The Global Smart Green Data Center Summit 2023 was recently held in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, with the theme of "Smart DC, Building the Green Future." 

More than 600 data centre industry leaders, technical experts, and ecosystem partners from around the world gathered there to discuss new opportunities, demands, and challenges for the global data centre industry in the AI computing era. They shared cutting-edge technologies and innovative practices of green data centres. 

They also witnessed the global launch of Huawei's three latest data centre facility solutions. They visited its national green data centre to see how the power usage effectiveness (PUE) is kept as low as 1.15. Together, they explored ways to build a green and low-carbon future for shared success.

Hou Jinlong, President of Huawei Digital Power Technologies, stated in his opening speech that the digital transformation across various industries has accelerated, the number of global connections and computing power requirements have doubled, and the demand for data centre construction has surged. 

“Huawei integrates bit, watt, heat, and battery (4T) technologies and focuses on small-, medium-, and large-sized data centres and mission-critical power supply for various businesses. It offers world-leading products and solutions to help the industry build future-proof green, simple, smart, and reliable data centres that enable each watt to carry more computing power and accelerate the transition to a new era of digital power.”

Charles Yang, President of Global Marketing, Sales and Services of Huawei Digital Power, delivered a keynote speech on "Leverage Computing Power to Build a Low-Carbon Smart Future." He pointed out that computing power has become a fuel for social development, and the data centre industry is advancing. 

“Huawei works with global experts to define the next-generation data centres, carries out constant innovations, and builds benchmark projects through numerous practices with customers and partners, aiming to drive the industry development. In the context of thriving digital economy, Huawei seizes the opportunities and builds a world-leading, robust, and secure technological system that integrates digital and power electronics technologies, and establishes a mature global business and ecosystem for Digital Power. Huawei is confident and capable of supporting global customers and ecosystem partners in building a low-carbon smart future for shared success.”

At the event, Fei Zhenfu, President of Huawei Data Centre Facility Domain, delivered a keynote speech on "Ultimate Energy Efficiency and Full-chain Reliability" and released the next-generation indirect evaporative cooling solution EHU and mobile intelligent management solution iManager-M. "A portfolio of scenario-based data centre solutions that promise optimal reliability throughout the lifecycle will be built to drive the high-quality development of the data centre industry."

As the intelligent world is accelerating, massive data is emerging, requiring unprecedented data security and trustworthiness. Huawei considers full-chain reliability the core competitiveness of data centre facility products and solutions. It has built safety protection in development, testing, production, and delivery to avoid safety risks.

To cope with the challenges of high energy consumption and low reliability of traditional cooling systems in large data centres, Huawei has developed the next-generation indirect evaporative cooling solution EHU based on the concepts of ultimate energy saving and full-chain reliability.

Huawei-developed AeroTurbo fans and IceCube polymer heat exchangers maximize the use of free cooling sources, greatly improve cooling efficiency, save water and power, and achieve ultimate energy efficiency and green cooling in Ulanqab. The PUE is as low as 1.15, and the water usage effectiveness (WUE) is only 0.6 L/kWh.

Reliable architecture, reliable equipment, and network security safeguard all systems and raise the system availability to 99.9999%. The distributed cooling architecture allows each device to run independently, ensuring zero impact when a device fails. The backup power system is directly connected to ensure 0 ms power switching and zero cooling interruption. CSPSH and IEC 62443-4-2 certified information security detection ensure zero impact of network attacks.

Simplified deployment and O&M ensure minimum workload throughout the lifecycle. Hyper-converged prefabrication and innovative integration of cooling and power enable product design of engineering and modular design of products, shortening the delivery period from six months to three months. Modular hardware can be hot-swapped for maintenance within 3 minutes. With functions defined by software, backup power can be switched between fans or fans plus compressors by one click within minutes.

The iCooling@AI energy efficiency optimization technology achieves the designed PUE and enables high-efficiency operation upon delivery. In indirect evaporative cooling scenarios, the energy consumption will be reduced by 3%–5%.

Huawei has established expertise in service, O&M, and AI algorithms for small- and medium-sized data centres. The intelligent management solution iManager-M integrates all these strengths and delivers the following benefits:

The solution displays accurate KPIs and enables mobile O&M anytime, anywhere. The streamlined Harmony UI style guarantees optimal user experience.

The innovative iHealth monthly health report can identify potential risks in more than 20 scenarios so that users can get the accurate health status of various devices. With five alarm notification modes designed, faults can be reported with one click and logs are also sent to ensure rapid repair.

iCooling@AI energy efficiency optimization facilitates on-demand intelligent cooling in smart modular data centres, reducing the PUE by more than 15%. Energy consumption is measured by day, month, and year so that users can have a clear knowledge of energy-saving effects.

Software is deployed on the cloud, so no local server is needed, which reduces the CAPEX. Multiple data centres with diverse devices can be managed easily in a unified manner.

Shui Yu, General Manager of Huawei Data Centre Facility and Critical Power Consulting and Ecosystem Solution Dept, unveiled the FusionDC Ecosystem Solution. "A 'Huawei+Partner' model based on the "1+4+N" architecture will be adopted to promote the upgrade of prefabricated modular construction to help customers achieve business success."

With continuous R&D investments and innovations in the field of prefabricated modular data centres, Huawei upgraded its data centre facility solutions from FusionDC 1.0 AIO to FusionDC 2.0 and to FusionDC 3.0, which was used to construct the world's first building-level prefabricated modular data centre. Huawei has built the world's No.1 prefabricated modular data centre brand over 12 years, with a total installed capacity of over 400 MW.

Based on the "1+4+N" architecture, the FusionDC 5.0 next-generation prefabricated modular data centre solution features product design of engineering, modular design of products, and prefabrication of modules. It helps customers deploy around a thousand racks in just half a year, shortens the time to market (TTM) by 50%, reduces the PUE to 1.15 (in Beijing), and improves recyclability from 30% to 85%.

1 refers to the unified architecture and design. Standard modules can be flexibly combined to form data centres at shelter, POD, building, and campus levels, which adapt to different building forms.

4 refers to four core electromechanical modules: IT module, power module, cooling module, and battery module. Huawei integrates full-stack technologies into the four core electromechanical modules and uses four key technologies – Panshi Architecture 2.0, converged power supply, efficient cooling, and intelligent O&M, to build optimal prefabricated modular data centres.

N refers to N solutions from ecosystem partners. Through ecosystem cooperation, Huawei empowers various ecosystem-based products and works together with partners to develop all-scenario customized solutions. The solutions can be widely used in prefabricated modular data centres in large-scale colo, ICT convergence, and energy-saving reconstruction scenarios.

The success of FusionDC 5.0 cannot be achieved without the support of ecosystem partners. Looking ahead, Huawei will focus on partners of three categories – consulting and design, solution development, and integrated delivery – based on ecosystem solutions to fully leverage mutual advantages and build a thriving ecosystem for shared success,” says the company.