GRC (Green Revolution Cooling), has announced the launch of its Immersion Cooling Pilot Program, a ‘try before you buy’ offering that allows data centre owners and operators to deploy an ICEraQ Series 10 liquid immersion cooling system on a trial basis. The program begins immediately and invites prospective buyers to test the technology with their own hardware in their own operation or at a GRC facility.
According to GRC, many data centres are hesitant to make the initial investment in single-phase, immersion cooling. The Immersion Cooling Pilot Program allows them to examine the technology and confirm its inherent benefits, such as cutting power usage in half, reducing carbon footprint, and extending the life of ITE, prior to committing to its adoption.
“A common concern expressed by prospective customers interested in the technology is, ‘I think it will be difficult to convince the decision-makers, the people who write the cheques, to make a transition to immersion’,” said Larry Kosch, director of product marketing at GRC. “This new program will help organisations validate the cost and energy savings, as well as the other benefits of liquid immersion cooling.”
The two available testing options are designed to provide flexibility to prospective customers. Option one allows end-users to send samples of their equipment to a GRC facility where GRC technicians will conduct testing using a Series 10 system. This hands-off approach requires a minimal time commitment from the operator.
Option two sees GRC install a Series 10 in an end user’s facility for testing. This option allows the operator to gain hands-on experience in their own environment while evaluating immersion, while also providing peace of mind to security-sensitive organisations. The system will be installed so as not to disrupt normal data centre operations.
Both options include running a standard battery of tests, as well as customer-specified testing points, to demonstrate how immersion technology can successfully cool their IT gear.
The trial program allows prospective buyers to experience immersion cooling and its associated results in a low-risk way. “Immersion cooling has the power to simplify and reduce the cost of cooling systems for new and existing data centre sites. They can even install it in their own living room if they really want to, provided they have got the power and water,” said Jim Weynand at GRC.
The announcement comes on the heels of GRC’s recent collaboration with Intel and its deployment of the ICEraQ Series 10 to one of the most powerful university supercomputers in the United States.
