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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: axial who wrote (42891)	6/26/2013 2:36:23 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Respond to of 46821

Interesting article, Jim. Thanks. Presently there exists a growing number of ideologies, or schools of thought, concerning cooling within data centers. As relates to the matter at hand (hot water cooling), aside from air-side economizers and open-window approaches, alternatives have ranged from board-level circulation, chip-level circulation, both proximity and direct contact, and even oil-dipped solutions, such as Plato posted here last year; see: Message 28382653 , plus alternatives I've not mentioned or even know about necessarily. Stakeholders in the data center cooling space abound. A partial list would include the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), architects and MEPs, vendors and their supply chain dependents (who populate ASHRAE's committees), end user organizations (who follow ASHRAE's recommendations)... by now you see where I'm going with this - and, other similar circles of influence, such as the EPA's Energy Star program, USGBC LEED, Uptime Institute, and so on. Each exhibits a kind of incestuous behavior, but all very necessary (or so it would seem, superficially, at least) in the absence of alternatives. But, even the absence of alternatives can be traced back to the enormous influence that these paradigms exert on end user organizations, who fear the possible recriminations that would ensue from a locally-designed point solution or anything that suggests true innovation of their own. Caveat: In order to be exempt from this you must be one of the largest of Big Box search/softwaredev/socialmedia outfits, who are frequently lauded in the trades and other forms of media for their ability to think outside the box. Hm.. The current trends to develop alternatives methods of data center climate management, in addition to increasing the permissible operating temperatures within data centers is causing not just a trifle of consternation among the HVAC community (vendors and end users alike, largely due to the amount of career-path building and relationship-building that has taken place in this space for the past few decades). At stake are the many billions of dollars that are spent annually, frequently on air conditioning capacity that isn't fully needed, or needed at all, and suddenly facing the threat of real competition from a nascent paradigm that generally eschews 20th Century solutions. I must get back to my work. Later! FAC ------

To: axial who wrote (42891)	6/26/2013 5:37:55 PM
From: P2V	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

Back To the Future: Having left the Main Frame environment about the time IBM (first) abandoned Water Cooled Big Iron, I find both your (Back to the Future) article, and IBM's return to same, interesting. IBM adds water cooling to mainframe Last water-cooled IBM mainframe computer family, the ES/9000, was unveiled in 1995 By Patrick Thibodeau \| Computerworld US \| Published: 11:46 GMT, 01 September 10 IBM next will will begin shipping a computer with something that customers have not seen in a new mainframe from the company since 1995 -- water cooling. The new mainframe, dubbed the zEnterprise 196 , can operate with up to 96 processors versus 64 in the System z10 mainframe using about the same amount of power. IBM credits the improved efficiency to an assortment of updates affecting how the new system uses its resources. Nonetheless, IBM saw fit to offer water cooling to help reduce overall data center cooling needs. The zEnterprise 196 doesn't include the built-in, integrated water cooling systems of old, said Jim Porell, an IBM distinguished engineer who works on the zSeries. Instead, the company is offering users an optional water cooled heat exchanger. "It's actually kind of back to the future," said Porell, of the water option. The last line of IBM mainframes that had built-in water cooling was the ES/9000 family. Porell said the optional water cooling system can improve overall environmental needs by about 12%, which may help some IT managers " squeeze the last piece of floor space in before they go buy a new data centre," said Porell. Water is more efficient than air in removing heat, he added. The mainframe quad core 5.2-GHz chip, which IBM claims is the world's fastest processor, also runs a little hotter than the previous 4.4-GHz mainframe quad processor, said Porell. IBM's return to liquid cooling began in 2005 with the release of eServer Rear Door Heat eXchanger for its increasingly dense blade servers. But that technology was also optional add-on for user. In April, 2008, IBM introduced a water-cooled supercomputer, the Power 575, which runs with Power6 chip. That system uses water-chilled copper plates located above each microprocessor. IBM's mainframe chip development continues to head in the direction of higher clock speed, and Porell declined to speculate on what the limit may be. IBM's mainframe chip was designed by the company in Poughkeepsie, NY, and is manufactured East Fishkill, NY. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- news.techworld.com