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Atlanta is seeing an unprecedented data center boom, fueled in part by tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft investing billions of dollars in the region.
Kelvion, a global manufacturer of industrial heat exchange solutions, sees a need for its thermal technologies in Atlanta’s data center industry.
“For health, IT and internet security companies, Atlanta is emerging as an epicenter for technological innovation,” said Aditi Verma, director of global solutions engineering and an expert in data center cooling. “These businesses have one thing in common: They require competent data centers to enhance and streamline their internal processes.”
Verma will be moderating a discussion on maintaining cooling requirements as processing density increases at Bisnow’s DICE Southeast event on March 5 at Crowne Plaza Atlanta Midtown.
Register here.
Bisnow spoke with Verma about data center trends she's seeing in Atlanta, how owners and operators can maintain cooling and rack density and what Kelvion is doing to help them optimize their infrastructure and design for better density and energy usage.
Bisnow: What data center trends are you seeing in Atlanta?
Verma: Atlanta leads the nation with nearly 1,290 megawatts of data center capacity under construction. This is a four-time increase in data centers under construction compared to the total existing inventory.
Atlanta is in North America's top 10 largest data center markets, fueled by the rising demand for cloud services and artificial intelligence applications. For example, Data Bank is developing a new facility in Atlanta, which is supported by a $2B investment. This reflects global interest in the region for the data center market.
Bisnow: What are some hot topics you think will be discussed at Bisnow's DICE Southeast event?
Verma: I’m looking forward to hearing from industry experts on the impact of cooling and power requirements with the adoption of AI in data centers. How will this impact the existing data center markets and how will innovative solutions help manage the increased rack densities? What thermal challenges do we have to face?
Power, connectivity and site location will also be a part of the equation. How do we scale our cooling demand there and do we use dry or wet cooling?
Kelvion Director of Global Solutions Engineering Aditi Verma enjoying some hiking
Bisnow: What advice do you have for operators to help them maintain cooling and rack density?
Verma: Operators, suppliers and manufacturers all have to adopt and embrace advancing cooling technologies because of the increased capacity requirements. Also, we have to evolve our cooling methods, such as by moving to liquid cooling solutions, be it direct-to-chip or immersion cooling. These are ideal for high-density and high-performance computing requirements. They have more efficient heat transfer and heat removal as well.
We need to take advantage of Atlanta’s hot summers and relatively mild winters. We can utilize these natural elements to significantly reduce energy consumption by leveraging outdoor air or water temperatures. Kelvion can step in and provide support with a design that's optimal, sustainable and scalable to better manage these conditions.
Bisnow: How is Kelvion helping data center owners and operators optimize their infrastructure and designs to enhance cooling, energy usage and power densities?
Verma: Heat exchange and thermal management are at the core of every data center. Kelvion has almost 100 years of thermodynamic expertise in thermal management and heat exchanger design, and we provide a bespoke solution for each customer.
We have dexterity in industrial cooling and power generation processes, which can be further applied to the growing data center industry. Our multidimensional product portfolio spans between different methods of heat management and the possibility of moving from HVAC scale and utility scale.
We take a holistic view of every solution we engineer, from maximizing thermal efficiency, optimizing power and water consumption, noise, footprint, speed of deployment and more. We cater to all requirements for data center customers, which includes sustainability that affects not just Atlanta but the global data center market. With increased densities, we see utility scale driving the market and we’re delivering solutions for the evolution of this sector.
Bisnow: Can you speak about any data center clients?
Verma: We delivered a 200 MW adiabatic cooling solution to one of the largest data mining facilities in Texas, utilizing our immersion cooling technology. Kelvion was key to this site expanding, which is on task to reach up to one gigawatt.
Our coolers were able to meet the demanding needs of the Bitcoin mining operations because they were designed not only to meet the heat load, but also to incorporate a sustainable water recycling system. The site includes a large retention pond that captures stormwater and allows for the recirculation of the cooling water. Kelvion’s cooling systems were built efficiently to fit the sustainable framework.
Another project is the Penguin Group’s data center in Paraguay, which runs on 100% renewable energy. Penguin thought Kelvion was a prime choice to provide the cooling equipment for the heat rejection duties. We were able to deliver a 12-unit sustainable solution with competitive energy consumption and customized controls to enhance the overall efficiency of the facility.
Bisnow: What does Kelvion see for the future of Atlanta’s data center market and how does it plan to take part in its evolution?
Verma: Atlanta's data center market is on the verge of being a key hub in the Southeast because of location, infrastructure and the demand for advanced AI capabilities. We’re seeing many hyperscalers and colocators deeply invested in Atlanta, and this will continue in the future. Kelvion will help provide energy-efficient cooling solutions to help with the increased requirements needed for Atlanta’s data centers.
On a global scale, we’re setting up for water conservation, which we already see on the West Coast and Europe. We know that this will eventually happen on the East Coast with more data center operators leaning toward modular design. Kelvion will continue to adapt to the needs of the ever-changing global data center market.
Click here for more about Bisnow’s DICE Southeast event on March 5 in Atlanta.
This article was produced in collaboration between Kelvion and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.
Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.
