Prefab is now fab

From modular data centres to nuclear infra to DCaaS to AI inferencing workloads to AI data centre rollbacks and power guzzlers—Anjani Kumar Kommisetti, Head of Business, Rhine XCircle covers a lot of corners of today’s and upcoming data centres. Let’s untangle some wires here.

- By Pratima H

Where—and why—do modular and prefab data centres align with the trends, appetite and challenges that dot the data centre industry today?

Modular and prefabricated data centres are rapidly becoming integral to the evolving digital infrastructure landscape, and the reasons are both compelling and urgent. Today, the industry is under immense pressure to deliver reliable, scalable, and high-performance data infrastructure - not in years, but in months. This shift is driven by a confluence of trends: the expansion of digital services into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, the rollout of 5G, the acceleration of Industry 4.0, and the growing footprint of IoT and green energy initiatives.

At Rhine XCircle, we see time-to-market as the new benchmark of value. Businesses can no longer afford to wait 18-24 months to bring a facility online. Whether it’s for hyperscalers, telecom, utilities, or manufacturing, the demand is for plug-and-play, factory-integrated modules—be it power, cooling, or IT infrastructure—that can be deployed in record time with minimal onsite effort.

Is it more than a temporary trend? Why or why not?

The shift from ‘custom build’ to modular build is more than a trend; it’s a response to a new reality where agility, scalability, and reliability must come together under extremely tight timelines. Our prefabricated solutions are not only reducing deployment timelines significantly, often to under 12 months for large-scale facilities, but also enabling standardised quality, reduced project risk, and easier scalability.

Simply put, modular and prefab data centres meet the moment by enabling speed, resilience, and flexibility - exactly what today's interconnected, time-sensitive ecosystems demand.

What have been your most interesting pilots or adoption areas so far?