Features

Salesforce standardises global hybrid cloud infrastructure

Red Hat has announced that Salesforce is standardising its global hybrid cloud infrastructure on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Helping the company to drive business transformation at scale to meet customer demand, Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides a more flexible and consistent foundation for security enhanced hybrid cloud deployments. The platform enables Salesforce to free up valuable developer resources, while at the same time consolidating IT systems, all helping to generate better business outcomes for customers.  Salesforce is a customer-centric, innovation-driven provider of cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) systems, using a SaaS model to support a robust customer base. Over the years, Salesforce has continued to grow and evolve its offerings to incorporate breakthrough technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), automated self-service tools and real-time data insights to support customer business needs. In doing so, Salesforce relies on a massive IT footprint that spans hundreds of thousands of systems running in traditional data centre environments and in hyperforce, its platform architecture designed for the public cloud. With the migration, Salesforce intends to gain even more efficiency in its IT operations, enhancing developer productivity and fuelling greater innovation across the customer experience. Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers the necessary stability for modern IT workloads and enterprise-grade hybrid cloud deployments, enabling organisations to run applications anywhere while providing ease of management across on-premises and cloud environments. By migrating its global infrastructure from CentOS Linux to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Salesforce seeks to realise key benefits such as: Optimised performance and efficiency across various hardware and software architectures, including ARM, which enables Salesforce engineering teams to more easily adopt breakthrough technologies without incurring new infrastructure demands. Meeting customers where they are with a hardened platform that can drive more consistent innovation across the hybrid cloud, from the data centre to public clouds to the edge, with the capacity to support unique customer use cases regardless of location or scale. Improved system security measures with Red Hat Enterprise Linux’s layered approach to IT environment security, including support for many of the latest cryptographic and secure computing innovations. Enhanced customer support experiences through Red Hat’s support team, enabling Salesforce engineering to focus on delivering customer value without being bogged down in the minutiae of managing an operating system at cloud-scale.

