Intelligent CIO North America Issue 19 | Page 66

INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centers

Equinix and partners to test sustainable data center innovations

Leading partners join forces with Equinix to test sustainable data center innovations including fuel cell and liquid cooling technologies .

Equinix has announced the opening of its first Co-Innovation Facility ( CIF ), located in its DC15 International Business Exchange ( IBX ) data center at the Equinix Ashburn Campus in the Washington D . C . area .

A component of Equinix ’ s Data Center of the Future initiative , the CIF is a new capability that enables partners to work with Equinix on trialling and developing innovations . These innovations , such as identifying a path to clean hydrogen-enabled fuel cells or deploying more capable battery solutions , will be used to help define the future of sustainable digital infrastructure and services globally .
Sustainable innovations , including liquid cooling , high-density cooling , intelligent power management and on-site prime power generation , will be incubated in the CIF in partnership with leading data center technology innovators including Bloom Energy , Zutacore , Virtual Power Systems ( VPS ) and Natron .
• High-Density Liquid Cooling ( ZutaCore ) – Highly efficient , direct-onchip , waterless , two-phase liquid cooled rack systems , capable of cooling upwards of 100 kW per rack in a light , compact design . Eliminates risk of IT meltdown , minimizes use of scarce resources including energy , land , construction and water , and dramatically shrinks the data center footprint .
• Software-Defined Power ( VPS ) with cabinet-mounted Battery Energy Storage ( Natron Energy ) – Cabinet power management and battery energy storage system manages power draw and minimizes power stranding to near zero percent , leading to a potential 30 – 50 % improvement of power efficiency .
Deia Bayoumi , Vice President , Product Management , Bloom Energy , said : “ Bloom Energy ’ s clean , modular fuel cell technology is well-suited to meet the growing demand for clean and resilient power among data centers .
“ Building upon our continued collaboration with Equinix , we ’ re proud to bring our solution to the CIF and move the industry toward a more sustainable future . By generating power on-site with high levels of power availability and needed resiliency , data centers can take control of their sustainable energy needs .
“ Bloom ’ s technology eliminates reliance on electricity utilities to meet capacity requirements as well as highly pollutive diesel generators to provide backup power .”
Udi Paret , President , ZutaCore , said : “ ZutaCore is honored to be featured at the CIF and partner with Equinix to advance the proliferation of liquid cooling on a global scale . Together we aim to prove that liquid cooling is an essential technology in realizing fundamental business objectives for data centers of today and into the future . HyperCool liquid cooling solutions deliver unparalleled performance and sustainability benefits to directly address sustainability imperatives .” p
In collaboration with Equinix , these partners will test core and edge technologies with a focus on proving reliability , efficiency and cost to build . These include :
• Generator-less and UPS-less Data centers ( Bloom Energy ) – Utilizing on-site solid oxide fuel cells enables the data center to generate redundant cleaner energy on-grid , and potentially eliminates the need for fossil fuel-powered generators and power-consuming Uninterrupted Power Supply ( UPS ) systems .
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