END USER INSIGHT
High-performance computers are
predominantly used at the EPFL to
provide the capacity required for
scientific calculations. future, enabling them to produce creative
approaches to many current challenges,
in areas such as mobility, urban planning,
technology and science etc.
While the EPFL’s budget for new high-
performance computers has remained the
same over recent years, providers have
nevertheless increased the capacity of
their products in the data centre. Students not only acquire new knowledge
but also manage their own projects together
with the professors. Measurements,
evaluations and findings – all of this data
has to be stored, processed and retained.
As a result, the power density per
square metre has risen and the existing
ventilation-cooling systems have not been
able to keep pace with this growth. Applications, programs and databases
enrich and simplify the work of students
and professors but at the same time
means greater complexity for IT.
A new, intelligent solution capable of
adequately cooling the eight-point grid
systems was therefore required. The upshot is a massive amount of
data which lays the foundation for new
discoveries. The EPFL operates its own data
centres to meet the growing requirements.
Challenges and objectives
Increasing data and computation
capacities require higher power density
of high-performance computers, greater
energy efficiency and cooling solutions
that occupy less space.
The EPFL’s image is one of a university
that educates the brightest minds of the
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Issue 09
of which is used for the processing and
storage of data and the other as back-up.
He had previously relied on a circulation
cooling system. Water from Lake Geneva
was used to cool down the air which
in turn cooled the racks. However, this
solution only produced eight to ten kW per
rack whereas 30 kW per rack was required
for high-performance computers. This
system also took up too much space at
the data centre.
Boisseau contacted the experts at Vertiv
– which was called Knürr at the time –
about the new racks to be integrated into
the new data centre. The cooling options
were also discussed. It soon became
apparent that Vertiv’s racks could provide
a space-saving cooling solution with the
cooling output required.
The server capacity of the two existing
data centres has been increasingly
expanded over recent years which
eventually placed too much strain on the
cooling solutions. The concept: Water cooling of
the racks with the Knürr DCD air-
water cooling doors from Vertiv
In 2011, the EPFL decided to build
another data centre to keep pace with
the increasing volumes of data. Boisseau
began to look for a new cooling solution
for the two existing data centres, one Boisseau initially thought that two
different solutions would be needed
to meet the individual power density
requirements in the racks. This is because,
www.intelligentdatacentres.com