International News
IMMERSION COOLING
TECHNOLOGY
By Rich Miller , Data Center Frontier
Microsoft is seeking better ways to manage powerful new AI hardware in its cloud computing operation , and focusing on immersion cooling technology used in bitcoin mining as the most promising technology for future highdensity data centres .
The company is test-driving a setup in which servers are dunked in tanks of cooling fluid to manage rising heat densities . Citing the need to prepare for more powerful new chips and rising rack densities .
“ We ’ ve been investigating how we can achieve better cooling efficiency , and liquid cooling is what we ’ ve been focusing on ,” said Mark Russinovich , the chief technology officer of Microsoft ’ s Azure Cloud , in a presentation at Microsoft Ignite . “ Where we ’ re headed in our data centres is two-phase liquid cooling , and we ’ ve made a ton of progress down this path .”
Microsoft showed off a cooling lab where it is cooling servers inside a two-phase immersion system from Allied Control , which is owned by bitcoin mining specialist Bitfury , which uses the design to support power densities of up to 250kW per rack . Immersion can deliver exceptional power efficiency because it uses sealed tanks that don ’ t require the raised floors or room-level air cooling found in most commercial data centres .
That ’ s appealing to the Microsoft team , which likes the potential economic gains from packing more compute into a smaller amount of real estate .
“ How do we pack and leverage the floor space in our data centres more efficiently ?” Russinovich asked . “ If we ’ re air cooling them , which is the way we ’ re cooling these data centres today , we ’ ve got to leave hot air aisles and cool air aisles and have huge HVAC systems that are pumping air in and out of the data center . It ’ s a large use of space .”
“ Liquid cooling affects the whole ecosystem ,” said Husam Alissa , a principal engineer in Microsoft ’ s liquid cooling lab . “ When you take a look at the data centre and the server and the sustainability promise that Microsoft is making , liquid cooling can help us get there faster . With liquid cooling , we can have higher density racks that could lead to smaller data centre footprint , and lower their centre energy consumption from the mechanical cooling perspective , and also from the server perspective , because we could also reduce or remove the fans from the servers .”
Microsoft
Bubbles rise from servers insider a tank of cooling liquid in the Microsoft lab ., where the company is testing two-phase liquid cooling technology .
MICROSOFT MOONSHOTS COULD TRANSFORM THE DATA CENTRE The liquid cooling research is one of many ways that Microsoft is testing new technologies that could radically change data centres . As the largest player in the market for leased data centre space , Microsoft ’ s decisions on its core server , power and cooling technologies could have outsized influence in the data centre industry . These moonshots and science experiments are in various phases of deployment , but make it clear that Microsoft is preparing to build a very different kind of future cloud as it seeks to meet aggressive carbon reduction goals .
These initiatives include :
• Underwater data centres for edge computing scenarios , complete with controlled environments that may also extend the life of servers , bring benefits to data centre economics .
• The use of hydrogen fuel cells to power its data centre servers , a first step toward adopting new technologies to fulfil its pledge to eliminate the use of diesel fuel in its emergency power systems
• Data storage using DNA and holograms to house massive amounts of data , and infrastructure that could disrupt how data centers are designed and operate .
• Containerized data modules that use satellite broadband connectivity , allowing capacity to be deployed in geographies with no fibre infrastructure .
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