By Rajkumar Vijayarangakannan, Product Head- Network Design, ManageEngine
India’s push for becoming a Digital Economy has gained more momentum post-pandemic.
The rapid strides our nation has made in AI and Analytics are further necessitating
processing-intensive computer applications.
While these advancements are being shouldered by our evolving Data Centre landscape,
recent shifts call for a more nuanced infrastructural approach. The business relevance of energy-efficient, high-performance systems is higher than ever. There is growing global consensus for Green Computing being the sustainable way forward.
Hence, the spotlight is now on a Data-Centre specific sector that is predicted to reach a
the worldwide value of $36.74 billion by 2029: Liquid Cooling.
The Need For A New Data-Centre Cooling Approach
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is a key metric that represents the ratio of a Data Centre’s
energy consumption to the amount of energy exclusively utilised by the centre’s IT
equipment.
PUE should ideally bear the value of 1.0 or 100 per cent efficiency. The closer the PUE is to
1, the more efficient a Data Centre is. As the total cost of operations reduces, the effects are
correlated to the centre’s IT equipment, which can compromise the efficiency of Data
Centres.
When it comes to inefficient Data Centres, Cooling Systems are the first place to focus on.
By implementing a few easy actions for enhancing airflow, the amount of electricity
required for cooling can be effectively minimised.
Integrating A Liquid-Ready Approach Into Current Infrastructure
New-generation central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) have
drastically increased computational capabilities. But they also entail higher thermal
densities as compared to previous-generation designs.
Furthermore, as server-makers are putting more CPUs and GPUs into each rack to fulfil the
increasing demand for high-performance computing and AI applications, the need for
making Data Centres Liquid-Ready has increased more than ever.
To embrace immediate demands and reap a quick return on investments, the best possible
way forward is to incorporate Liquid Cooling with existing Air-cooled facilities that lack the
necessary infrastructure support.
A Liquid Cooling system can be installed in the following ways:
1) Deploying heat-exchangers via a rear door
Passive or active heat exchangers replace the IT equipment rack's rear door with a
liquid heat exchanger. To cool locations with a mixture of rack densities, these
systems can be utilised in combination with conventional air-cooling systems.
2) Direct-to-chip Liquid Cooling
Direct-to-chip Liquid Cooling consists of single-phase cold plates or two-phase
evaporation units that sit atop the board's heat-generating components to draw away
the heat that is generated. These cooling solutions can remove around 70-75 per
cent of the total heat generated by the equipment in the rack, leaving 25-30 per cent
of the residual heat to be removed by the air-conditioning systems.
3) Immersion Cooling
Single-phase and two-phase Immersion Cooling systems consist of servers and
other rack components being thoroughly immersed in a thermally conductive
dielectric liquid or fluid. This process completely eliminates the requirement for air
cooling. It maximises the heat-transfer qualities of the liquid and is known to be the
most energy-efficient Liquid Cooling approach that can be deployed.
The Way Forward For India’s Data Centres
With Data Centres being accorded Infrastructure status by the government, investments in
them are expected to touch Rs 70,000 crore over the next decade. Till 2024 alone, this
growth may result in the earmarking of 9.7 million square feet of real estate, along with a
capacity addition of 804MW.
It goes without saying that such a Mission Critical pillar of India’s Digital Economy
aspirations needs a technological approach that is not only relevant to the times but also
transcends it. And a Liquid-Ready strategy is one of the infrastructural pillars that the nation needs for cementing its status as a global Data-Centre hub.
