A1, through its cloud service provider, Exoscale, has partnered with Austrian company, Diggers, to create more sustainable, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven data centers. This collaboration introduces an innovative liquid cooling solution that reduces energy consumption and repurposes waste heat from A1 Group’s data centers.
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Advanced Liquid Cooling Solution
Diggers’s cooling solution seamlessly integrates into server systems, incorporating specialized cooling lines directly connecting to AI-driven graphics processing units (GPUs), efficiently capturing and dissipating heat. It also effectively cools standard processors in conventional servers without GPUs.
Instead of relying on energy-intensive air conditioning, the system uses thermodynamic principles to move liquid, drastically cutting energy consumption. The residual heat can be repurposed efficiently with a heat utilization rate of up to 98%. Overall, the solution can reduce cooling energy usage by up to 50% compared to traditional data center methods.
Elaborating on the significance of this, Martin Schechtner, CEO, Diggers, explained, “Globally, the CO2 emissions caused by data centers are significantly higher than those of the entire global air traffic. There is, therefore, an urgent need for action. The first installation in A1’s data center clearly shows that our innovative solution can be an important step towards sustainable data centers.”
Designed for both new and existing facilities, Diggers’s solution requires only a water connection and power supply. Its aluminium construction prevents corrosion, ensuring long-term reliability with minimal maintenance.
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Private Clouds Demand Energy Efficiency
Martin Resel, CCO Enterprise, A1, noted, “The relevance of data centers for digital business processes has been increasing for years. Due to the rising number of private clouds, which security-conscious companies particularly need in times of new challenges like NIS2, and increasingly powerful AI applications, the need to operate these data centers more energy-efficiently is also growing. With Diggers’s liquid cooling solution, we are realizing an energy-saving potential of around 30% and, thus, contributing significantly to more sustainable operation of clouds and AI.”
This partnership marks a significant step toward eco-friendly data center operations, addressing both energy efficiency and carbon footprint reduction in an era of growing digital demand.
Jean-Laurent Philippe, CTO, Intel EMEA, concluded, “The need for reduced energy consumption in data centers is bigger than ever. Intel® Xeon®, as the head node of choice, offers leading-edge power efficiency and low total cost of ownership (TCO), together with increased performance. We value all efforts to make AI and cloud deployments more sustainable, and Diggers’s liquid cooling solution is a great example of how to significantly drive down power and repurpose heat in a meaningful way.”
