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An Update From the Liquid Cooling Work Group: First White Paper Published, New Work Kicks Off

Geoff Lyon

The Green Grid’s Liquid Cooling Work Group has been busy, and we are excited to share new work items, papers, and plans!

We have just put the finishing touches on a new white paper that explores the latest liquid cooling developments and related IT and facility considerations. (As a sneak peek: the term liquid cooling has been applied to many different types of data center cooling systems, but we need to standardize on a common lexicon when it comes to talking about liquid cooling.) The paper just published, so be sure to check the Library and Tools for access.

Outside of the new report, three liquid cooling trends we are keeping an eye on include:

  1. Interest is at an all-time high. The interest and activity for adoption of liquid cooling technologies in data centers is at a record high. We are seeing a tremendous amount of interest as organizations look to accommodate higher density compute platforms, face increased pressure to meet efficiency goals, and reduce their dependency on direct expansion cooling.
  2. Performance drivers are coming from the silicon industry. Today, the traditional realm of supercomputers has blurred significantly with the difference between a supercomputer cluster and a high-performance compute (HPC) cluster difficult to discern. This is because new, higher power chips are being created that once would have been classified as a supercomputer and can now be leveraged in the HPC realm.
  3. Higher density demand. We have been talking about higher density capacity for a long time, but have been unable to accommodate high-density racks with air cooling. As data demands increase and organizations look to build more ultra-high-density applications, finding a way to incorporate liquid cooling methodologies will be essential.

Think there are liquid cooling developments we should be tracking? Let us know, and we’ll take a look.

Up next, the Liquid Cooling Work Group will be examining best practices for fluid couplers, a step-by-step how-to on where to begin with liquid cooling, and building a total cost of ownership calculator tool for liquid-cooled data centers.

There is lots to be done! To participate in the work group, sign up today. And if you’re not yet a member of The Green Grid, join us!