Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1107553
24 I ICT TODAY DATA CENTER EFFICIENCY Hyperscale architecture is only one of the ongoing trends within data center design. Focus continues on improving the efficiency of data centers, especially in cooling and power consumption. Immersion cooling is one area of progress; while the use of air is relatively risk free, fluids, such as water, can transfer heat 24 times faster from a surface and can store more heat within an equivalent volume. Immersion cooling has taken a few different forms. In 2018, Microsoft began testing the concept of submerging a data center built into a shipping container. The concept was to evaluate viability of deploying these types of data centers on the coastline of population centers. Measures, such as using the surrounding water, resulted in reduced power consumption, potentially using power generated only from wind and tidal forces. Liquid cooling is not just for the data center building or external heat exchangers, since rack and server level cooling has also emerged. While the presence of liquid within any structure that has a high reliance on electrical power is often considered a risk, traditional air-cooling methods become less efficient to the extent that cooling densities of 60 to 70 kW per rack can become extremely difficult. While data centers are not yet seeing this level of load, densities are increasing in both typical and hyperscale data centers. Liquid cooling currently is used to cool the central processing units Regardless of the actual definition, edge data centers will be required, either as new construction or possibly created from smaller existing enterprise or colocation data centers. (CPUs) within a server; it is the part of the server that generates a significant amount of heat and is most affected by it. Unlike full immersion, liquid is only used in conjunction with the CPU heat sinks, allowing other elements to run within the ambient airflow. Liquid cooling does not necessarily require chilled liquid (i.e., liquid at 30 to 40 C (86 to 105 F)), because it supplies more than adequate heat absorption while supporting traditional heat exchangers. Liquid cooling, while expected to be a significant part of the data center industry, is not the only endeavor to decrease costs. Originat- ing from Facebook's research and development, the Open Compute Project (OCP) is an effort modeled on open-source software where participants provide and share information about data center issues. Broken into a number of subject areas, including equipment and infrastructure, OCP looked at what was needed to meet objectives, leaving little unchallenged. Since its incorporation in 2011, OCP concepts have been increasingly adopted in hyperscale designs, as changes to the physical dimensions of servers allowed for increased heat transfer potential. Because these new dimensions were physically incompatible with standardized EIA/ECA-310-E racks, this led to the envisioning of the ubiquitous telecom rack. Other areas of OCP focus on electrical power distribution. Movement has been made on refining dc infrastructure that avoids potential power losses and heat generation when converting traditional ac power into dc for IT equipment and batteries. These developments triggered a review of the building infrastructure, which included a look at pathway sizes. As the height of racks have been increasing, wider racks and the option to move fully loaded racks into place may require larger pathways capable of handling increased loading. THE FOG ROLLS IN Much like any weather system, the cloud continues to move and change according to its surroundings. Where the cloud meets the horizon line, some notice a new formation, one caused by continued develop- ment of IoT. IoT is no longer a new concept, and much has been written about it. However, IoT's impact is much larger and continues to be a force for change. IoT is often viewed as wired connections between devices and their respective systems.