Syska Hennessy has unveiled a unique design for cooling
datacentres that will allow companies to pack far more servers into
a datacentre space.
The engineering, technology and construction company is aiming
the system, known as SmartServer Solution, at online banking and
trading datacentres, or any centralised facility for the rapid
transfer of large amounts of data.
Based on a new way of thinking about air pressure and airflow
design, the technology permits more servers per square foot than
previous configurations, allowing users to site as many as 42
servers in a rack space that up to now could house only 24.
According to Syska senior consultant Jun Yang, the company has
used computational fluid dynamic analysis for room and server
modelling. This has allowed it to configure the normal cooling
elements currently available in datacentres in a more efficient
way.
For example, Yang said that data centres typically placed the
hottest equipment closest to the air conditioning, but that this
was a mistake.
"The air closer to the AC unit moves faster and can create a
negative pressure, resulting in very little air coming out of the
floor vent," Yang said.
In a standard datacentre 1,460 servers require 353 racks and
8,800 square feet, and generate 90W per square foot. The company
says that SmartServer needs only 34 racks and 1,664 square feet for
the same number of servers generating 315W per square foot.
At a rental cost of $25 (£14) per square foot per year, a space
reduction from 8,800 square feet to 1,664 square feet would
produce an annual saving of $178,000 (£98,000).
Syska's SmartServer is available now. The company will design
new facilities or renovate old ones.
Ephraim Schwartz writes for InfoWorld