2967: HED's Cutting-Edge Technologies for Greener Data Centers

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_01]: How can the technology that drives our digital world be more environmentally friendly?

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Especially with the introduction of artificial intelligence, and we all know about the energy

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_01]: problem that that has beyond the scene. So today on Tech Talks Daily I want to dive into

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_01]: the future of sustainable data-scent design. And I've got a great guest, her name is Sarah

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Martin, and she's from a company called HED. And we're going to talk about how data centers

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_01]: are the backbone of our connected lives. But how they also made your energy consumers

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_01]: responsible for something like 1% of global electricity, loot, are and responsible for

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_01]: around 1% of global electricity usage. And Sarah will share her insights into making these

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_01]: facilities greener and more efficient. And also how they're using innovative techniques

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_01]: like modular systems and liquid cooling. And we're also exploring some best practices for ensuring

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_01]: scalability and flexibility in data-scent design, crucial for a commiting which is crucial

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_01]: for accommodating future technology growth. And again with the heavy usage of AI and how

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_01]: that's going to continue over the next two years. And Sarah will also discuss strategies

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: for preventing power failures and the emerging trends in data-scent a construction that

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: is seeing. We're currently producing something like 30 to 35 episodes every single month

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_01]: reaching around about 130 to 140,000 listeners around the world. So I wanted to mention

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[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_01]: kiteworks.com to get started. That's kiteworks.com to get started today. But enough rambling

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_01]: from me. Let's get today's guest on. So buckle up and hold on tight as I beam your ears

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_01]: all the way to Boston in the US where we're going to have a fascinating conversation that

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_01]: lives into how we can achieve sustainability without compromising performance.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_01]: So a massive welcome to the show. Can you tell everyone listening? I'll let you know

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_01]: who you are and what you do.

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey everyone, I'm Annem Sarmer. I work with HED as a specter leader. HED is a national architecture

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and engineering company. And the sector that I worked in is the group that designed data

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: centers for kind of a range of different clients all the way from hyper-scalers to multi-tenant

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: data centers and to the private data centers. We essentially work with anyone who's interested

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: in getting in the field to your very well expertise and growing innovative center portfolio

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: for years. Kind of that giant range of climate clients.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today. It feels like we're in somewhat

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_01]: of conflicting times at the moment. There's a lot of talk around green energy, especially

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_01]: around technology, but equally we're obsessed with AI and that's got a whole different

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_01]: energy problem. We'll take up an entire podcast episode on its own. But considering

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_01]: the significant energy consumption by data centers globally, which is only going to increase,

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_01]: can you tell me a little bit about some of the innovative strategies that you've employed

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_01]: at HED to design these greener and more energy efficient data centers? Because it's so

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: topic. I'm not planning to end with data centers, but one of the things that we really

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: try to do not only in the HED, but the industry is trying to educate people because, fortunately,

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a little bit of a misnomer of the like, oh, if you've data center, do you think

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_00]: all this power? But lack of understanding of what why does that data center exist? And

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_00]: utilization of Netflix, TikTok, scrolling through Instagram, all those live somewhere, right?

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_00]: So they live in these massive, eventually computers that are called data centers. And

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: what we do at the company is we look toward obviously to design it, press what the client

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: standard are, but how do we try to find more efficient, whether being new technologies,

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_00]: more efficient, layouts that result in smaller building footprints, which then saves you on

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_00]: fuel, concrete, etc. Kind of across the board create a whole ethic approach that is looking

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: hard to handle the ability narrative. I think there is a lot of, unfortunately, misunderstanding

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: around data centers because data centers are designed for our consumption because they're

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: designed to be the method of computers, so there's this idea that they're inherently

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: not efficient where you can make the argument that they're more efficient than most

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: other building types, because no one wants to spend all this money on different systems

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: that aren't the most efficient electrical system or the more efficient mechanical system,

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: because at the end of the day it all comes down to the dollar value rate and you want to make

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: sure that the bang for your buck on the systems that are running your servers, etc.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: So for us, as I mentioned, it kind of is a holistic approach, right? It's not only making sure

