Speaking of data centers, I was delighted to read this morning of a partnership between IBM and Indian bank Kotak.
According to the release, IBM is helping the bank consolidate its server rooms into one data center and Kotak will save:
over US$1.2 million in operational efficiency and reduced energy costs over the next five years
I’d like to see some of the calcs behind those data – $1.2m over five years sounds low to me unless it is a modest data center.
Intriguingly, the release refers to:
a chilled water-based cooling and an automatic floor pressurization system
If that is water cooled servers (as opposed to water cooled air handling units) then this is nice. I’d love to know what an ” automatic floor pressurization system” system is. Anyone know? My guess is that it is something for maintaining underfloor airflow integrity but if it is that, then it sounds like traditional air cooled servers, not water cooled 🙁
Hello? Anyone from IBM have any more info on this?
Tom – the benefit in operational efficiency and reduction in energy costs are based on the savings gained by the use of the air cooled chiller system rather than a conventional DX based system. This particular installation does not include, at this point, water cooled servers although they are readily available. It is based on an active solution. The floor tiles will vary the amount of air passing though to maintain the correct pressure. This uses active floor tiles combined with an automatic floor pressurisation system. This system maintains the cooling air flow at a constant pressure dependant on the load condition on each rack. The floor tiles are a standard size. Hope this helps, get in touch if you need anything else.