Isilon Adopts ColdWatt Power Supplies

ColdWatt's 650W power conversion products will be used by Isilon Systems in its new X-Series IQ clustered storage systems, the companies announced today. ColdWatt makes digitally controlled power supplies designed to proivde power density and high efficiency. ColdWatt is baed in Austin, and is a spinoff from Rockwell Scientific.

"Because ColdWatt's power supply is double the power density and significantly higher efficiency than our previous solution, we were able to deliver our new X-Series storage nodes that provide up to 60 percent improvement in throughput for data write and random access while saving approximately 18 percent of overall power consumption," said Brett Goodwin, vice president of Marketing and Business Development, Isilon Systems. "This reduction in power translates to real savings for our customers where they can either lower their electric bill or add more storage with a smaller power footprint in energy constrained environments."

ColdWatt says its digital power conversion products generate 45 percent less heat, which results in 30 percent less overall server power consumption (once cooling costs are factored into the equation). ColdWatt says it accomplishes these gains through "proprietary magnetics technology to increase energy storage and digital control to achieve higher efficiency and flexibility."

"Our work with Isilon demonstrates the positive impact ColdWatt's energy-efficient power supplies can have on the development of higher performance yet greener solutions and total cost of ownership," said ColdWatt CEO Joe Lamoreux. "Specifically, our 650W power supply delivers 90 percent power conversion efficiency, which is 30 percent more efficient than the previous platform's power supply used by Isilon."

ColdWatt has received $31.5 million in venture funding from backers including Austin Ventures, Global Technology Investments, Matrix Partners, RRE Ventures and Rockwell.