Panduit EMEA, a physical infrastructure and connectivity company, has achieved approved supplier status to the Kao Data Campus, for its Universal Containment, hot aisle containment enclosure and rack systems. This highly energy efficient and leak-free solution is in-situ at Kao Data London One data centre on the 15-acre campus located in the London-Stansted-Cambridge corridor.
Ralph Lolies, Managing Director, Panduit EMEA, said: “We welcome the opportunity to provide Kao Data’s customers Panduit’s world-leading hot-aisle containment solutions within this industry-leading data centre. Kao Data has achieved an ultra-low 1.2 PUE and Panduit solutions will help support and maintain the efficiency of the data centre, as customers implement their chosen compute solutions at Kao Data London One.”
Panduit’s hot aisle containment range of cabinet rack enclosures and exhaust and inlet ducts guarantee the air flow is directed to where the cooling air is required and exhaust air is extracted so no mixing of the airflows occur. The Panduit, Universal Containment System is compatible with all major cabinet brands and sizes, offering complete flexibility to customers.
As a manufacturer of the full range of infrastructure solutions Panduit has engineered these systems to provide seamless product integration using industry-leading test environments and demonstrating up to 20% less air leakage than other solutions.
Gerard Thibault, CTO, Kao Data, said: “The data centre design means that Hot Aisle Containment (HAC) is the most efficient approach to cooling the technical space and perfectly complements the indirect evaporative cooling system which is in operation at Kao Data London One. We are offering customers the leading containment technologies from the best suppliers and the Panduit solution is complementary to our requirements and those of our customers.”
Scott Smith, UK Channel Director, RWL, a Panduit Tier 1 Distributor, said: “It is our pleasure to have been engaged with the Kao Data technical management and delivery team over the last two years. Our first site visit included a tour of the blank canvas that has now been transformed into one of the most advanced and ambitious data centre builds our industry has seen.
“RWL insist on the provisioning of leading edge technology solutions and we will continue to work in partnership with Kao Data to provide state of the art data centre infrastructure technology. With Kao Data and Panduit consistently pushing the boundaries of DC connectivity within their respective fields, RWL looks forward to playing our part in the design and delivery of advanced physical infrastructure solutions for Kao Data.”
Cooling energy efficiency is critical to low PUE in the data centres. The current trend towards high heat and load density cabinets in data centres illustrates the requirement for hot air containment systems to segregate cool air cooling and vertical exhaust ducts for hot air removal to optimise cooling efficiency, as within the Kao Data Technology Suites. Operating at server manufacturers’ temperature specification allows maximum product performance and longer life-cycles, which benefits operators and customers.
Kao Data London One uses indirect evaporative cooling technology, which requires no mechanical refrigeration, offering ‘free cooling’ to the data halls. To maximise the cooling effectiveness of the system and enable high density compute loads, Kao is deploying Technology Cells in its data halls (Technology Suites) – a 34 rack/ 350kW cube with enclosed hot aisle. This specification allows up to 58U cabinets and 20kW/ rack position, although the power density can be even higher if required.
Panduit has the most comprehensive offering of switch inlet ducts and works with leading server and switch manufacturers in development, test and manufacture of the systems to ensure containment capabilities and airflow manageability to create effective front to rear airflow patterns. Optimising containment system design allows for lower fan speeds, higher data centre supply air temperature and higher chilled water temperature, which ultimately reduces potential energy use.
