BT Group demonstrated a line-up of technologies being trialled to minimise the environmental impact of the energy used in data centres, partnering with hardware vendors to deploy liquid cooling systems for its IT and network equipment.
During an innovation tour at a sustainability event in Ipswich yesterday (13 September), BT showcased several liquid cooling technologies it is exploring as the operator looks to replace traditional systems it currently uses.
Notably, the operator highlighted a fully immersive liquid cooling tank for network equipment developed by Immersion4, a Switzerland-based company specialising in liquid cooling technologies for data centres. Shane Allum, innovation specialist at BT’s applied research unit (pictured, left), pitched the
method as a more cost- and time-effective alternative to air-based cooling or the installation of pipelines.
The mock-up of the cooling equipment involves an HP compute x86 server being immersed in the tank, and Allum explained users can take out the fan in any electronic equipment and plunge it into the dielectronic fluid to remove heat without it conducting any electricity at all.
Elsewhere in the showcase, Allum pointed to a precision liquid cooling system by UK-based Iceotope Technologies and featured Juniper Networks’ QFX Series Switches, an equipment BT claimed is already widely used for cloud architectures.
Other data centre cooling technologies demonstrated during the event included equipment which automatically sprays coolant on hardware, and an immersive system by Peasoup Cloud, which BT claimed can reduce energy consumption by 20 per cent.
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