As data centres address more expansive and unique challenges , so too must their power distribution equipment meet those performance needs . Server cabinets and racks , even individual server units , need to be designed for maximum adaptability to the everchanging power consumption requirements of their unique and demanding environments . Marc Cram , Director of New Market Development at Legrand , tells us more .
hether dedicated to supercomputing or Artificial
W Intelligence , data centres are by their very nature unique in form factor and physical architecture . Sometimes they ’ ll fit into an existing building on campus , with a retrofit of new infrastructure to support the additional demands placed on the power and cooling systems of the facility .
Other times they ’ re installed in an entirely new facility designed expressly for housing the machinery . In both instances , administrators must find custom solutions for delivering power , cooling , networking and so forth .
On the other hand , Edge Computing is designed to put applications and data closer to devices – and their users . But it brings a different set of challenges than the massive data centres used in supercomputing and AI applications . Space is a significant one in many cases ; smaller enclosures mean even less space for the power distribution equipment . Because Edge Computing takes place remotely , you need to validate remote connectivity and possibly remediate any issues .
Data centres require power and lots of it
It ’ s as simple as that . The design of data centres has always required solving how to feed their power needs and distributing the electrical power once it ’ s in the facility . Some of the world ’ s largest data centres can each contain many tens of thousands of IT devices and require
About Marc Cram
Marc Cram is Director of New Market Development for
Legrand ’ s Data , Power and Control Division , which includes the Raritan and Server Technology brands . A technology evangelist , he is driven by a passion to deliver a positive power experience for the data centre owner / operator . He earned a bachelor ’ s degree in electrical engineering from Rice University and has more than 30 years of experience in the field of electronics .
more than 100 MW of power capacity – enough to power around 80,000 US households ( U . S . DOE 2020 ).
With this immense power consumption demand comes the challenge of managing power distribution on a more granular level . Off-the-shelf and semicustom solutions for remote access , power and white space infrastructure satisfy the needs of most enterprise and SMB data centre applications . More expansive and complex data centres often use similar solutions . However , the need for ongoing improvements in efficiency and sustainability leads many HPC installations , AI applications , hyperscale data centres and telecom operators to seek novel custom solutions to layout , power density , cooling and connectivity .
The know-how you need to power the most challenging environments
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