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Equinix, the world’s largest data center hosting company, is gradually promoting the use of liquid cooling technology at its Latin American sites, BNamericas has learned.
Currently, the implementation of new technologies is still in its early stages. But the guideline is that all new sites in large markets such as Brazil be ready to support these technologies, which are considered best suited for cooling genAI and high-performance computers.
“In traditional data centers, it is more difficult to adopt immersion liquid cooling technology because of its infrastructure,” Equinix Brazil CEO Victor Arnaud told BNamericas during a visit to the company’s SP3 enterprise data center in Santana do Parnaíba, São Paulo state.
Liquid immersion cooling involves immersing computer components or entire servers in a liquid that conducts heat rather than electricity.
In December, Equinix announced plans to expand support for advanced liquid cooling technology to its more than 100 International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers located in more than 45 metropolitan areas around the world. The process will be gradual.
IBX is an Equinix data center for general enterprises, not for very large-scale data centers.
strength
Cooling is the largest power consumer in a data center, and electricity is the largest cost in a data center.
As processing machines become more powerful, they emit more heat and consume more energy, and this equation becomes more challenging.
Liquid cooling technology is not new, but it has gained momentum with the widespread adoption of more powerful, energy-dense machines.
Today, data center rack power densities tend to be 10-15KW. However, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing are expected to require rack densities as high as 100KW.
Additionally, in addition to AI-driven increases in processing and power consumption, large data center customers are demanding facilities that increase resource efficiency and minimize environmental impact.
Equinix’s SP3 is designed with 12MW power IT capacity and has a PUE (power usage efficiency) ratio of 1.39 during operation, which is considered quite low and efficient.
PUE evaluates the energy efficiency of a data center by calculating total energy usage compared to the energy used by IT equipment alone. It varies based on the data center, its design and occupancy, as well as other factors including location and external temperature.
In terms of energy supply, Equinix said that 100% of the energy consumed by its data centers in Latin America comes from renewable energy and is supported by renewable energy certificates.
Arnold said the company “still” has no power purchase agreements (PPAs) to directly supply wind or solar in Latin America. Globally, the company reported more than 20 power purchase agreements, mainly in Europe.
supplier
Equinix’s two main energy efficiency solution providers are Vertiv and Schneider Electric. Other suppliers include ABB, Eaton, Siemens and Thermomatic. Structured cabling is mainly provided by Furukawa.
Equinix’s active Latin America data center portfolio includes a total of 17 facilities. These cities are São Paulo (5), Santiago (4), Rio de Janeiro (2), Mexico City (2), Bogota (2), Lima (1) and Monterrey (1).
Equinix isn’t the only company turning to liquid cooling. Scala Data Center, Ascenty and Odata are also taking the first steps in the field of liquid cooling technology in Latin America.
Overall, the global data center liquid cooling market was estimated to be worth $4.5 billion last year and is expected to reach nearly $40 billion by 2033.
One eye on artificial intelligence
Equinix is following the debate over the regulation of artificial intelligence in Latin America, particularly in Brazil, and discussions about local data storage or so-called data sovereignty in each country.
“Most of the data is already here [in Brazil, for example]. But let’s consider that data from our customers is being processed abroad. Data sovereignty laws mean that this data is also processed locally. Therefore, our customers require more capacity from us. It’s good for business,” Arnold said.
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