PALO ALTO, CA — Addressing the rising demand for expansive data-center environments while also minimizing the complexity and lack of control over energy use in custom facilities, Hewlett Packard has unveiled a modular, pre-fabricated data center that bundles energy efficiency with standardized features.

The company's Flexible Data Center allows a more cost-effective way to build compute centers that can grow quickly as needed, rather than build for future technology needs.

The FlexDC is built on a "butterfly design," with four prefabricated modules centered around an administrative section (pictured below). By simplifying the data center design, HP says it can streamline the building process while offering some customization of configuration for customers. 

At its most energy efficient, HP says the FlexDC can achieve a PUE of 1.18; in a white paper [PDF] published on the HP website, the company lays out the following breakdown of energy used in the data center:

"Clients such as financial service providers, government entities, and cloud and colocation hosts will find the scalable and modular nature of HP Flexible DC a compelling option," Kfir Godrich, chief technology officer of HP's Technology Services division, said in a statment. "HP can help clients innovate the way they build and operate a greenfield data center for greater savings over its life span."

More information is online at HP.com/services/flexdc.