Busting cloud myths and embracing the advantages

By Josh Boer, Vice President of Sales at VeUP The modern workforce is swiftly embracing digitisation, driven in large part by the pandemic's influence on remote work adoption and the demand for streamlined supply chains. As we move forward, worldwide public cloud end-user spending, forecasted by Gartner, is set to soar to nearly $600bn in 2023, surpassing the $491bn spent in 2022. From global corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the adoption of cloud computing is becoming a cornerstone for operational modernisation and securing a competitive edge. However, in the midst of this transformative journey, some concerns about cloud security have risen. In fact, over half of IT and security leaders admit to lacking confidence in their organisations' ability to verify cloud environment security, while others express fears of exposing critical data to cyber threats. Is the cloud secure for SMEs? Clearing the fog of uncertainty around cloud security is pivotal to instil confidence in businesses. SMEs often worry that storing data in the cloud sacrifices their control over its management and security. Contrary to this notion, cloud providers offer 24/7 data access and provide scalable tools for protection. Security features, including comprehensive monitoring systems and data safeguarding, are fundamental aspects of cloud security. The truth is, businesses retain control over their data even after migration to the cloud. While the choice of a cloud provider doesn't dictate all aspects of data storage and security, customers have full access to their information and the autonomy to make decisions regarding its protection. Depending on specific features and services employed, encryption methods and data classification can be tailored to individual needs. Cloud maturity: trusting the evolution The belief that cloud computing is too new to trust is another misconception. While AWS debuted in 2004, nearly two decades of evolution have transformed it into a global cloud leader, boasting an array of over 200 comprehensive services accessible through data centres worldwide. Serving clients from startups to government entities, AWS has nurtured a user base that relies on its platform to enhance agility, drive down costs, and expedite innovation. In this context, SMEs can tap into a suite of tailored services catering to their unique organisational requirements. Estimates from Synergy Research Group revealed that Amazon’s market share in the worldwide cloud infrastructure market stood at 32% in the second quarter of 2023, down from 34% a year ago, but still above its rivals Microsoft and Google. While short-term economic challenges and belt-tightening measures may impact spending on cloud services, the resilience and customer-centric approach of AWS provides assurance. Its proven track record of commitment to building strong customer relationships also highlights its ability to weather economic downturns and thrive in the long run. Harnessing cloud benefits for SMEs Amplifying business agility: Cloud technology empowers SMEs to swiftly navigate market shifts through scalable resources. Leveraging cloud solutions, SMEs can pivot operations, seize new opportunities, and employ cloud-enabled disaster recovery and backup strategies to weather disruptions with minimal downtime. Trimming legacy IT expenses: Contrary to the misconception that cloud migration is costly and unnecessary, cloud computing dramatically reduces IT infrastructure costs. By eliminating the need for physical hardware and infrastructure management, cloud computing shifts costs to the cloud service provider, enabling businesses to pay only for the resources they use. Empowering remote accessibility: Cloud solutions facilitate remote work by providing seamless access to applications and data from anywhere with an internet connection. This not only fosters a culture of remote collaboration, but also reduces the necessity for physical office spaces, utilities, and commuting expenses, yielding additional cost savings. As the world emerges from the pandemic and businesses ponder the return to physical workplaces, cloud computing, which proved instrumental in enabling remote work during the crisis, continues to be pivotal. Facilitating hybrid work models, cloud computing ensures consistent access to collaborative tools, documents, and data, striking a balance between productivity, collaboration, and employee preferences. Fostering an evergreen technology landscape: Cloud services enable SMEs to maintain an evergreen technology stack by harnessing continuous updates and innovations without the burdens of costly and time-consuming hardware upgrades. This transformative approach keeps technology consistently cutting-edge, fostering resilient and forward-looking IT infrastructures free from the constraints of physical hardware's lifecycle. Closing thoughts As discussions of the return to physical offices grow louder, and the impending news that cloud costs are expected to increase by 10% this year, it's critical to address these concerns and shed light on the truths of cloud security. The shift to the cloud remains more than a trend - it's a seismic transformation affording SMEs capabilities to enhance their overall competitiveness and efficiency, facilitating unified communications across the board and cutting down expenses over the likes of IT infrastructure maintenance costs. Click here for more latest news.

Is on-premise hydrogen production for greenhouse gas abatement a viable option?

