Consensus weakens on rack density tipping point for DLC

Cooling still holds significant untapped efficiencies in data centers, second only to IT and its limited integration with facilities. Despite the industry’s recognized need for efficiency and sustainability, improvements in thermal management practices have been cautiously incremental. Most of these efforts have focused on optimizing heat rejection equipment design and operations, such as elevating supply and return temperatures and maximising economization hours.

When it comes to cooling IT hardware, not much has changed in decades — inefficient but simple appears to be the winning formula over efficient but complex. Air-cooled IT hardware, while relatively inefficient in removing the highly concentrated heat of modern data center silicon, is easier to procure, deploy and operate. As a result, air’s continued predominance over liquids as a medium to cool IT electronics remains a major barrier to improving overall energy performance. As for the more efficient alternative, direct liquid cooling (DLC) continues to be hampered by design, procurement and operational complexities, largely stemming from a lack of industry standards.