August 20, 2014 - Volta Data Centres developer and operator of central London's newest purpose-designed, carrier-neutral data centre, today announces the deployment of its specially developed row-based cooling system at its Great Sutton Street (GSS) data centre. This modular system provides unmatched levels of flexibility and scalability, meaning it can cool high density racks adjacent to traditional racks whilst also improving energy efficiency.
At the forefront of cooling technology, Volta is redefining the boundaries and managing the heat at source – an internal plenum, or air corridor, captures the rejected heat, isolating the exhausted hot air from the cold supply, which is injected into the cold aisles. The unique cooling system also boasts an embedded, self-protecting 'hive' logic, which means that each cooler continually monitors adjacent units for faults, automatically adjusting up to full capacity to protect the space and hardware.
The system allows both Volta and its customers to monitor the intake temperatures, discharge temperatures, peak loads and fan speeds in real-time. With ever advancing server technology, this row-based cooling capability is future-proofing Volta GSS, ensuring that it can easily scale up to meet increasing density requirements.
Matthew Dent, CEO, Volta Data Centres, explains, "At times when it's exceptionally hot, it is especially vital that our client's equipment stays cool. Failure to achieve sufficient air distribution can threaten the performance of mission-critical equipment, which could have a serious impact on business performance."
In addition, due to the modular approach of the system, Volta is able to replace cooling units within minutes rather than hours, significantly reducing the risk of damage and ensuring that all racks are kept at the optimal temperature.
Dent concludes, "Our state-of-the-art row-based cooling system has resilience of N+1 per unit and uses 42% less fan power than the standard CRAC units you see in most facilities. This is a real advantage for us. It means we can reduce our power-consumption to help meet our environmental responsibilities, whilst also providing our customers with the quality of service and risk assurance they expect from a Central London data centre."
