Dell gets hot over refrigerant

Ich liebe Liebert

By Ashlee Vance in Mountain View • Get more from this author

Posted in Servers, 3rd July 2007 00:52 GMT

Doing its best to imitate The Fonz, Dell has formed an exclusive partnership with data center cooling specialist Liebert to put your boxes on ice.

Okay, sure, The Fonz wouldn't have wasted his time talking about CRAC units and maximizing air flow. Server vendors, however, sure think cooling data centers is hip. So, we find Dell marrying its sales force with Liebert, a unit of Emerson Network Power.

Liebert has actually worked with a number of server vendors in the past, including IBM and Dell, on custom projects. But now Dell is getting more serious about the relationship and it is putting some serious muscle into selling Liebert technology.

At the heart of the companies' relationship is Liebert's XD or Xtreme Density product line. These Liebert systems allow you to attach refrigerating systems to a server rack from a variety of angles and cool the warm air produced by server hardware. You'll find a list of all the XD configurations here.

We're told that customers will see up to an 80 per cent boost in overall performance and a 42 per cent reduction in facility power by equipping Dell servers with the cooling system. The companies also argue that you can cram more servers into your existing data center by going toward this technology.

Shelling out for the Liebert gear does add considerable cost to a data center, according to Liebert VP Fred Stack. The company, however, maintains that you'll see payback for the investment within a year due to lower energy costs.

We've heard very positive things about the Liebert technology from those involved with building massive scale data centers, for what it's worth. ®

Free report. "Comparing Data Center Batteries, Flywheels, and Ultracapacitors: What is the best energy storage for you?"