Guiding questions for liquid-cooled colocation planning

Many organizations deploy their liquid-cooled high-density IT in colocation data centers — and in the next few years, this demand is likely to grow. Providers planning to offer “liquid-ready” colocation capacity often need to plan to accommodate a varying (or uncertain) set of tenant cooling equipment and design specifications, as well as changes to operational procedures. The corresponding service level agreements (SLAs) also need to be tailored to individual tenant needs.

Uptime Intelligence has received multiple inquiries for guidance on liquid-cooled colocation planning and has had in-depth briefings with colocation providers that currently accommodate direct liquid cooling (DLC). Colocation providers agree on the central questions that need to be addressed to support DLC in their facilities economically. However, concrete or quantitative answers to these questions often remain confidential — because of tenant agreements or to safeguard competitive advantage.