By Joe Sheehan, Technical Director, i3 Solutions Group With green hydrogen widely touted as the most desirable option for achieving climate change goals, the debate is heating up in the data centre sector, where proponents of hydrogen believe it could well be an ideal primary power source for putting the sector on a path to net zero. But if hydrogen is the answer, there are important issues to address, not the least of which the necessary changes to the utility power and gas infrastructure. Additionally, we urgently need to gather data on the greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement benefits that might accrue from data centres using hydrogen. For a data centre, the real GHG abatement value of hydrogen lies in decarbonising the electricity supply - swapping out the utility grid for primary power and using green hydrogen to fuel engines or fuel cells for continuous use. This would take the data centre’s electrical consumption and replace it with a genuine source of renewable energy, since hydrogen causes no carbon emissions in use and green hydrogen is generated using only power from renewable sources. But achieving such a goal brings its own challenges. While many countries have developed a strategy for hydrogen, the hydrogen economy itself – in the form of production, transport and storage - is just not here yet. Practically no location yet supplies infrastructure or any piped hydrogen. It is certainly not yet possible to bring in vessels containing compressed hydrogen at a sufficient volume and rate to provide for full and continuous operation of a modern data centre. One obvious solution to this challenge could be for data centres and other energy intensive users to become both hydrogen producers and storage facilities. However, there isn’t currently a viable on-site source of clean energy that would produce green hydrogen by electrolysis of water. Where could such an energy supply come from? One possible answer is for data centres to tap into a renewable power grid and utilise such a grid’s surplus energy for the production of green hydrogen. When the wind is blowing or the sun is shining and/or demand is low, taking electricity from Renewable Energy Resources (RERs) means the carbon emissions associated with each kilowatt hour of energy supply are low. And in the opposite circumstances – when the wind is not blowing, the sun is not shining, and electrical demand is high – data centres could operate using its own reserves of locally stored green hydrogen rather than the utility grid topping up capacity using fossil-fuelled power plants to fulfil demand. Use of hydrogen stored on-site for peak shaving at times of high demand and low renewable supply levels out demand on the grid. This is a form of carbon trade-off, since drawing less power from the grid reduces the use of fossil fuels, achieving a net gain in emissions reduction. But is the round-trip efficiency, using this strategy good enough to achieve a meaningful advantage? Modelling the carbon benefits The big question is whether on-site hydrogen production is economically and spatially viable and offers affordable benefits in terms of greenhouse gas abatement. Using carbon intensity data which is publicly available from grid networks in the UK and Ireland, i3 built a mathematical model of the process and measured what GHG abatement benefits it might bring about. It factored in the storage and technology that would be necessary, with the model using a nominal 10MW data centre in different locations. The model showed the returns are quite modest in terms of carbon emission reductions in places like Scotland, where there are a lot of renewables on offer. It is possible to reduce by about 10% a data centre’s energy or carbon emissions - approximately 500 tonnes of carbon per year. Interestingly, the percentage reduction in the southeast of the UK was smaller, but that worked out to be the same carbon reduction in absolute terms because there is higher grid carbon intensity in the region. In other words, the carbon costs are higher, so a smaller percentage reduction is an equivalent saving. These modest returns need to be weighted against the cost of applying the hydrogen technology to data centres at sufficient scale. The i3 model provides useful insight about the need to coordinate with grid-level facilities. It has also aided understanding of how battery energy storage, and in future, hydrogen, could be used in conjunction with the grid for a range of technologies, including various forms of energy storage and electricity demand reduction in data centres. The tool developed can be applied to data centre designs for many types of energy storage systems and reveal what potential benefits they bring about in terms of carbon reduction. The amount of activity in the hydrogen market, from production to transport to storage is accelerating. The biggest cost is green hydrogen production, for which excess renewable energy is required. However, it is projected that these costs will come down. Some point to conditions where because grids are integrating increasing amounts of power generated using renewable energy sources this will lead to excess capacity at times of low user demand, making more clean energy available for electrolysis. In addition, the huge growth in the scale of electrolyser production will aid the speed at which the economics of green hydrogen production will swing in favour of the consumer. As green hydrogen becomes more available, the economies of scale will start to improve, making hydrogen a more viable fuel source for electricity for powering data centres. Production value Like many countries, the UK is a long way from a national hydrogen gas transport network (pipes), and therefore local production in data centres and other energy intensive industries should be considered. Designing and developing data centres with hydrogen in mind needs to happen. We can future-proof data centres for the growth of hydrogen production and supply, for example, by specifying the use of reciprocating engines or fuel cells which can be run using hydrogen as well as other fuels in data centre designs. Click here for more latest news.

