Dell and Emerson Look to Keep Cool

Dell and Emerson Network Power are teaming up to cool down data centers.

The two companies announced a joint agreement June 28 that will combine Dells energy efficient PowerEdge servers with Emersons Liebert XD and Liebert DS cooling systems. The results of the partnership, according to the executives with both companies, are data centers with lower power consumption, better cooling and savings for the customer.

Jon Weisblatt, a senior manager with Dells Commercial Marketing Group, said that by combining technology from the two companies, a data center could see as much as an 80 percent increase in performance with a 42 percent reduction in power.

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A common concern Dell hears from small and midsize businesses, as well as enterprise businesses, Weisblatt said, is that the data center has reached full capacity, and adding another server means removing one from rack. In addition, many data centers have reached the limit in terms of power supplies and ability to keep the equipment cool.

"A lot of what they are talking about is about simplifying the data center," Weisblatt said. "There are a lot of channels for companies to look at when they want to get more performance per square foot. What we are offering is not only savings, but also better computing performance in a better thermal envelope and it also allows companies to free up resources instead of planning for the next data center expansion."

Issues of power and cooling continue to be a major concern for IT workers as the cost of electricity increases and more hardware is crammed into every available space. On Feb 15, a report by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., found that the amount of electricity used in the worlds data centers could double in the next five years as demands for more Internet services increases the number of servers needed by companies.

Click here to read more about the Lawrence Berkeley report.

For Emerson, Thursdays announcement was the second this week to involve a top-tier OEM that is looking for different ways to offer customers data center efficiency. On June 25, Emerson, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, inked an agreement with Sun Microsystems to offer thermal assessments to customers.

Under the agreement with Sun, Emerson engineers will evaluate up to 5,000 square feet of a companys data center. After the first 5,000 square feet, Emerson will then charge the customer for any other assessments. Company officials did not have additional specifics on price.

As part of the agreement, Sun will validate, test and deploy Emersons cooling products, including the Liebert XD, a technology that provides cooling either overhead or through a server rack by using high-efficiency pumped refrigerant.

Hewlett-Packard is also looking to cool the data center. Click here to find out more.

Fred Stack, vice president of Emersons Liebert Environmental Solutions, said that by using refrigerant the Liebert XD system is more efficient at removing heat from the data center than methods that use either air or water.

In addition to Sun, Dell will also use the Liebert XD system. Dell, which is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, will offer Lieberts DS system, which uses a series of Digital Scroll compressors to control cooling and humidity in the data center.

The services that Emerson is offering through Dell and Sun are now available.

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