TECHNOLOGY
“ For a long time , we have recognised the need to produce more efficient data centres with lower and lower PUE and WUE designs ”
DARREN WATKINS , MANAGING DIRECTOR , VIRTUS DATA CENTRES
managed to exceed industry averages . Most new builds , he notes , fall “ between 1.2x and 1.4x .”
Cooling is one of the areas where VIRTUS has been leading the UK market for a number of years . “ We had our first liquidcooled customer racks back in 2015 , but there are also key design elements with regards to air flow management , too ,” says Watkins . VIRTUS has been operating its LONDON2 facility ( certified to UTI Tier III ) using exclusively indirect evaporative cooling technology since 2014 . They were the first wholesale data centre in the UK to cool a data centre in this manner . “ This produces better PUE statistics in comparison to traditional HVAC systems ,” says Watkins , who adds that VIRTUS is continually exploring new technologies that may produce even better results , including direct-to-chip liquid cooling , which he explains “ can offer some of the lowest PUEs possible , as the temperature at which they operate means that no mechanical or adiabatic cooling would be required .”
Watkins also argues that more powerful technologies and their impact on power consumption may not have the direct causational effect that you ’ d initially expect . “ More compute power may seem like it will result in significantly more power usage , but in fact , as it uses and produces higher temperatures , in practice this leads to greater efficiency - not only in PUE but also in other resources ,” Watkins explains . “ Higher powered compute often uses greater intelligence in its software , so there is an opportunity to innovate further to lower the PUE even more . In the future , it may even mean that this kind of software
102 October 2021