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Packed-out presentations preside at Data Centre World
From 6th-7th March industry leaders gathered at the Tech Show London, for the UK edition of Data Centre World. Billed as the UK's leading data centre event, Eurovent Certification headlined as sponsors of the ‘Energy Efficiency, Cost Management & DCIM Theatre’ and could be found in the exhibition area on stand D1220. Joined by colleagues from Eurovent Market Intelligence and Eurovent Association, the show had a sharp focus on data centre cooling. This year’s event saw Eurovent Certification, Eurovent Market Intelligence and special guests participate in no less than three presentations and one discussion panel.
Held at the ExCeL London, Data Centre World is designed for C-level staff, data centre leaders, end users, managers, and key decision makers. With cooling systems accounting for an average of nearly 40% of total data centre energy consumption, and vital to the performance and integrity of IT systems, HVAC and refrigeration systems were a focal point at this year’s show. This was backed up by an excellent turn out at the Eurovent Certification sessions, with standing room only at the packed-out presentations.
First up on March 6th, ‘Cooling the future with Eurovent: VERTIV and DAIKIN Applied Certified Solutions for Data Centre Excellence’ saw Eurovent Certification’s Sales Manager, Tim Kroeger joined on the stage by Alessandro Zerbetto, Global Offering Manager at Vertiv and James Henley, Product Development Manager at Daikin Applied. Tim introduced the principles and process of certification, emphasising that certification is earned, not bought, and briefly covered global trends before encouraging the delegates to attend the stands of the certified manufacturers exhibiting at the show.
Handing over to Alessandro, who introduced Vertiv and its certified IT cooling units, next the discussion moved to market trends, covering the topics of return on investment and energy efficiency. Next Alessandro discussed how Eurovent certification adds value to products, citing the benefits of proven performance in gaining easier design approval, achieving compliance with ever changing regulations, and reaching sustainability goals.
James then took the reins, posing the question of how to choose products from over 7000 European HVAC manufacturers. Discussing how voluntary certification protected customers, he highlighted the importance of software certification, in validating conformity between what is offered and what is sold. He explained how Eurovent Certification tests at both full and part load, giving designers independently verified product data from the very initial design, which can be reliably used in BIM modelling. He then covered some of Daikin’s certified solutions available for data centre cooling. Tim concluded the presentation by answering a question on how IT cooling units are tested, before thanking the audience for their participation.
Shortly after, Beyza Aykurt, Senior Market Analyst from Eurovent Market Intelligence (EMI) took to the Operational Transformation & Resilience theatre to present, ‘Data centre cooling market in a nutshell.’ Beyza began by explaining the role of Eurovent Market Intelligence as the European HVAC and refrigeration sector statistics office. Exploring the types of reports undertaken and the information available to manufacturers, she then moved onto the core of her presentation - the statistics for the IT cooling sector. Drawing from real market data analysis and extensive research, Beyza covered the current market sizes and trends within the Europe. Drilling down deeper into IT cooling solutions including but not limited to CRAC and RACK units, fan walls, evaporative cooling, and TLC units, Beyza gave an overview of the UK market evolution and comparison of market share. She concluded by highlighting that data collections move with the times, and manufacturers can request inclusion of newer IT cooling technologies, such as liquid cooling, as they come into prominence.
On day two, visitors headed back to the Energy Efficiency, Cost Management & DCIM Theatre for ‘Cooling the future with Eurovent: TRANE and EVAPCO's Certified Solutions for Data Centre Excellence.’ Eurovent Certification’s Partnership Manager, Ian Butler was joined by Lauri Salmia, Product Manager for Trane Technologies and Matthew Rutherford, Sales and Business Development Director for Evapco Europe. Kicking off the presentation, Ian spoke of Eurovent Certification’s 30th anniversary before launching into the principles and process of certification, and how global trends showed the need for certified products. He concluded by encouraging delegates to visit the stands of the Eurovent certified manufacturers attending the show.
Following up, Lauri introduced Trane Technologies before touching on the company’s certified data centre cooling technologies. Moving on to what certification means to Trane, he covered the company’s long history of participation and how certification is embedded into how Trane works. Lauri then highlighted the benefit of accurate performance data for data centres, showing how certified data and certified software offered reliability and reduced risk for system design, where there is 0% tolerance for modelling. Matthew from Evapco Europe then took over. He introduced Evapco and its certified data centre cooling solutions. Ian then concluded the presentation by thanking everyone for attending and emphasising how Eurovent certification brings the value of trusted data, and levels the playing field in a very busy market.
On the same day and in the same theatre, the 2.30pm presentation slot was taken by a panel discussion on, ‘Directing the Green Horizon: Sustainable Strategies for Minimising Carbon Footprint in Data Centres.’ Ian Butler was up once again as one of the panellists, joined by Astrid Wynee, Sustainability Lead at Techbuyer as moderator; Kat Burdett, Research and Development Engineer at Techbuyer, Stephen Bowes-Phipps, Vice President EMEA Data Centres and Cloud State Street Bank and Trust - Advisor to the Board at the Data Centre Alliance; Phil Richards, Head of ESG and SE First; and Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research at the Uptime Institute.
Once each of the panel introduced themselves, the panel discussion covered a varied array of questions from across the world of data centres. Ian focused in on innovation in the cooling sector, the evolution of data centre cooling technologies and the issues surrounding selecting the correct system e.g. the size of the data centre, the equipment, noise restrictions and the core issue of ongoing maintenance. Ian emphasised that while manufacturers were aiming for energy efficiency, and certification was key to proving product performance, for various reasons there was no ‘silver bullet’ when it came to refrigeration systems.
With the panel discussion coming to a close, there was just a couple of hours to spare to talk to delegates and manufacturers before the close of the event. Eurovent Certification would like to thank the attendees and organisers of Data Centre World for a busy and successful show.
Find out more about the event at www.datacentreworld.com