New green data centre solution marks a new chapter for Hong Kong
OneAsia, a leading IT service provider in Asia for cloud-based solutions and data centre services, is proud to launch an immersion cooling solution starting this September. The first of its kind in Hong Kong, the new solution significantly reduces data centre energy consumption and provides more reliable performance. It marks a ground-breaking shift for a heavy energy-consuming industry towards a greener future by adopting innovative, sustainable technologies and practices.
OneAsia is the first data centre operator to provide this innovative technology in Hong Kong and is set to expand the service to its other data centres in Greater China and East and Southeast Asia.
In recent years, advances in AI, IoT and machine learning, combined with increased computing power and performance requirements, have led to a higher server rack density – a particularly dire problem with Hong Kong’s land constraints. The result has been an upsurge in heat generated by traditional data centres, with cooling systems correspondingly consuming significantly more energy at greater cost.
By contrast, immersion cooling solutions are widely recognized for their reliability and energy and cost efficiency. They are also conveniently scalable to any size of data centre.
Immersion cooling – also known as direct liquid cooling – is an innovative cooling solution that brings significant advantages over traditional air-cooling techniques, especially when applied to high-density environments such as data centres. For facilities that feature extremely high-density racks (typically over 30 kW), air cooling simply is not sufficient to maintain the reliability of IT systems, no matter how new or optimized they may be. For such facilities (rack power requirements are reaching close to 20 kW in many facilities, and many organizations are looking to deploy racks with requirements of 50kW or more), liquid cooling is not a choice, but a necessity.
With immersion cooling, the rack is designed specifically so that servers are inserted vertically. An immersion tank houses the servers in a dielectric bath, and utilizing a CDU, circulates cooling fluid to remove heat.
As well as scalability, immersion cooling systems also offer a quieter working environment. Other key benefits include:
- Improved reliability and performance: up to 10x increase in computing density when comparing to air-cooled data centres. It is also more reliable, as the server is now sealed in a unit and unaffected by vibration, humidity or air borne dust particles.
- Improved energy efficiency: liquid has higher thermal transfer properties than air. It also reduces server energy use significantly as no fans are required within the rack – no water consumption and no fan energy used result in a 45 per cent lower carbon footprint than that of air-cooled data centres, and a PUE of 1.09 or lower anywhere.
- Sustainability: liquid cooling provides a more effective way to repurpose captured heat, as liquid-to-liquid heat transfer is more efficient than what is possible with air-based cooling systems. As a result, a large portion of energy is ready for reuse, creating the possibility of energy neutrality by supplying heat.
- Maximizing cost efficiency: it maximizes data centre space by reducing its physical footprint by 40 per cent. It also decreases cooling infrastructure CAPEX and OPEX by around 50 per cent and 85 per cent respectively.
Charles Lee, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Legan Group (parent company of OneAsia), comments: “The introduction of this immersion cooling solution demonstrates our dedication to providing the best colocation solutions that enable customers to meet the increasingly demanding heat dissipation and power requirements for IT infrastructure today. As the first in Hong Kong to provide this add-on service, it will allow our customers to achieve optimum energy efficiency in operation.”
Lee adds that OneAsia’s expertise in end-to-end solutions for digital infrastructure means that the new immersion cooling solution will offer the long-term benefits of enabling sustainable, future-ready data centres anywhere, and will help to build a more resilient digital infrastructure.
A key step in building a greener future
The push to make data centres more environmentally friendly is currently underway. Motivated by sustainable policies and initiatives and enhanced awareness, clients and industry players are looking for better ways to reduce data centres’ energy consumption to stay ahead of the trend.
Building-related activities account for some 90 per cent of Hong Kong’s total electricity consumption, which is significantly higher than a global average of 40 per cent. Meanwhile, 4 per cent of the total electricity consumption is used in the data centre segment, in which over 37 per cent of electricity consumption is used for air conditioning – a figure much higher than the average 25 per cent for the commercial sector. These findings show air conditioning reduction – ie. introducing immersion cooling solutions – to be a key step in actualising the Hong Kong Government goal of reducing energy intensity by 40 per cent by year 2025, and the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to well under 2°C (preferably to 1.5°C) compared to pre-industrial levels.
Headquartered in Hong Kong with an expanding Asian market that boasts data centres in Hong Kong, Greater China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia, OneAsia is committed to investing in cutting-edge technologies that provide the greenest, most reliable, and efficient IT infrastructure and solutions to our partners, and to working tirelessly to help make our sustainable future a reality.
Established in 2009, OneAsia is a leading data centre, connectivity, and cloud solutions provider offering a full range of infrastructure, management, connectivity, and application services to business of all sizes. The Company operates top-tier rated data centres and offers services across Asia, including Greater China, and is further expanding its presence in Thailand, Japan, and South Korea. OneAsia cares about the sustainability of the industry as much as the reliability of our services, we integrate state-of-the-art and green technologies into our data centre infrastructure and our service solutions to keep our customers well connected at any time and from anywhere.
