houston is facing today as the demand for highly skilled tradespeople reaches a fever pitch. If we do not have the hands to lay the conduit and weld the pipes, the digital revolution simply grinds to a halt.
The digital future is being built by hand.
But as the infrastructure continues to grow, it’s starting to show its age. It’s beginning to creak under its own weight, and it needs a lot of skilled tradespeople to keep it going. And right now, that’s not happening. The digital future is being built by hand, and there just aren’t enough hands to do the job.
Why Houston is Becoming a Digital Stronghold
Northern Virginia and Silicon Valley were the initial locations where data centers sprouted in large numbers. As land became more expensive and as power restrictions were put in place, however, large amounts of development began flowing into other areas of the country, and Houston, in particular, has become a hotspot for data center development due in part to the area’s complex energy infrastructure and also because of the huge amounts of corporate headquarters located throughout the city. Global technology giants are investing huge sums of capital to develop data center facilities in the city, with regional hubs of large companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon already established.
Houston is attracting new data centers for several reasons, primarily because:
- There is ample space to develop a large campus or a cluster of facilities.
- Because of the huge energy infrastructure already in place throughout Houston and the larger Texas market, developers can enter into a very fast-track type of energy agreements or simply connect up to large industrial power sources.
Additionally, Houston is already one of the world’s largest centers of large corporations, boasting energy, health care, and space companies, and therefore it is only natural that many of these corporations are setting up high-speed data processing services in Houston to serve their regional needs. The small delay in transferring digital information, or latency, can have a significant negative impact on productivity. As a result, many corporations are turning to these high-speed data processing centers, which are known as data centers, to meet their needs.
Large complexes such as these are a very different challenge from the normal warehouses and office complexes built across the country. With millions of dollars at stake before the complex has even opened, the technical sophistication required to complete a large data center is of the highest order. While every building has its own particular set of problems, for the data center, the building’s physical switches and cabling must be configured to handle the thousands of servers it will contain.
The Massive Physical Blueprint of the Cloud
First, a massive amount of physical space must be built out to house all the servers and computing infrastructure. Typically, extensive civil construction is required to build the data center’s foundation, supporting the very heavy computing equipment and the large air-handling and cooling systems needed to prevent the servers from overheating. Large amounts of thick-walled concrete and masonry are required to create the exterior and interior walls of the data center, as well as the floors between levels in a multi-story facility. Once the basic space has been built out, the mechanical and electrical (MEP) work begins.
Typical data center construction begins with robust civil and concrete work to develop a stable foundation to support the heavy loads of equipment. The shell of the building is then completed, after which the mechanical and electrical work commences. This is where the physical server infrastructure is built, including miles of conduit and heavy cabling to connect servers to power and cooling systems. In addition to the white box servers, data centers also require large redundant power systems, including primary generators and UPS systems to ensure 100% uptime.Â
The mechanical work to connect all the servers in the racks, as well as to connect the power distribution units that feed electricity to the servers, requires long runs of conduit and heavy-duty cabling. All power distribution in the data center must be redundant to ensure that, in the event of a primary power distribution failure, the data center does not shut down. Thus, data centers contain large numbers of redundant power generators and uninterruptible power supply systems.
Next, there is the matter of cooling. All of the servers emit a tremendous amount of heat, and if this heat is not dissipated in a timely fashion, they can quickly overheat and shut down. In order to deal with this, data centers rely on an extremely complex system of air flow, which is managed through a number of different systems, including heavy-duty industrial-type HVAC systems, including liquid chillers, as well as large fans and a number of different ductwork and piping systems to manage the air flow throughout the data center.
This level of complexity requires a level of craftsmanship that cannot be rushed or automated. Precision is not optional here.
Every weld has to be perfect. Every circuit has to be tested. Every duct has to be completely sealed. There is no room for any sloppy work. A single loose wire could bring down a network that serves millions of users. That is why the people who build these structures have a tremendous amount of responsibility on their shoulders. They are building the nervous system of our modern society.
Navigating the Critical Labor Shortage
The construction of data centers also brings its own set of challenges, and that is why there is a labor shortage of skilled industrial workers. The number of data centers currently under construction is equal to the number of other industrial projects underway, and all are competing for the same workforce, petrochemical, commercial high-rise, and municipal infrastructure projects.
