DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. — July 15, 2019 — Fibrelite, part of OPW and Dover, is expanding into the growing data center and cloud facility market.
Facilities of this nature have highly specialized environments with specific performance requirements and are typically constructed to a tight build schedule. However, no two facilities are the same, and each facility has specific needs.
Unlike many other construction projects, cloud and data centers evolve quickly, once built. Servers are frequently replaced, and facilities often grow to accommodate greater storage capacity and new technologies. Therefore, the internal design must have flexibility.
To meet these new challenges, a number of designers and construction companies are turning to contemporary materials like the fiber-reinforced plastic (“FRP”) composite channel access covers made by Fibrelite, which offer many unique benefits including efficiency, reliability and longevity.
The designers and construction companies building today’s cloud and data centers are adopting Fibrelite trench/channel access products to cover and provide access to channels housing underground infrastructure and fiber-optic cabling. Traditionally, these covers were made from concrete or metal. However, Fibrelite’s innovative modular FRP covers are far lighter and allow safe, fast manual removal, even when heavier load ratings are required (e.g. channels running between buildings with vehicle traffic). Fibrelite covers are available in load ratings up to F900/90 tons, are impervious to corrosion and have a unique anti-skid walking surface.
In many instances where these covers are adopted, companies choose to specify a bespoke option, custom manufactured to the exact size, color, load rating and fittings required (e.g. securing systems), sometimes as a retrofit replacement for previously installed concrete or metal covers.
Jo Stott, Fibrelite’s marketing director, shared, “In environments like data centers and cloud facilities where efficiency and flexibility are vital, it’s important to simplify every process possible and these facilities are adopting our composite covers for just such a purpose.”
Posted July 16, 2019
Source: Dover