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: you have paint that are low-weofied and the more kind of somewhat standard approaches with

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: green, oxal action but then it's also looking towards new technologies and mass of the

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: craft the industry right now is liquid cooling and how that is bringing the cooling direct to

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_00]: the chip now, whereas with air cooling previously you're pulling the faith that then go now,

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: filters through the rack that filters over the chip, cooled the chip and then is

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: rejected out the back of the server cabinet and then heats up the space again, right? So

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_00]: in that process there's a lot of room for loft and efficiency as number one heated and as

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: dense and it's in a good way onto it for cool the cooling process whereas liquid going

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00]: back to the chip is a more efficient approach and then there's also a lot of look for

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: different power solutions and how do we integrate them into the data center industry so

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: one of the biggest things that's being talked about right now is the utilization of nuclear

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and that can range from if there's any existing nuclear plants that are looking to be closed

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: is that a way that we can utilize existing power without one tapping into the grid and potentially

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: copying the ability issues with the grid but also utilizing a more green resource compared to coal

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: or some of the other options that we've seen historically. When we're talking about sustainable

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_01]: and changing that matter even bust in a few minutes there'll be a lot of people listening

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_01]: a lot of business leaders want in a make a difference want in to make changes and maybe that

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_01]: unsure where to start so what would you say are some of the key considerations for achieving sustainable

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Ian data center design without compromising on things like performance and reliability? You've

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_01]: probably seen a lot of things done the wrong way but what would you say are the key considerations

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_00]: of doing it the right way? Yeah so I think when you start looking forward towards AI a lot of

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: it becomes how do you develop modular systems there's each component right and what is the

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: efficiency or what is the sustainability around that component right if it let's be my own

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: batteries. There's some level of that better than historically the VRLA batteries but

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: there's also some sustainability that is around what am I on and how do you to follow the

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_00]: fire issues that type of thing so there's looking at it holistically of what the best solution for

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: you for each component but then simultaneously what is how do you build a modular system one of

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: our clients and take a modular through the next level and I think through their product they have

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_00]: they have a leg up I would say in the sense that sustainability isn't just the first day you build

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_00]: building right it about the longevity of the building and making sure we don't build these data

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_00]: centers that they might be designed around cloud for today and they might turn into IAI in the next

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: three to five years and you now need to completely take down that building or because you've set it

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_00]: up to be modular is there this plug-and-play method that you can swap out your electrical pods

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_00]: essentially so that you can now upgrade from maybe a two megawap lock to a four or five

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_00]: maybe even higher than that megawap lock in the future but electrical capacity is going to be

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_00]: growing as AI kind of picked up. So I think right now in the industry it's really fun making sure

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_00]: you're partnering with the right teams to one find the most innovation in the technologies but also

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_00]: does that around this modularity idea and space saving idea so that you're planning for the future

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and you're not putting in a technology today that maybe obviously two years from now because

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_00]: we are really at a point where you're seeing a lot of innovation come through especially around

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_00]: the good-going especially around power efficiency in order to get ready for this AI demand that

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_00]: ever growing like I think I've heard that it's supposed to grow 15 per hour requirements over

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and I've like happened years of the 2030 so it's we're very much aware of the growth in the

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: industry and what we're going with it would how do you kind of plan towards the future within

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_00]: within the restrictions you have today type of thing. And it's such an important point you

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_01]: raise there about designing something that's going to be obsolete two years from now with the

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_01]: pace of AI etc and two of the other most crucial aspects in data center design is flexibility

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_01]: and scalability so what best practices do you recommend at HED for planning changes in

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_01]: equipment from facility size or programs to accommodate that future growth anything you can share around

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_00]: that. Yeah so depending on the client and who are working with sometimes they already have kind of

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: their development in a part but what we usually try to do as a company is to put, say for example

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_00]: we have a new developer who's interested in getting into the data center street. What we like to do

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_00]: is they would understand their goals as a company and then start looking towards building the

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: kit of part for them and what that essentially means is you know from if you're mad in it at a

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: very rudiment level or you have a block that's your data center you have your block so your actual

