IBM introduced the "Cool Blue," a water-based cooling technology aimed to reduce the heat produced by large x86 server racks.
The "Cool Blue," a technology component that can use the existing chilled water
supply for air conditioning systems already located in the majority of customer
datacenters to reduce server heat emissions by up to 55 percent.
"Cool Blue" can be deployed on any server, enabling customers to ease the
burden on existing air conditioning units and potentially lower energy costs by
up to 15 percent.
Designed to easily fit on to the IBM eServer Enterprise rack, "Cool Blue," or
the IBM eServerTM Rear Door Heat eXchangerTM as it is officially termed, is
designed to help customers whose datacenters have reached the limits of cooling
capacity, but still have space to add racks of systems. The improved cooling
from the Heat eXchanger enables customers to fully populate individual racks,
freeing valuable floor space without the need to purchase additional air
conditioning units. The Heat eXchanger can also alleviate the issues caused by
other vendors' servers in the datacenter where the customer might have cooling
challenges.
"IBM has been addressing the cooling needs of customer datacenters for years
and the new 'Cool Blue' technology is a giant leap forward in overcoming
previously insurmountable air conditioning limitations," said Rod Adkins, vice
president of development, IBM Systems and Technology Group. "As customers try
to incorporate more processing power into the same datacenter footprint, this
breakthrough technology will help them win the war on heat."
HypoVereinsbank, the second largest bank in Germany, selected the Heat
eXchanger to reduce heat temperature in their High Performance Computing
environment.
Inside the door of the Heat eXchanger, sealed tubes filled with circulating
chilled water effectively remove up to 55 percent of the heat generated in a
fully populated rack and dissipate it so it is not released into the
datacenter. In fact, the Heat eXchanger can remove up to 50,000 BTU of heat
generated by a full server rack, based on total rack output.
The updated IBM eServer Cluster 1350 system will be one of the first eServer
technologies to deliver support for the Heat eXchanger.
The Heat eXchanger can be easily installed by customers and moved to different
racks to address changing cooling requirements. Its design uses standard
fittings and couplings and, because there are no moving or electrical parts,
helps increase reliability. It can be opened like any rear cover, so
serviceability of racks fitted with a Heat eXchanger is as easy as a standard
air cooled rack.
Pricing and availability
The IBM eServer Heat eXchanger is generally available today, with pricing
starting at $4,299 in the United States. The Heat eXchanger is also available
as part of the Cluster 1350, with prices varying per the configuration of the
cluster.