Intelligent Data Centres Issue 82 | Page 24

BY ADOPTING AI-READY RACK DIMENSIONS, DATA CENTRE ENGINEERS CAN FUTURE-PROOF DEPLOYMENTS, REDUCING THE NEED FOR COSTLY EXPANSIONS AND EQUIPMENT OVERHAULS IN THE COMING YEARS. panels and precision airflow containment to maximise cooling performance while minimising wasted energy.
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BY ADOPTING AI-READY RACK DIMENSIONS, DATA CENTRE ENGINEERS CAN FUTURE-PROOF DEPLOYMENTS, REDUCING THE NEED FOR COSTLY EXPANSIONS AND EQUIPMENT OVERHAULS IN THE COMING YEARS. panels and precision airflow containment to maximise cooling performance while minimising wasted energy.
The volume of AI cabling creates significant challenges; how does AIready cabinet design mitigate the risk of cable obstruction impacting airflow and serviceability? more than 10x the power draw of a conventional server rack. Traditional air-cooling methods, while effective for standard loads, are often insufficient to handle the demands of AI compute clusters.
A modern AI-ready rack must integrate with the most advanced cooling strategies. Solutions such as rear door heat exchangers, liquid cooling manifolds and hot / cold aisle containment systems have become essential components of AI infrastructure. Without proper cooling integration, hardware runs the risk of thermal throttling, reducing computational efficiency and increasing downtime. Engineers must ensure that rack designs are optimised for airflow and energy efficiency, with features such as sealed cable entry points,
One of the most overlooked challenges in AI data centre design is the sheer volume of cabling required – often four- to five-times more than traditional deployments – to support highbandwidth networking. Unlike traditional architectures, AI clusters rely on dense, high-speed inter-server connectivity such as NVLink, InfiniBand, or 400G Ethernet. This creates a complex web of east-west traffic that must be carefully planned and managed.
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