Hyperscale data centres key to driving APJ’s energy transition

As corporations and governments pursue the challenge of achieving a low-carbon future in Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ), AirTrunk has released its ‘Powering a Clean Energy Future’ report that identifies hyperscale data centres as key drivers in APJ’s energy transition to 24/7 clean energy (CE). The report highlights how a hyperscale data centre’s size, electricity demand profile, innovation capabilities and proven experience in procuring renewable energy puts them in a prime position for partnership to accelerate the transition. Through energy system modelling, the report also determines the most effective technology pathways and costs to reaching 24/7 (CE), providing holistic analysis of what is required. AirTrunk's Head of Energy and Climate, Joscha Schmitz, says, “24/7 clean energy is crucial to achieving climate targets by fully decarbonising power grids. As the major hyperscale data centre provider in APJ, we released this report with the intention to build momentum towards achieving 24/7 clean energy in the region.” “24/7 clean energy is more advanced in the European and North American markets due to resource availability and market maturity. The report outlines opportunities to successfully deliver clean energy technology in APJ, which is the fastest growing region, but the one experiencing the most difficulty in managing the energy transition,” says Joscha. The report recognises the need for more industry collaboration and highlights the six steps key industry players and governments must do to fully realise the potential of 24/7 CE in APJ, including: Increase and strengthen grid interconnection between markets Accelerate ‘green molecules’ and other new firming and storage technologies Diversify renewables portfolio with local firming solutions Leverage on-site infrastructure to support local grids and power markets Shift non-latency-sensitive loads to lower cost markets Start the discussion to achieve 24/7 clean energy in a cost-optimal way AirTrunk's Chief Technology Officer, Damien Spillane, says, “Major corporations and governments in APJ have made significant emissions reductions commitments, however in the current climate, it remains challenging to achieve these. That’s why we are calling on energy providers, sustainability groups, corporations and governments to work together, and with us, to facilitate a clean energy future for all.” “We take our responsibility as a key enabler of the transition seriously and will continue to focus our efforts on decarbonisation as we progress toward net zero emissions by 2030,” says Damien. The ‘Powering a Clean Energy Future’ report can be downloaded here. Click here for more latest news.

Logpoint appoints Michael Haldbo as CFO

Logpoint has announced the appointment of Michael Haldbo as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Reporting to Logpoint's CEO, Jesper Zerlang, Michael will be responsible for taking the company successfully through the next step of the Logpoint journey to become a European cyber security powerhouse. “We’re excited that Michael is joining the Logpoint team as we grow beyond scaleup and into an established cyber security company. Michael has extensive experience in taking leadership over transformation projects and M&A,” says Jesper Zerlang. “With our recent acquisition by Summa Equity, we have proven that Logpoint has the capabilities and critical mass to take us to the next level, and as we mature the business model, he is an evident choice to support and protect the business financially.” Michael Haldbo has 20 years of international and nordic experience in financial planning, analysis and strategy execution. He served as CFO at Signicat, Europe’s leading provider of digital identity solutions. Michael has also held financial executive roles at other companies in the IT and payment-related sector, including Nets and Unwire. “Logpoint has such a strong value proposition with world-class cyber security solutions, competitive pricing models, and the agility and flexibility that enable us to challenge the big mastodons in the SIEM market and become the number one vendor in Europe with a global range,” says Michael Haldbo. “From my perspective, Logpoint ticks all the boxes, scaleup, growth market, a strong business model, transitioning into SaaS and private equity owned. The frosting on the cake is that Logpoint solutions address a major societal challenge, namely the ever-growing cyber threat in the wake of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.” Click here for more latest news.

Data centres’ net zero plans blown off track by the energy crisis

According to research published by Schneider Electric, 81% of business leaders at UK and Irish data centres say the energy crisis will impact their organisation’s ability to meet its emissions reduction plans. Of that figure, around half of organisations say they are delaying planned investment in sustainability and net zero plans (49%). Four in ten of the same organisations (40%) say they now have more immediate business challenges to meet, while 43% claim that emission reduction targets are no longer an issue for their stakeholders. More than one in five (22%) of these firms claim that taking practical action to meet targets is difficult. Decarbonisation helps businesses reduce energy use and lower energy costs at a time when energy prices remain volatile.  Crucially, the survey of more than 1,500 large organisations reveals that business leaders still recognise the importance of working to emissions reduction targets, as nearly one third (32%) of data centre business leaders believe that climate change and net zero ambitions will become more of a priority over the next three years. Only a small minority (11%) believe that national net zero commitments will be diluted in that time. “Business leaders tell us that the energy crisis should be seen alongside the many other challenges they have faced over the last twelve months, including economic pressures, cyber security and skills shortages. Yet our research suggests that some of the UK and Ireland’s data centres are ‘kicking the carbon emissions can down the road’, as a result of the energy crisis,” says Mark Yeeles, Vice President, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric UK and Ireland. “As fears grow about progress against global commitments made under the Paris Agreement, and the UK’s Climate Change Committee warns of a lack of progress on emissions cuts, the UK and Ireland need data centres to play their part and stick to their net zero and emissions reduction targets,” says Mark Yeeles. The survey also reveals that 32% of data centre managers believe that energy prices will fall over the next three years, while more than seven out of ten (71%) think their organisation will still be addressing the energy crisis in 12 months’ time. Presenting the survey findings, Mark Yeeles urged data centres to re-engage with their emissions reduction ambitions, “It’s not all doom and gloom, as our research shows, business leaders still believe in their climate change ambitions – they simply need to push the subject back up the corporate agenda. “The technology required to help businesses decarbonise is already available – and the return on investment for these solutions has never been more attractive, with payback periods measured in months rather than years. Organisations still have time to meet their net zero commitments by understanding and addressing energy use, investing in renewable energy and energy saving technology, and embedding sustainability and carbon reduction targets in their business plans. “What’s more, those that invest in green skills and green jobs will reap the rewards of a diverse workforce for decades to come. At Schneider Electric, we’ve seen this for ourselves through our apprenticeship and graduate programmes.” Click here for more latest news.

