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Dive Brief:
- Schneider Electric has introduced a new data center reference design, co-developed with NVIDIA, to support liquid-cooled, high-density AI clusters, amid “urgent energy and sustainability challenges driven by high demand for AI systems,” the company said in a news release Wednesday.
- The company also unveiled its Galaxy VXL uninterruptible power supply, which it describes as the industry’s most compact, high-density UPS. It is designed to support AI-ready data centers and large-scale electrical workloads, offering 52% in space savings compared with the industry average, Schneider Electric said.
- Both solutions aim to benefit data center owners and operators as they deploy energy-efficient, high-density infrastructure to support AI workloads “as sustainably as possible,” Schneider Electric said.
Dive Insight:
AI’s projected electricity demand encompasses a wide array of interconnected issues, ranging from infrastructure challenges to supply chain disruptions and socioeconomic concerns, with both global and local data center developments raising significant concerns about grid stress and power capacity, according to a report by Schneider Electric Sustainability Research Institute released this month.
Despite the rapid growth of data center electricity use, with AI energy demand expected to multiply by at least 10 between 2023 and 2026, “a significant body of evidence suggests that it is possible to implement AI technology at scale in ways that minimize environmental impacts and maximize societal benefits,” the report says.
“By 2027, data center electricity consumption is projected to account for 2.5% of global demand, with the remaining 97.5% spread across industries such as buildings, manufacturing, transportation, and energy,” Sean Graham, research director of cloud to edge data center trends at International Data Corporation, said in a statement. “While data centers pursue their own net-zero goals amid unprecedented growth, the real sustainability promise lies in leveraging AI to decarbonize entire value chains across industries. As Schneider Electric and NVIDIA have demonstrated, long-term collaboration and innovation are essential to driving efficiency and sustainability,” Graham noted.
Both innovations form part of its end-to-end, AI-ready data center solutions, which focus on three key areas — developing an energy strategy for the AI era, deploying advanced infrastructure and sustainability consulting, Schneider Electric said. Its energy strategy for the AI era includes supporting companies in their efforts to secure renewable energy and optimizing on-site power generation; providing services like site selection and geographical analysis based on customers’ deployment plans; and enabling on-site power generation through its AlphaStruxure platform, according to its release.
To deploy advanced infrastructure, the company has also developed a portfolio of high-density, energy-efficient infrastructure systems “for a host of AI requirements exceeding 100 kilowatts per rack,” Schneider Electric said in the release. This includes data center infrastructure components “from grid-to-chip and chip-to-chiller, AI-powered remote monitoring and energy management software, and digital services for lifecycle optimization,” per the release.
The Galaxy VXL UPS is a highly efficient, compact, modular, scalable and redundant 500 to 1,250 kW, three-phase UPS, including enhanced cybersecurity, software and safety features, according to a separate news release issued Wednesday. Schneider Electric says the Galaxy VXL UPS has a power density of up to 1,042 kilowatts per square meter, includes power-protection and saving modes and is compatible with both lithium-ion and VRLA batteries, providing greater uptime and easier serviceability.
The company says its recently signed agreement to acquire a majority stake in Motivair is expected to enhance its liquid cooling portfolio and strengthen its expertise in direct-to-chip liquid cooling and high-capacity thermal solutions. Additionally, its sustainability consulting business will help customers reach decarbonization goals via tailored sustainability strategies and emissions assessments through its EcoStuxure Resource Advisor, Schneider Electric said in the release.
This end-to-end AI-ready data center strategy supports a science-based approach to “bend the curve” of energy consumption, which can be accomplished by integrating data center infrastructure with AI-driven applications, Schneider Electric said.
“The energy and environmental impact of AI is growing at unprecedented pace, and it’s paramount we bend the energy curve downward by finding new ways to decarbonize data centers and the digital infrastructure,” Pankaj Sharma, executive vice president of data centers and networks at Schneider Electric, said in a statement.
