Vertiv, formerly Emerson Network Power, has announced at Datacloud Europe the extension of its partnership with IXcellerate. The Russian data centre provider recently launched the third expansion of its Moscow One campus, creating one of the largest data halls in Russia. Vertiv has been a technology partner for IXcellerate since 2013, providing thermal management products, including refrigerant gas-based CRAC units as well as free cooling chillers. For its latest phase of expansion, IXcellerate selected Liebert AFC adiabatic free cooling chillers. It also deployed the Liebert PDX with Vertiv EconoPhase, an air-cooled direct expansion system with a refrigerant pumping module to allow a shift from compressor to economiser mode when conditions suit. Cooling typically accounts for 40% of energy consumption within data centres, but this combination of technology is claimed to allow up to a 50% reduction in energy consumption compared to a conventional air-cooled unit, and partial power usage effectiveness (pPUE) levels as low as 1.05.
The equipment deployed for IXcellerate also extends beyond critical thermal management to the provision of high-performance Liebert EXL S1 Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS). These units are reported to offer double conversion efficiency of up to 97% and up to 99% in ECO mode, as well as optimised efficiency at partial load. The Liebert EXL S1 is also compatible with modern lithium-ion batteries – which was key to IXcellerate’s decision to select Vertiv.
“Lithium-ion batteries used in UPS promise benefits including significantly smaller and lighter footprints, faster charge/discharge rates, and higher energy density compared to traditional valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) batteries,” says Jeffrey Fidacaro, senior analyst at 451 Research. “Deploying lithium-ion should allow IXcellerate to maximise its available white space for customer equipment. IXcellerate will also benefit from lithium-ion’s longer battery life, ability to operate in a wider temperature range and lower maintenance relative to lead-acid. 451 Research expects these features could provide significant savings on cooling and an overall improved total cost of ownership (TCO) for data centre applications.”
Dmitry Fokin, managing director at IXcellerate stated: “We have been impressed with the Vertiv thermal management and UPS solutions installed at IXcellerate Moscow One data centre. Paired with an extremely competitive TCO, our data hall has seen no downtime since its commissioning. Vertiv allows us to reinforce our reputation as a first-class data centre operator and will continue to provide us with a strong competitive edge in Russia.”