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_00]: data hall and if they did a center and then you have a block that's your mechanical spaces that's

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_00]: pooling to provide to off-the-heat that is rejected out of the servers and then you're a electrical

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_00]: block that are essentially you'll have some level of configurations to potentially have

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_00]: redundancy depending on the client you could have location redundancy instead of electrical redundancy

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_00]: but typically you still seem like a quarter-make-three or five-mix-it configuration with

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_00]: that's something that if you were to have one electrical block drop fail essentially there's

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_00]: a not there's an additional one to support it so what we'll do is we'll deal with the client

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_00]: understand their goals and then develop these blocks and all we've done over time in some of our previous

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_00]: clients we've been able to utilize those blocks to do exactly what I was just kind of talking

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_00]: about of the base-daving making sure that you're provisioning for the future and we've been able

[00:12:30] [SPEAKER_00]: to scale up for I think we started out at a 1200KW data hall and then that ramped up all the way

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_00]: to a 3,200KW data hall so that was essentially these rows of blocks that we were able to kind

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_00]: of merge together to create that 36-megawatt or 36-view or 36-hundred-kW and then over time we've now

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_00]: grown that through a megawatt kind of block that has been able to scale through the growth of

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: the industry so like I mentioned we try to design that around what's the goals for the client

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_00]: right so if there's the difficult about making sure that they don't have water demand which is

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_00]: a really hot topic in the industry of how do data centers impact the utility demand in areas

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and a lot of the companies have gotten away from that but there are still some that are looking

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_00]: toward it because of the efficiency on the electrical side but so we'll try to work with the client

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_00]: how to make recommendations there and what makes the most sense from an efficiency standpoint

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and then build those blocks around it some clients are looking for a little bit more flexibility

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00]: to be able to swap in and out those systems so maybe they're kind of kit of parts as a little

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00]: bit more flexible and adaptable or it has that additional space and then to be able to accommodate

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_01]: multiple different systems type of thing and just to bring to life everything we're talking about here

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't expect you to mention any names but other any specific projects that might spring to

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_01]: mind where HDD is successfully implemented some of these best practices we're talking about

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_01]: and that end result is enhancing data and a scalability and flexibility any stories you can share

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah the one that I just mentioned is the scale from a 1200KW all the way up to an 8 megawatt

[00:14:20] [SPEAKER_00]: essentially with these kit of parts so that's been pretty successful but we've also works with

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_00]: clients to develop the modular the client that I was referencing previously the modular systems

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_00]: that are essentially as kind of positions them to be able to have flexibility for

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_00]: swapping out their you know electrical systems their mechanical systems pretty quickly in the future

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_00]: so we've been able to work with them to develop their prototypes and develop multiple prototypes for them

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_00]: that are not only modular but they're also they're kind of scalable for their clients

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_00]: so they've got a number of different prototypes at this point that they can kind of position within

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_00]: then they get a new site they go okay this is what this client's looking for these are the different

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_00]: types of buildings that we need to place on this campus and be able to reach those goals

[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_00]: so we've been able to work with them to kind of expedite that process as well as the actual

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_00]: design all the way through construction process and the other thing with modular that we

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_00]: haven't touched on that's very important is when you have the growth in the industry that we

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: have we have a personnel issue right we don't have enough people to keep up with the demand of

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_00]: what what this industry is growing to so that can inherently lead to some issues with efficiency

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_00]: or reliability or even sustainability because if you don't have the right expertise building these

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_00]: structures or these different electrical and mechanical systems you the the repercussions that

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_00]: can be endless so having these modular systems that are built off site and then shipped over to

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_00]: the like actual site that the construction the building is being constructed on it allows for

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_00]: centralized expertise so you can have these essentially manufacturing plants for these different

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_00]: modular components and have a workforce of highly technical electricians that know how to build

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_00]: these switchboards or know how to build these new PSs and in all these different things to be able to

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_00]: demand power issues that we're kind of running into and you don't necessarily need the expertise on

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_00]: site it also kind of lens to the ability for authors and industry to continue to scale and

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_01]: build in some of those efficiency narratives and I'm glad you mentioned you PSs there they are

