Cyber Security
Shaping the future of data centres A survey of data centres by Forbes Insights and Vertiv indicates that not all companies are prepared for our evolving data ecosystem. Just 29 per cent of the 150 business leaders and data centre engineers surveyed say that their facilities are meeting current needs, with only six per cent feeling that data centres were updated in time to meet future demands. The deluge of data that businesses rely on isn’t going to hold its floodgates any time soon, so how can we futureproof our data centres? Here John Young, APAC director at industrial equipment supplier EU Automation, investigates.
W By John Young
ith the world’s data set to grow to 175 zettabytes by 2025, data centres will continue to play a central role in the ingestion, computing, storage and management of our information. In the context of this growth, Forbes Insights’ and Vertiv’s survey data is worrying — how can data centre engineers keep pace with our data evolution?
Leaner and greener Current data centres aren’t renowned for their energy efficiency. Electricity consumption from China's data centre industry is on track to jump by two thirds over the next five years. By 2023, the sector is projected to consume 267 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity — more than Australia's total 2018 electricity consumption. Much of the energy data centres require comes from the need to keep their processors cool, which often uses ambient air-cooling with cold water-recirculation coolers. If data centres are cooled inefficiently, it can lead to high
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operational costs and unnecessary spending. Adopting improved cooling methods is therefore central to securing a bright future for data centres. For example, engineers can consider water cooling methods, which typically cost less and require fewer parts, to remove heat from the computer room air handler (CRAH). Glycol is another effective cooling option that uses a mixture of water and ethylene glycol, similar to anti-freeze for cars, to collect heat from the refrigerant and transport it away from the IT environment. Glycol pipes can run much longer distances than refrigerant lines and can service several CRAC units from one dry cooler and pump package. Another cooling option is an indirect air evaporative cooling system. This method uses outdoor air to indirectly cool data centre air when the temperature outside the centre is lower than the temperature set point of the IT inlet air. While this significantly improves energy savings, it may be difficult to retrofit this option onto an existing data centre. When selecting the most suitable cooling method, engineers must consider the location and current state of
