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Meeting the Demand for Increasing Rack Density

Industry Trends | Meeting the Demand for Increasing Rack Density

Meeting the Demand for Increasing Rack DensityWith the increasing demand for computing power to support new technologies, data centers are increasing rack density to reduce or maintain their footprint. Both small network closets and large data centers are following this trend and today’s efficient and effective cooling methods are making it viable.

According to a 451 study of 750 enterprise users, forty-five percent of companies said they expect an average density of 11kW per rack or higher over the next year. “One of the key things we’re seeing is a change in density,” said Kelly Morgan, VP of Datacenter Infrastructure & Services at 451 Research. “Density is finally rising. We’ve been hearing this for a long time, but until recently, the average has been 5kW a rack.”

The demands of real life AI, such as in banking to detect fraud or in hospitals to perform robotic surgery, and the proliferation of IOT devices, with their power-hungry users, are all met by Edge computing. Edge Computing provides the speed, low latency, security and reliability to provide more computing power on demand. Higher rack densities are the backbone of today’s Edge Computing applications.

Reconfiguring your data center space from scratch to make it more efficient isn’t an option but upgrading your cooling to support denser racks can deliver a better ROI and the power that your facility demands.

As rack density increases, so does the temperature within the racks. In order to protect your equipment, proper cooling is essential. The APC, by Schneider Electric, Uniflair Chilled Water InRow and the Uniflair Direct Expansion InRow cooling systems use intelligent controls to meet the load and improve predictability and efficiency. In the majority of cases and with the proper layout, row cooling can cool the whole data center.

The APC Chilled Water InRow system closely couples the cooling with the heat source while intelligent controls actively adjust to match the load. Available in various configurations, these units are ideal for meeting the diverse requirements of medium to large data center.

The APC Direct Expansion InRow system uses air, water, and glycol for cooling network closets, server rooms, and data centers. The InRow Direct Expansion family closely couples the cooling with the heat source and is available in air-cooled, self-contained and fluid cooled configurations. IT operators looking to improve efficiency or deploy higher density equipment will benefit from the modular design.

APC InRow Cooling allows for hot-aisle/cold-aisle cooling layout. With more control over air distribution through a shorter path between the hot air and the heat removal, this cooling method is efficient and predictable and can easily be implemented into existing data centers. If hot air containment is added, the system is even more efficient.

Benefits of Hot-Aisle/Cold-Aisle Layout for Cooling

  • Allows for higher supply temperature
  • Elimination of hot spots
  • Economizer mode hours are increased
  • Humidification/Dehumidification costs are reduced
  • Better overall infrastructure utilization

EcoStruxure IT Advisor offers capacity management, a global management overview of available data center capacity, for a high-level understanding of power, space, cooling and network utilization. Capacity management allows you to easily find, place, and reserve space for new asset installations for optimized, intelligent planning. IT Advisor is a module of EcoStruxure IT which provides your IT infrastructure and cooling system with 24/7 monitoring and troubleshooting by personnel in a Schneider Electric Service Bureau.

*Some Information taken from Schneider Electric White Paper 135 “Impact of Hot and Cold Aisle Containment on Data Center Temperature and Efficiency”

For more information about meeting the demand for increasing rack density, 
call 800-876-9373 or email [email protected].