[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_01]: often the unsung heroes of IT and power failures are often a critical concern in data centers so

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_01]: from your experience what are the common pitfalls in planning and investing in those on

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_01]: two octobal power supplies and how can these out it just be avoided I suspect you've got a few

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_00]: more stories around this too yeah it's always when when you hear of a massive audience everyone in

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_00]: the data center kind of pod us for a minute go and I work on that ability I think was that me

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_00]: was that how was I involved there but yet though we've we've had a few over the years nothing too

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_00]: likely but a lot of it comes down to operations realistically because a lot of the things that we

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_00]: just touched on the way that the supply chain has kind of been set up at this point is there is a lot

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_00]: of expertise at the manufacturing level so really what we want to make sure that you're doing

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_00]: is your designing a concurrently making a naval system so that means that if there are there's an

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_00]: issue at the unit itself then there's redundancy within that that you can swap over to one unit

[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_00]: update or repair the issue at the other unit and then switch back and that can be at a power

[00:18:05] [SPEAKER_00]: level, like in mechanical level but then often you want to really make sure that at the data

[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_00]: center itself you train for the human error component of it because while these systems are very

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_00]: efficient and they're very reliable at this point in time through the development of technology

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_00]: especially for the growth of the data centers you want to make sure that there's preventative

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: maintenance that's going on on a regular basis that your operation staff is very well trained

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and that there's they understand the design itself you also from an design perspective want to make

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_00]: sure that the design is consistent so that when you have an operation staff who's trained on one

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_00]: they can go from data halt to data hall and it's the same exact design they're not dealing with

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_00]: a slight tweak in each data hall that'll help reduce any kind of power failure issues where

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_00]: your your staff is unaware of these these nuances type of thing and then also making sure

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_00]: that they're keeping up with mobs and in the overall making sure the maintenance of units

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of checks and balances a lot of a lot of facilities will do their like kind of emergency

[00:19:17] [SPEAKER_00]: checks on their generators secretly so they'll make sure that they're up and running and

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_00]: and reliable right there work in the way that they should be working on a regular basis so you'll

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_00]: be seeing them cycle through that kind of a yearly basis of each gen gets a day type of thing

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_00]: and depending on the canvas that can be pretty much everyday depending on the scale of that but

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_00]: it's really trying to make sure that you have the systems in place to

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_00]: practice through all of these things right so there's a there's already inefficient system in

[00:19:49] [SPEAKER_00]: place consistent design and then training your your operation staff around that design to be

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_00]: able to avoid the failure at the human level type of thing and then if you take it a step further

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_00]: now you're looking at how close how close the proximity of power is right so ideally you want to

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_00]: have that substation on site or very close to the site so you're not potentially looking

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_00]: at storms taking out especially with kind of the way things have been gone with certain areas

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_00]: or there's the storm services are kind of getting more crazy you want to make sure that your

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_00]: proximity to this substation is limiting that potential power failure of picking up power lines

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and what we're trying and essentially taking down an entire data center camp but so the more you

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_00]: can tie direct to that power source the better off you are from a campus standpoint perspective

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_01]: and um curious we're talking about designing data centers that are both robust against power

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_01]: failures and also optimized for energy efficiency I'd curious out of any conflicts or additional

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_00]: challenges that go with that approach yeah I would say that part of the issue is kind of just

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_00]: how data centers are developed right so they are developed to be power consumers and the big

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_00]: issue we're seeing is the power demand in some of the hot markets so for example a lot of Virginia

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_00]: has been the past couple of years now and I think projected over the next couple of years as well

[00:21:25] [SPEAKER_00]: they're behind on being able to keep up with the demand in Virginia so what that kind of result in is

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_00]: now your primary markets are now the demand that was initially allocated towards the primary

[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_00]: markets are now hitting your secondary markets you're starting to see someone the same response

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_00]: there of is there enough power can the utility keep up with the development of substations

[00:21:49] [SPEAKER_00]: fast enough to be applied the power and then not kind of as a domino effect right one of the

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_00]: benefits of that though is that AI has a little bit less of a limitation on location it's not

