What’s ahead for the data center industry? We’ve identified eight themes that will shape the data center business in 2020. The big theme: data, data everywhere.
Insights: Data Center Energy
Electricity is the lifeblood of every data center. At Data Center Frontier, we're exploring new frontiers in data center energy as we see data centers in new places. Some of these new facilities will seek new sources of energy, especially renewable technologies such as wind and solar, as well as landfills and other sources of biogas. Other technologies, such as Bloom Energy fuel cells, may prompt consolidated approaches to power architecture.
We're interested in how modular data centers and other design innovations allow new methods of deploying Internet infrastructure, creating opportunities to make use of solar arrays, wind turbines, fuel cells, combined heat & power (CHP), microgrids, and the recycling of server exhaust heat to warm buildings through district heating.
Data Center Energy Demand Drives Move Toward Greener Sources
There is one thing the industry knows for sure. Data center energy usage has been on the way up — for years — and there are certainly no signs of this trend stopping. The priorities have become: No. 1, delivering lower emissions; and No. 2, the option of longer run times and fast-start natural gas generators. INNIO highlights in a new white paper how growing data center electricity demand has paved the way for a new generation of data center energy strategies.
DC Rectifiers Capable of Delievering 98% Energy Efficiency
Thanks to technology advancements and components such as gallium nitride (GaN) that enable ultra-high 98% efficiency and improved power densities, power loss can be reduced up to 50% compared to 96% efficient rectifiers. That’s according to a new report from Vertiv that walks readers through a breakthrough in energy efficiency that has the potential to reduce power losses over a wide load range, working to optimize CAPEX and OPEX.
Understanding Power Consumption Can Lead to More Efficient Data Centers
How can understanding power consumption lead to a more efficient data center? The team at Raritan aims to answer that very question in a new report that explores power monitoring and metering in data centers.
Is A Data Center Disaster Inevitable? Lessons from the Nuclear Industry
Failures at nuclear energy plants offer valuable lessons for the data center industry, and could help reduce the risk of similar headline-making disasters, according to reliability expert Steve Fairfax, who spoke at the 7×24 Exchange Fall Conference.
Renewable Rooftops: Iron Mountain Plans Massive NJ Solar Array
Iron Mountain is building a 7.2 megawatt solar energy array on the roof of its massive data center building in Edison, N.J., which will be the largest rooftop solar deployment in the US data center industry.
Sustainable by Design: Vantage Adds Green Features in Northern Virginia
Are customer office space and sustainable design differentiators in a data center? Vantage Data Centers thinks so, offering spacious, sunlit break rooms, and sustainability features that combine solar and wind power, and EV charging stations.
Exploring the Lithium-Ion Battery as a Potential Replacement for Lead-Acid
Lead-acid batteries have been the go-to for default backup power for uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). But the tides may be turning with the growing popularity of lithion-ion batteries. A new report from Vertiv explores how the lithium-ion battery has reached a stage of maturity that is can be considered as a viable replacement for the lead-acid battery in UPS applications.
Digital Realty Lines Up Green Power, Property in Key Data Center Markets
Digital Realty has provisioned renewable energy to support its growing data center footprint in Northern Virginia, the latest in a series of moves to secure its competitive position in strategic markets.
Examining the Relationship Between Data Center PUE and Colocation TCO
Tim Mirick, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Sabey Data Centers, explores Green Grid’s Power Usage Efficiency within the data center industry. Greater facility efficiency and data center PUE are largely tied to colocation TCO.
Data Center Frontier is edited by Rich Miller, the data center industry’s most experienced journalist. For more than 15 years, Rich has profiled the key role played by data centers in the Internet revolution.