Phase Change Cooling for Service Providers

In a typical data center power consumption profile, approximately 45% of data center power actually drives the IT load. The cooling infrastructure accounts for another 45% to keep the equipment cool. As such, cooling the equipment can be just as costly as the actual running of the IT equipment. With increased demands on data centers, cooling costs threaten to become an even larger portion of an organization’s operating expenses. This white paper from Alcatel-Lucent shows how to reduce cooling costs and substantially reduce energy expenses.

As service providers and other organizations take steps to ensure competitiveness in a challenging market, many are examining new approaches to data center cooling technology. Current heat exchange methods for cooling data centers are inherently inefficient in meeting the requirements imposed by today’s dense, high-speed computing equipment, and they can contribute considerable expense as well. By implementing a solution that aligns with a range of business initiatives — including cost-effective operation, optimization of energy efficiencies, reduced management complexity, and the need to meet green computing initiatives — service providers can address these
challenges and extend their competitive advantage.

This paper examines a new approach to data center cooling known as “phase change” or “two-phase” low-pressure pumped refrigerant cooling. It details the advantages of this approach over traditional computer room air conditioning (CRAC) methods, and it identifies the specific benefits — from lower OPEX and reduced energy requirements to optimized utilization of data center space — that service providers can realize. It also illustrates how, through innovative design, a refrigerant-based system can be deployed with minimal impact on present infrastructure, and it enumerates the advantages of an active refrigerant-based cooling approach over a passive energy-neutral design.

Read the full Alcatel-Lucent white paper to see how a phase change or “two-phase” data center cooling solution can help organizations:

• Decrease energy costs – due to the decreased need for supplemental air conditioning units;
• Maximize space utilization within the data center – by allowing more servers in each cabinet, more cabinets per data center
• Eliminate the need for hot and cold aisles and isolated high power cabinets/racks;
• Minimize the need for specially conditioned rooms for data centers; and
• Help address eco-sustainability requirements/issues
o Reduced carbon footprint
o Reduced energy consumption

Click here to download the white paper.