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_00]: necessarily a perfect science but in a lot of cases they don't have some of the latency issues so

[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_00]: for anyone who's kind of not familiar with the telecom side of things Ashburn Virginia is a very

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_00]: popular data center area and that primarily has to do with the telecom pathways that go through

[00:22:23] [SPEAKER_00]: northern Virginia and those tie over to Europe and I believe Northern Africa for

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_00]: member correctly so not only is it a kind of central location for northern America where it's

[00:22:37] [SPEAKER_00]: close to DC close to New York close to Boston there's also this pathway to connect over to the

[00:22:45] [SPEAKER_00]: rest of the world but with AI you don't necessarily need that connection in that fast kind of

[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_00]: transfer so because of that they're starting to look towards different regions within North America

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_00]: that or globally really that aren't necessarily taught data center markets and in some manners

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_00]: that's bar beneficial for the region because there's usually a lot of growth around it like even

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Ashburn Virginia has had substantial amount of development in growth because of the days and there's

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_00]: not pop up everywhere else but it is an ongoing conversation of making sure that

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_00]: the locations that are selected and the growth that's selected for each region isn't also

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_00]: making the great on stable so at the end of the day what it's all coming down to is how do you make

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_00]: the demand fit within the areas that we can build because there does need to be a decent amount of

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_00]: of the world so meta Amazon Google Microsoft they're the ones who will move out their first because

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_00]: they have the ability to go to a more remote region make sure that they can get the telecom there

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_00]: make sure that they can get the power there and then everyone else follows so it's kind of an

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_00]: interesting pattern to watch you'll see a hyper scalar pop up and then all of the Sunday starts

[00:24:16] [SPEAKER_00]: the ins and the multi-tenal data centers and smaller data center providers pop up so it's kind of

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_00]: an ongoing development to try to work through the power of the man that's that's going on

[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_01]: what's happening and I think tech field innovation will always continuously evolve to meet

[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_01]: some of the the challenges that were experienced in today and if we dare to look a little further ahead

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_01]: other any emerging technologies or even design innovations that you see playing a significant role

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_01]: in the future development of data centers anything you're seeing here anything that

[00:24:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I saw it show at the moment yeah there's two that while I think everyone's talking about which

[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_00]: like we're cooling as I mentioned it inherently is more efficient but I think there's some really

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_00]: interesting technologies with some version specifically and I think as we're starting to see from

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_00]: like a 6kw rack to a 300kw rack you inherently are going to need to go towards something like

[00:25:18] [SPEAKER_00]: subversion cooling but I think it'll be very interesting to see when that takes off it's going

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_00]: to be interesting across the board when liquid cooling takes off because in theory as you have

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_00]: these high demands there should be some ability to reduce the square footage that these data centers

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_00]: take out this on level that's all going to be based off of the AI that is being rolled out

[00:25:43] [SPEAKER_00]: within the facility and you know what the what the demand is across the board but efficiency wise

[00:25:49] [SPEAKER_00]: in theory a facility that's 8 megawatts today could be a I don't know 36 megawatts facility within

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_00]: 10 plus years from now and the same exact footprint it's just a matter of how do we get the

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_00]: electrical systems of it and scale those and also as we move towards a liquid cooling or

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_00]: simulation cooling what is the reduction there and then the other one that I'm curious about

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_00]: more from a personal action standpoint mass timber has been something that we've been looking

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_00]: out within the company and working with some of our clients on and essentially we're looking at

[00:26:32] [SPEAKER_00]: data center facilities that are their structures are based on what right and that's something

[00:26:38] [SPEAKER_00]: that for a long time was kind of like now that will never happen so it's very interesting to

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_00]: see that start kind of be a conversation in the industry and it could be a pretty good move from

[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_00]: a sustainability perspective and I'm hoping it kind of takes off to kind of push the needle of

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_00]: hey the things that we have kind of said in the past that don't necessarily apply to us

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_00]: well we're now making a reply how do we keep keep kind of doing that and we learn from other

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_00]: sectors and we're there have been able to be successful in sustainability and how do we bring

[00:27:12] [SPEAKER_00]: them over to the data center industry to keep pushing that needle? Well thank you so much for joining

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_01]: me today and sharing your insights and before I let you go I'm going to see if there's one other

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_01]: thing you can share with everyone listening we have an Amazon wishlist where I ask my guests to share

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER_01]: a vibrant book that I recommend people check out is anything you'd like to add to that list?