For project managers and general contractors, the air of uncertainty is similar to that of a business in a state of crisis. The cost of a single day’s delay in a data center project is higher than most companies can afford to lose. IT companies usually have an agenda for software releases or cloud computing migrations set by their corporate divisions. In such scenarios, the data center project has to be completed on time. If not, a penalty could be very costly. I have even spoken to a project manager who could not sleep at night, wondering if he would have enough people for the next day. It is a very stressful job, and it is getting more stressful by the day.
To address the issues in meeting the workforce demands for the boom in data center construction, the following practices have to be put into place to successfully hire the required number of hundreds of highly skilled, specialized construction tradespeople in a market where every other industry is looking for the same pool of skilled construction workers to complete their construction projects on time.
A strategy for hiring and retaining labor on a data center project can be implemented by the general contractor or project manager. In all cases, it is important to recognize that typical recruiting methods (e.g., job boards) do not yield the highly technical and specialized labor required for an industrial project. To hire skilled labor in Houston at this scale, the builder must seek out qualified subcontractors and vendors that maintain a pre-vetted pool of tradespeople, including a master electrician, pipefitters (industrial), and heavy equipment operators. It is through these relationships that a builder is able to procure enough skilled tradespeople to meet the demands of an aggressive construction schedule.
The Specific Trades in Highest Demand
Some of the unique characteristics of the work required in these facilities, as well as the particular challenges facing different building trades, are addressed below.
1. Electricians
For Data Center Construction, it all starts with a great electrician. They run the high-voltage power lines into the building, as well as all the low-voltage cabling to connect the servers in the data center. They install the heavy power distribution switchgear as well as the power and cooling plant backup batteries and associated monitoring and control systems to keep track of power consumption.
2. Mechanical and HVAC (Pipefitters & Plumbers)
In terms of the specific mechanical and HVAC work required within these buildings, initially, many data centers employed conventional methods of cooling servers by circulating air around them. However, as the technology and designs of data centers have continued to evolve, most have now adopted more industrial-type cooling systems, including liquid-cooling that involves closed-loop systems of water that are circulated through the servers by pumps and fans. A huge amount of very heavy plumbing and pipe work is required for these types of systems, together with strong structures to support the large amounts of weight involved.
The biggest challenge of working with these sorts of systems is preventing leaks. Because the servers are so sensitive, any leak of water could cause damage to the electronics. Working in an environment where there is a constant risk of large amounts of water pouring through the air and being in close proximity to expensive and sensitive equipment is a daunting experience for many tradespeople, and tests their skill and concentration to the limit.
3. Structural Teams & Millwrights
The structural teams, such as the millwrights, are also very busy, as these workers are required to install the backup generators and large industrial fans that are required to keep the air cool and clean within the data center. This type of work is very precise, as a small error in alignment could cause serious damage in the form of a catastrophic mechanical failure when the generator is in normal operation at high speed. The major challenge in the data center construction industry is to transfer the operation of the data center from the main grid power to the backup generators in a matter of seconds when a power failure occurs.
A Sustainable Outlook for Houston’s Industrial Workforce
While there is potential for growth in these fields as technology continues to evolve and become more prevalent, there is also potential for collapse if the needed workforce is not developed and sustained. The growth of artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and smart cities worldwide will require increased data processing capabilities, and Houston is positioning itself to be at the forefront of this industry. However, there must be a sustainable workforce to support these structures.
For the local workforce, there is a great opportunity in the construction of data centers, in a sustainable form of employment. For many skilled tradespeople, the work in data centers can offer an extension of their current skills or an opportunity to learn new ones. And, the industry is experiencing rapid growth, so there is no lack of opportunity for those interested in pursuing a career in the data center construction industry.
But sustaining this growth and the opportunity it affords to the local workforce will require deliberate planning and the contractors’ best efforts to continue to train the trades, to pay them fairly, and to create safe working environments to attract the best to this burgeoning field of work.Â
The construction of the physical home of technology is hard work. We need to make sure we are building the people who will build the technology. We must make sure we are providing the necessary training, fair compensation, and safe working environment to the best tradespeople in the world. We have the talent; we just need to go down the road together.