Nasuni and Presidio expand partnership and sign multi-year agreement

Presidio has announced an extensive partnership with Nasuni. Nasuni is optimising AWS Cloud use and reducing OpEX with Presidio’s proactive recapture into savings management (PRISM) program. In addition, Nasuni has signed a multi-year business agreement to simplify how companies store, protect and manage file data in hybrid cloud environments. A top concern of CIOs is cost optimisation according to industry analysts. To better monitor cloud spending, reduce financial risk and operational burden for its cloud and finance teams, Nasuni is leveraging Presidio’s fully managed PRISM program. Presidio manages cost optimisation and uses proprietary data science models to automatically scale cloud commitments up or down on behalf of customers at no risk to them. With its managed services taking care of operational management of Nasuni’s file data cloud environment, its team is saving time and able to focus on enhancing the Nasuni product and new innovative features. Organisations are looking to move their legacy file storage infrastructure to the cloud to centralise control of and make files easily accessible on premises or in the cloud globally to strategically use data and optimise productivity. With the Nasuni File Data Platform’s intelligent edge caching, customers can leverage the power of cloud object storage while maintaining local performance, which can translate into reduced storage costs by 60% over legacy storage as well as the ability to recover from ransomware attacks in minutes. Presidio’s team of technical experts can help customers better manage their file data environment with Nasuni in a hybrid cloud environment through any or multiple cloud providers. Click here for more latest news.

AirTrunk releases report on powering a clean energy future  

As corporations and governments pursue the challenge of achieving a low-carbon future in Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ), AirTrunk has released its ‘Powering a Clean Energy Future’ report that identifies hyperscale data centres as key drivers in APJ’s energy transition to 24/7 clean energy (CE). The report highlights how a hyperscale data centre’s size, electricity demand profile, innovation capabilities and proven experience in procuring renewable energy puts them in a prime position for partnership to accelerate the transition. Through energy system modelling, the report also determines the most effective technology pathways and costs to reaching 24/7 (CE), providing holistic analysis of what is required. AirTrunk, Head of Energy and Climate, Joscha Schmitz, says, “24/7 clean energy is crucial to achieving climate targets by fully decarbonising power grids. As the major hyperscale data centre provider in APJ, we released this report with the intention to build momentum towards achieving 24/7 clean energy in the region. “24/7 clean energy is more advanced in the European and North American markets due to resource availability and market maturity. The report outlines opportunities to successfully deliver clean energy technology in APJ, which is the fastest growing region, but the one experiencing the most difficulty in managing the energy transition,” says Joscha. The report also recognises the need for more industry collaboration and highlights the six steps key industry players and governments must do to fully realise the potential of 24/7 CE in APJ, including: Increase and strengthen grid interconnection between markets Accelerate ‘green molecules’ and other new firming and storage technologies Diversify renewables portfolio with local firming solutions Leverage on-site infrastructure to support local grids and power markets Shift non-latency-sensitive loads to lower cost markets Start the discussion to achieve 24/7 clean energy in a cost-optimal way AirTrunk, Chief Technology Officer, Damien Spillane, says, “Major corporations and governments in APJ have made significant emissions reductions commitments, however in the current climate, it remains challenging to achieve these. That’s why we are calling on energy providers, sustainability groups, corporations and governments to work together, and with us, to facilitate a clean energy future for all. “We take our responsibility as a key enabler of the transition seriously and will continue to focus our efforts on decarbonisation as we progress toward net zero emissions by 2030,” says Damien.