[00:27:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes I would love to add and jump start your career in data centers by Carrie Gatz. Carrie is

[00:27:41] [SPEAKER_00]: an absolutely wonderful woman in the industry that I'm very lucky to know she has done a lot of work

[00:27:49] [SPEAKER_00]: to help build their diversity in the industry not only for women but she's very big out of it

[00:27:55] [SPEAKER_00]: veterans and getting new voices and new ideas into the industry and as I mentioned there's a lot

[00:28:01] [SPEAKER_00]: we can learn there's a lot of things we've already done right but there's a lot of things we

[00:28:05] [SPEAKER_00]: continue to learn in the more you bring in diverse thoughts diverse backgrounds etc. the better off

[00:28:12] [SPEAKER_00]: we're going to be her book I wish was around when I started to be honest because when I was trying

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_00]: to understand this data center lingo what a UPS is did had no idea the start out and her book helps

[00:28:27] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of take away that barrier to entry and really helps to do the kind of different roles you

[00:28:33] [SPEAKER_00]: can take on in the industry what a what a data center is and what are the different parts of

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_00]: of the data center that you can potentially get involved with so very much recommend it she's great

[00:28:43] [SPEAKER_00]: woman if you ever end up running into her at a conference always one worth talking to and testing

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_01]: I will get that added straight to Amazon wish list and for a HGD obviously we've covered a lot

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_01]: of ground today anyone wanting to dig a little bit more deeper on that how you might be able

[00:28:59] [SPEAKER_01]: to help or connect with your or your team well do you like to point everyone yep so if you want

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER_00]: to reach out to me directly you can reach out to me through LinkedIn, Sarah Martin and there's plenty

[00:29:10] [SPEAKER_00]: of Sarah Martin's in the world so definitely look for the one that works at HGD sector leader

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_00]: and then you can also reach out to us directly through our website at hd.design

[00:29:22] [SPEAKER_00]: there's some contact information in there for office so you can reach out I'm in the boss

[00:29:27] [SPEAKER_00]: not just reach out to me through that or just send us a note and more than willing to always have

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_01]: a phone call and figure out how we can help each other well so well I'll get all those links added

[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_01]: so people can find you nice and easy and as I said we covered so much there from designing

[00:29:43] [SPEAKER_01]: data centers to be greener and more efficient sizing and flexibility best practices and preventing

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_01]: data sent a power curve power favors and even having time to look into the future some of the

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_01]: trends there as well so just a big thank you for shining a light on this today really appreciate

[00:29:59] [SPEAKER_01]: your time so thank you so much for having me you're great so there we have it what are your

[00:30:04] [SPEAKER_01]: thoughts on the future of sustainable data centers today Sarah Martin from HGD has enlightened us

[00:30:11] [SPEAKER_01]: with the cutting edge practices that could revolutionise the way we think about these energy intensive

[00:30:17] [SPEAKER_01]: facilities from scalable modular designs to the latest in calling technologies is clear that the

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_01]: path to greener data centers is filled with both challenges and opportunities but the conversation

[00:30:30] [SPEAKER_01]: doesn't end here how do you envision the balance between technological advancement and that hungry AI

[00:30:38] [SPEAKER_01]: and environmental responsibility in data centers share with me your thoughts as continuous crucial

[00:30:44] [SPEAKER_01]: dialogue email me tech bloggeri to atrock.com x linkedin instagram just at nil cheose let me know

[00:30:52] [SPEAKER_01]: but that's it for today time for me the leave you all now but have no fear I will be back right

[00:30:58] [SPEAKER_01]: early tomorrow morning waiting in your podcast feed but until next time stay curious keep innovating

[00:31:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll speak with you tomorrow