Hyperscale
Our last blog looked at the growth of the UK’s data centre sector. While that growth brings its own challenges, there is another factor that is shining a spotlight on data centre efficiency – the rise of artificial intelligence.
The expanding application of AI across all parts of the economy is significant, not only because it’s very much the future of global data use, but also because it requires a new generation of data centres to support high performance computing (HPC).
We could say that the hyperscale high performance data centres behind the rise of AI are the factories of the new industrial revolution.
These factories of the 21st century are designed to process huge amounts of data at very high speeds. The result is that these data centres run very hot. Some estimates are that they can be as much as five or ten times hotter than a ‘standard’ data centre.
The reason for these temperature rises is rack density. Increased rack density is desirable for data centre operators because they can increase performance with fewer racks, reducing capital expenditure on racks and associated cabling.
The higher the rack density, the higher the power consumption. Average rack density is rising. McKinsey & Co notes that average rack densities doubled in the two years to 2024 to 17kW per rack(1) and are expected to reach 30kW by 2027.
In high-performance data centres, with a specific focus on serving AI clients, power use can rise to 29kW to 30kW per rack. Training models like ChatGPT can consume more than 80kW per rack. Little wonder that cooling is becoming so critical in these facilities.
In fact, the effectiveness of cooling systems now dictates how tightly servers can be stacked. If temperatures cannot be maintained, then the technology will fail. An effective and efficient cooling system is therefore critical to optimise data centre productivity per square foot.
Critical IT
While cooling technology is evolving to meet the needs of this fast-moving sector, some of the basic requirements of good cooling system design and operation remain the same. One of these is water treatment.
Many water-related problems can impact the performance of cooling systems: suspended solids, biofilm, corrosion, fouling. These have a significant impact on the delivery of cooling and system energy efficiency.
Enwa’s EnwaMatic Side Stream Filtration approach provides a straightforward, modern approach to water treatment that’s ideal for critical cooling systems in mission-critical IT infrastructure.
Automated and Self-regulating
EnwaMatic technology is also fully automated, providing self-regulating water conditioning. The system responds dynamically to both the quantity and quality of water. This means that maintenance teams can be confident that water quality is continuously monitored and maintained.
In cooling systems, insulating layers caused by corrosion or biofilm formation can dramatically reduce heat transfer, because the water’s energy transport characteristics are reduced. Enwa’s Side Stream filters down to < 10 microns, providing corrosion inhibition and provides a harsh environment for bacterial growth (which itself can cause corrosion).
Unchecked, harmful processes, including corrosion, debris erosion and deposition, can significantly reduce the effective lifespan of equipment, presenting a major cost and environmental impact – not to mention downtime.
An important point to bear in mind about AI requirements is that not every solution is ‘hyperscale.’ Smaller, data centres closer to end-users in cities, or even on-site for some customers, are equally important to maintaining communication speeds across the system.
While these ‘edge’ data centres are often smaller buildings, they are equally dependent on cooling system performance. Again, water treatment is vital to keep cooling systems operating effectively. Enwa’s solutions are highly scalable, so whether you are designing for hyperscale or edge, automated water treatment is an achievable solution.
Focusing on the fundamental requirements of an efficient cooling system gives today’s data centre designers and operators the confidence that their cooling systems are truly optimised.
If you would like to learn more about how Enwa’s technology can help your data centre optimise efficiency and performance, our experts can deliver a CIBSE approved CPD seminar at your workplace – get in touch with us via email: uksales@enwa.com.
Data Centre World
And if you’d like to meet our team to have a chat, we’ll be at Data Centre World, 12th and 13th March 2025 at London Excel on stand DC121
