For most data centers, cooling used to be pretty straightforward: A CRAC unit kept the server room cold enough that staff often wear sweaters to work no matter the outside temperature. But, the nature of data centers has changed significantly in the last decade. More applications require high-density cooling because rack densities continue to increase. The thermal design power (TDP) of chips has risen almost 50%, using more power and generating more heat.
In 2016, global data centers spent $8 billion to cool their data centers, and, if not kept in check, that is expected to reach $20 billion by 2024. This is due to the sheer amount of data being used and in need of a place to be stored: 175 zettabytes by 2025. So what is the best way to cool the data centers that are storing this mission critical information?