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Dell To Sell Advanced Server Cooling Systems
Mitechsi writes "Dell has struck a deal with Emerson to sell advanced liquid cooling systems and services to data center owners. One type of supplemental cooling technology is called the Liebert XD. The XD consists of refrigerant-filled pipes that snake around the server racks in a data center. The liquid system cuts the cooling power load by about 30%–50% compared to other types of cooling systems."
Coors plans to sell advanced personnel liquid cooling systems to IT departments too.
Kill me later for this, but let me be the first to say:
"Snakes in a server room!"
*ducks*
So Dell is going to offer water cooling, ok great! Why call it "Liebert XD" ? What, it's not water ? Oh ok then. I don't care if you pump it full of $400/gallon fluorinert and have plastic fishies floating through it, it's still just liquid cooling, something that existed in the server room long before Michael Dell ever sold a single server machine.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
"George W. Bush is the best president the U.S. has ever had."
(sigh)
George, aren't you supposed to be "idiotified" again by Vladimir Putin here in a few minutes? What are you doing posting on Slashdot?
Why call it "Liebert XD" ? What, it's not water ?
Ummm, because it's made by the Liebert Corporation? And it's their "XD" line of products?
Is this the first time you've ever heard of branding?
You might as well ask: "Why call it 'Toyota Camry'? What, it's not a car?"
it's still just liquid cooling, something that existed in the server room long before Michael Dell ever sold a single server machine.
So? Cars have been around a long time, too. That doesn't mean I want to drive a Model T.
Anyway, the news here is not that there is a new HVAC product, but that Dell is going to be selling HVAC systems to datacenter owners.
Also, this system uses a gas/liquid phase-change cycle, and it operates on a different scope (zone and spot cooling -- doesn't get anywhere near the CPU), so it's really not like what most people would think of as liquid cooling systems for computers. It's just a way of getting the cooling closer to the heat source instead of blowing cold air around in ducts, such that your HVAC operates more efficiently.
Sure, this idea has been around for a while (though this system makes some improvements that are especially helpful for datacenter use). The news is that Dell is selling it.
Density has a number of benefits-- especially in reducing your network and power interconnect costs. We build data centers that are about as big as a big-box retail store, and the average power draw is around 5kW per cabinet, or 125W/SF raised floor. Your 100,000 square foot retail space would tend to be half raised floor, so you have a total of about 6.2 MW UPS.
The real problem for data centers is that some equipment works much better packed close together. Usually, it's only 20% or so, but you have to figure out solutions for this type of equipment.
The most interesting strategies for data center cooling today are using air side free cooling. There are plenty of challenges, and it only works with certain combinations of local climate and building design, but it is another area that benefits from high density-- being able to exhaust 110F air from your cabinets directly to the outside rather than trying to cool it back down to 55F at the CRAC units makes a lot of sense.
(As for converting a big box retail building to a data center... you might be able to put in 100kW of computer load and just run the air conditioning at night as suggested. If you pay $0.50/SF, that would be about $50k/month in rent. Rent in a co-lo for the same power density would be about $26k per month. In either scenario, you need to add power and UPS to the equation for the total picture.)