Why hybrid cooling is the future for data centres

Gordon Johnson, Senior CFD Manager, Subzero Engineering Rising rack and power densities are driving significant interest in liquid cooling for many reasons. Yet, the suggestion that one size fits all ignores one of the most fundamental aspects of potentially hindering adoption - that many data centre applications will continue to utilise air as the most efficient and cost-effective solution for their cooling requirements. The future is undoubtedly hybrid, and by using air cooling, containment, and liquid cooling together, owners and operators can optimise and future-proof their data centre environments. Today, many data centres are experiencing increasing power density per IT rack, rising to levels that just a few years ago seemed extreme and out of reach, but today are considered both common and typical while simultaneously deploying air cooling. In 2020 for example, the Uptime Institute found that due to compute-intensive workloads, racks with densities of 20kW and higher are becoming a reality for many data centres. This increase has left data centre stakeholders wondering if air-cooled IT equipment (ITE) along with containment used to separate the cold supply air from the hot exhaust air has finally reached its limits and if liquid cooling is the long-term solution. However, the answer is not as simple as yes or no. Moving forward, it’s expected that data centres will transition from 100% air cooling to a hybrid model, encompassing air and liquid-cooled solutions with all new and existing air-cooled data centres requiring containment to improve efficiency, performance, and sustainability. Additionally, those moving to liquid cooling may still require containment to support their mission-critical applications, depending on the type of server technology deployed. One might ask why the debate of air versus liquid cooling is such a hot topic in the industry right now? To answer this question, we need to understand what’s driving the need for liquid cooling, the other options, and how can we evaluate these options while continuing to utilise air as the primary cooling mechanism. Can air and liquid cooling coexist? For those who are newer to the industry, this is a position we’ve been in before, with air and liquid cooling successfully coexisting, while removing substantial amounts of heat via intra-board air-to-water heat exchangers. This process continued until the industry shifted primarily to CMOS technology in the 1990s, and we’ve been using air cooling in our data centres ever since. With air being the primary source used to cool data centres, ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers) has worked towards making this technology as efficient and sustainable as possible. Since 2004, it has published a common set of criteria for cooling IT servers with the participation of ITE and cooling system manufacturers entitled ‘TC9.9 Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments’. ASHRAE has focused on the efficiency and reliability of cooling the ITE in the data centre. Several revisions have been published with the latest being released in 2021 (revision 5). This latest generation TC9.9 highlights a new class of high-density air-cooled ITE (H1 class) which focuses more on cooling high-density servers and racks with a trade-off in terms of energy efficiency due to lower cooling supply air temperatures recommended to cool the ITE. As to the question of whether or not air and liquid cooling can coexist in the data centre white space, it’s done so for decades already, and moving forward, many experts expect to see these two cooling technologies coexisting for years to come. What do server power trends reveal? It’s easy to assume that when it comes to cooling, a one-size will fit all in terms of power and cooling consumption, both now and in the future, but that’s not accurate. It’s more important to focus on the actual workload for the data centre that we’re designing or operating. In the past, a common assumption with air cooling was that once you went above 25kW per rack, it was time to transition to liquid cooling. But the industry has made some changes in regards to this, enabling data centres to cool up to and even exceed 35kW per rack with traditional air cooling. Scientific data centres, which include largely GPU-driven applications like machine learning, AI, and high analytics like crypto mining, are the areas of the industry that typically are transitioning or moving towards liquid cooling. But if you look at some other workloads like the cloud and most businesses, the growth rate is rising but it still makes sense for air cooling in terms of cost. The key is to look at this issue from a business perspective, what are we trying to accomplish with each data centre? What’s driving server power growth? Up to around 2010, businesses utilised single-core processors, but once available, they transitioned to multi-core processors, however, there still was a relatively flat power consumption with these dual and quad-core processors. This enabled server manufacturers to concentrate on lower airflow rates for cooling ITE, which resulted in better overall efficiency. Around 2018, with the size of these processors continually shrinking, higher multi-core processors became the norm and with these reaching their performance limits, the only way to continue to achieve the new levels of performance by compute-intensive applications is by increasing power consumption. Server manufacturers have been packing in as much as they can to servers, but because of CPU power consumption, in some cases, data centres were having difficulty removing the heat with air cooling, creating a need for alternative cooling solutions such as liquid. Server manufacturers have also been increasing the temperature delta across servers for several years now, which again has been great for efficiency since the higher the temperature delta, the less airflow that’s needed to remove the heat. However, server manufacturers are, in turn, reaching their limits, resulting in data centre operators having to increase the airflow to cool high-density servers and to keep up with increasing power consumption. Additional options for air cooling Thankfully, there are several approaches the industry is embracing to cool power densities up to and even greater than 35kW per rack successfully, often with traditional air cooling. These options start with deploying either cold or hot aisle containment. If no containment is used typically, rack densities should be no higher than 5kW per rack, with additional supply airflow needed to compensate for recirculation air and hot spots. What about lowering temperatures? In 2021, ASHRAE released their 5th generation TC9.9, which highlighted a new class of high-density air-cooled IT equipment, which will need to use more restrictive supply temperatures than the previous class of servers. At some point, high-density servers and racks will also need to transition from air to liquid cooling, especially with CPUs and GPUs expected to exceed 500W per processor or higher in the next few years. But this transition is not automatic and isn’t going to be for everyone. Liquid cooling is not going to be the ideal solution or remedy for all future cooling requirements. Instead, the selection of liquid cooling instead of air cooling has to do with a variety of factors, including specific location, climate (temperature/humidity), power densities, workloads, efficiency, performance, heat reuse, and physical space available. This highlights the need for data centre stakeholders to take a holistic approach to cooling their critical systems. It will not and should not be an approach where only air or only liquid cooling is considered moving forward. Instead, the key is to understand the trade-offs of each cooling technology and deploy only what makes the most sense for the application. Click here for more thought leadership.

