Company Picks Up Top US Award!

ICEOTOPE and its project partners have been honoured with a prestigious green IT award in the United States.

The firm has won recognition for its liquid-based computer servers, which cut cooling costs by up to 97 per cent.

The Green Enterprise IT Awards — held in California in May — reward projects which significantly improve energy productivity.

Iceotope founder Peter Hopton said: “To be recognised in this manner, for what is just our first production system, really validates the work we’re doing and the environmental impact of this technology.

"The data centre industry is in something of an energy crisis. The financial and environmental
costs involved in powering a single facility are staggering and cooling inefficiencies are a significant factor. 

“We believe that the Iceotope solution has the potential to drive change in the data centre
industry for the better.”

The server, using 3M Novec Engineered Fluids, was developed with a team of researchers
at the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds.

The eighth annual awards are hosted by the Uptime Institute in Santa Clara. All three partners will speak about their role in the project when they pick up the award.


Report by Gareth Dennison, Rotherham Advertiser

THAT'S COOL

A FORWARD-thinking firm has produced a new computer which is kept cool by being completely immersed in liquid. 

The server’s temperature is controlled by the revolutionary fluid — called 3M TM Novec TM — which does not damage electronics. 

A mobile phone could be dropped in a tub of the coolant and still work perfectly because it does not conduct electricity. 

So while computers use air to cool their parts, all of the components in the new server — developed in Rotherham — are completely covered in the liquid. 

The technology could slash the carbon footprint of the internet and become a watershed moment for the global IT industry.

Peter Hopton, chief technology officer at Iceotope, said: “While a few years away, there is no reason why every home shouldn’t make better use of the surplus heat from consumer electronics. Imagine having your PC or TV plumbed into the central heating system.”

Chief executive Neil Bennett said: “IT has been the poster child of the new economy but its environmental impact has frequently been unaddressed. Given the increasing scarcity of
resources such as energy and clean water, we are delivering computing with a conscience.”

The power-sapping fans of traditional computers are replaced by a silent next-generation liquid-cooling process.

Designers at Iceotope, based at the Catcliffe’s Advanced Manufacturing Park, reckon the server can cut energy consumption by between 80 and 97 per cent.

More than five years of research have gone into the technology. The coolant can even be drawn from rain or riverwater — further reducing the environmental impact.

The server also does away with the need for ancillary facilities in data centres like computer room air conditioning, humidity control systems and air purification.

A company spokesman added: “While the information industry enjoys an image of environmental friendliness, all internet use relies on remote servers. These are usually housed in large data centres that must be constantly cooled to remain operational. The reality is that the mobile apps, networked devices and 24-hour internet access on which we have come to rely are energy hungry.”

AMP marketing manager Simon Spode said: “This technology really has the capability of being a gamechanger for the world’s IT industry in the same way that stainless steel did for manufacturing 100 years ago.”

Iceotope worked with staff at the University of Leeds. Research lead Dr Jon Summers said: “The liquid we are using is extraordinary stuff.”


Report by Gareth Dennison, Rotherham Advertiser

Uptime Institute Names Winners of 2013 Green Enterprise IT Awards

Uptime Institute, a division of The 451 Group, has announced the winners of the 2013 Green Enterprise IT Awards, which recognise pioneering advancements that significantly improve energy productivity and resource use in IT. The 2013 GEIT Awards winners are: · Audacious Idea: TeraCool LLC · Facility Design Implementation: National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), The RMH Group and H+L Architecture · Facility Design Innovation: TD Bank Group · Facility Product Deployment: University of Leeds, Iceotope and 3M Company · Facility Retrofit: Interxion · Green Digital Infrastructure Strategy: Cisco Systems · IT Product Deployment: Arc Productions and TSO Logic · IT Retrofit: Avnet, Inc. "Our honoree complement includes 30 organizations associated with 19 case studies and spans eight countries this year," said Matt Stansberry , Program Director of Uptime Institute Symposium and Director of Content and Publications for Uptime Institute. Uptime Institute also announced the following 2013 GEIT Awards Finalists: Microsoft (Audacious Idea); Melbourne Water and Norman Disney & Young (Facility Design Implementation); TELUS Corporation and Skanska (Facility Design Innovation); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and SynapSense Corporation (Facility Product Deployment); Schuberg Philis and De Vlieg Techniek (Facility Retrofit); Avnet, Inc. (Green Digital Infrastructure Strategy); NTT DATA and Intel® Corporation (IT Product Deployment); and Stanford University (IT Retrofit). In addition, the following organizations received an Honorable Mention in the 2013 GEIT Awards competition: QTS (Quality Technology Services) (Audacious Idea); University of St. Andrews, IT Services (Facility Design Implementation); and eBay, Winter Street Architects and AHA Consulting Engineers (Facility Design Innovation). The 2013 GEIT Awards are sponsored by Sabey Data Centers. Entries were thoroughly reviewed by an international committee of independent judges using a double-blind process and criteria. "This year's entries have included an impressive mix - from unique innovations to excellent project executions - and as always the rigorous process that we go through at the GEIT Awards has allowed us to pick the very best from an outstanding collection of entries." - Martin Bradley , GEIT Awards Judge and Head of European Data Centre Engineering and Operations, Morgan Stanley The recipients will be honored at Uptime Institute Symposium in Santa Clara, California, on May 13-16, 2013, where they will share experiences and insights with industry peers through case-study presentations. Uptime Institute Symposium is the most influential all-stakeholder thought-leadership conference serving the global data center industry. The theme for Uptime Institute Symposium 2013 is The Global Digital Infrastructure Evolution. IT and data center thought-leaders and innovators from around the world will meet at the Santa Clara Convention Center to consider the present and future state of the Digital Infrastructure, as well as strategies on how to best evaluate the alternatives and make the best decisions for their organizations within this rapidly changing environment. The GEIT Award winners' case-study presentations are scheduled throughout Symposium. This year's Symposium features three tracks, which are tailored to the three primary professional roles responsible for managing and influencing this Digital Infrastructure Evolution: Senior IT Executives, Data Center Management and Operations, and Data Center Designers / Engineers. All 2013 Green Enterprise IT Awards honorees are invited to brief Symposium delegates on their case studies at the GEIT Awards Showcase scheduled for the afternoon of Monday, May 13. Winners will be honored at the Awards banquet that evening.

http://www.snseurope.info/article/26775/Uptime-Institute-names-winners-of-2013-Green-Enterprise-IT-Awards