Research conducted by Omdia reveals that sustainable and innovative technologies such as chilled water and evaporative cooling, as well as forms of liquid cooling, are becoming increasingly popular
Vertiv (NYSE: VRT), a global provider of solutions for critical digital infrastructure, has been evaluated by the technology analysis company Omdia as the largest global provider in the data center cooling market, an industry characterized by constant innovation and change. Recent research shows that established heat dissipation technologies - such as direct expansion (DX), chilled water and evaporative cooling - continue to dominate, while becoming more sustainable. Additionally, new technologies - such as forms of liquid cooling - are expected to grow as data center operators explore new ways to further improve efficiency and contain required energy consumption.
The Omdia document, Data Center Thermal Management Report 2020, released in late 2020 and based on data from 2018 and 2019, confirms that Vertiv has a 23.5% share of the global data center cooling market, 10% higher than the closest competitor. According to Omdia, the data center thermal technology business is projected to grow from $3.3 billion in 2020 to more than $4.3 billion in 2024. Vertiv is also a global leader in the thermal edge technology market with a share market share by 37.5%, 20% higher than the main competitor.
In addition to analyzing the market position, the report provides insights into the evolution of data center cooling technology. Established technologies, such as chillers and perimeter cooling, will continue to hold an important share of the market. According to Omdia, direct expansion is still the primary form of heat rejection in data center thermal management, but chilled water and evaporative cooling are gaining traction. Additionally, stimulus from service providers is accelerating, driving double-digit growth for air handling units (AHUs).
Omdia predicts that there will also be strong growth in liquid cooling (immersion and direct-to-chip) and the values are expected to double between 2020 and 2024. Several factors are contributing to this change, including the increased chip and server power consumption, edge growth, rack density increase, as well as energy efficiency and sustainability requirements.
Lucas Beran, principal analyst for cloud and data center research practice at Omdia and author of the report, said, “The data center thermal management market is nearing an inflection point. Currently, existing air thermal products and solutions are driving growth, but are limited by their ability to cool more than 10kW of rack density. New technologies, new products, and new designs are coming to market to support these high-density deployments and more efficient operations, which will lead to a changing market dynamic by 2024.”
"Vertiv's established leadership in Thermal Management demonstrates that our clients value our industry expertise, our broad portfolio and growing investments in technology, research and development," said Giordano Albertazzi, President of Vertiv EMEA and Global Channel Leader of Vertiv. "The cooling products and solutions we unveiled throughout 2020 and our forward-thinking innovation roadmap will continue to offer our customers leading technologies, enabling them to achieve higher efficiency and sustainability goals."
Vertiv has announced multiple innovations in recent months regarding thermal technology. In EMEA, Vertiv announced VertivTM Liebert® OFC, a new and very advanced range of oil-free turbocor compressor chillers, developed in collaboration with Geoclima. Liebert OFC has been designed to use low GWP refrigerants, including R1234ze, and to provide high energy efficiency. In addition, the entire range of underfloor air conditioners has recently been redesigned to ensure maximum efficiency, including Vertiv Liebert PDX - the direct expansion unit with variable speed compressors - e Vertiv Liebert PCW - the brand new range of chilled water units.
In addition to the new products, Vertiv also collaborates with leading groups in the industrial sector and recently became a Platinum member of theOpen Compute Project (OCP). Vertiv's role will include initiatives to support the adoption of liquid cooling through the Advanced Cooling Solutions (ACS) and Advanced Cooling Facility (ACF) projects. The goal is to introduce guidelines and best practices for direct-on-chip and immersion liquid cooling technologies, as well as enable data center facilities to adopt liquid cooling.
Vertiv's research in the field of thermal technologies is also oriented towards future innovations. According to report Data Center 2025: Closer to the Edge, the data center industry has witnessed a large-scale shift towards energy savings led by hyperscale operators and colocation providers, while simultaneously bringing heat removal closer to servers through liquid and rear-ported cooling systems , designed to support the high-density racks common in high performance computing (HPC) facilities. Of the more than 800 data center professionals who responded to the survey, 42% expect mechanical systems will meet future cooling requirements, while 22% say they will be satisfied with liquid cooling and outside air, a result likely determined by the highest rack densities observed today.
For more information on the latest technology from Thermal Management in EMEA, join the Vertiv Cooling Innovation Forum on December 10 by registering for free at this link. To learn more about how Vertiv can help managers and operators improve data center performance, visit www.Vertiv.com/SWC.