Consult Red celebrates 20 years of innovation

Consult Red has marked its 20th anniversary of continuous success, growth and innovation. Over the past two decades, it has helped its clients transform the media, telecommunication and IoT technology landscapes. Since its inception in 2003, the company has remained steadfast in its commitment to delivering trusted consultancy and high quality engineering services, while embracing technological advancements and industry trends. Throughout the years, it has built an enviable reputation for its dedication to excellence, customer satisfaction and innovative solutions. "We’ve reached this significant milestone, thanks to our valued clients and the work of our talented and dedicated team," says Raghu Venkatesam, CEO at Consult Red. “We are grateful for the long-term trust and support of our clients, partners and stakeholders, who have been instrumental in our continued growth over the past two decades." Over the past 20 years, the company has achieved numerous milestones and accomplishments, including: Contributing to innovative product launches for our key customers, including set-tops, connected TV devices and embedded software services for media and connectivity operators across Europe, US and Asia. Delivering connected devices and systems for industrial and IoT applications, including vehicle charging, industrial vision, telehealth, power management, consumer devices and wireless connectivity. Establishing as an employee-owned company, giving employees a stake in the business and ensuring long-term stability for clients. Nurturing a talented and diverse global workforce that drives innovation and fosters a culture of collaboration and excellence. Click here for latest data centre news.