Vertiv identified as global leader for data centre cooling

Vertiv has been ranked as a global leader in the data center cooling market, according to research by technology analyst firm Omdia.

Vertiv recognised as leader

The Omdia paper, Data Center Thermal Management Report 2020, published in late 2020 and based on 2018 and 2019 data, states that Vertiv has a 23.5% share of the global data center cooling market – more than 10% higher than its nearest rival.

The market for data center thermal technology is set to increase from $3.3 billion in 2020 to more than $4.3 billion in 2024, according to Omdia.

Vertiv also leads the global market for perimeter thermal technologies with a 37.5% market share which is more than 20% higher than the next largest supplier.

Vertiv Asia vice president for products, solutions and marketing, Chee Hoe Ling says, "The Omdia report reaffirms Vertiv's strong market position and technology leadership in the data center cooling market.

"In Asia, including Australia and New Zealand, we continue to see strong demand for our cooling solutions from our customers who are either looking to expand their edge locations or ramp up the roll-out of their colocation or cloud facilities.

"We have the most comprehensive portfolio of our data center cooling solutions in the region and we work closely with our customers and partners to continue to strengthen our product and solution roadmap to address emerging customer demands.

Data Center cooling tech evolution

In addition to analysing market position, the report provides insight and intelligence on how data center cooling technology is evolving.

The research highlights that established heat rejection technologies such as Direct Expansion (DX), Chilled Water and Evaporative Cooling continue to dominate while also becoming more sustainable.

In addition, new technologies, such as forms of liquid cooling, are predicted to grow as data center operators look for ways to further improve efficiency and deal with increasingly power-intensive compute.

Established technologies such as chillers and perimeter cooling will remain a large proportion of the market, the researcg finds.

According to Omdia, split DX is still the primary form of heat rejection in data center thermal management, but chilled water and direct evaporative heat rejection are gaining momentum.

In addition, cloud and colocation service provider momentum has accelerated, driving double-digit growth for air handling units (AHU).

The future of data center cooling tech

Omdia predicts there will also be strong growth in forms of liquid cooling – immersion and direct-to-chip – that are expected to double between 2020 and 2024.

Several factors are contributing to this shift, including increasing chip and server power consumption, edge growth, increasing rack densities, as well as energy efficiency and sustainability requirements, the report finds.

Omdia principal analyst for cloud and data center research practice and the report's author, Lucas Beran says, "The data center thermal management market is on the cusp of an inflection point.

"Currently, existing air-based thermal products and solutions are driving growth but are limited by their ability to cool 10kW+ rack densities.

"New technologies, products, and designs are coming to market to help support these high-density deployments and more efficient operations leading to changing market dynamic through 2024.

Recent Vertiv wins

In Asia, Vertiv has launched several thermal management solutions, including the Liebert CRV4, a row-based solution designed to provide maximum cooling in a compact design; the Liebert PEX4 room cooling solution with integrated intelligent controls and the latest technologies for maximum efficiency.

In addition to internal innovations, Vertiv is also working with industry thought leadership groups and recently became a Platinum Member of the Open Compute Project (OCP).

Vertiv's role will include supporting initiatives on the adoption of liquid cooling through the Advanced Cooling Solutions (ACS) and Advanced Cooling Facility (ACF) projects.

The aim is to bring guidelines and best practices for direct-to-chip and immersion liquid cooling technologies as well as enable practices for data center facilities to adopt liquid cooling.

Vertiv's own research into thermal technologies also points to future innovation. According to Vertiv's Data Center 2025: Closer to the Edge report, the data center industry has seen a large-scale shift to economisation driven by hyperscale operators and colocation providers, while simultaneously driving heat removal closer to servers through rear door and liquid cooling systems designed to support the high-density racks common in high performance computing (HPC) facilities.

Of the 800+ data center professionals that responded to the survey, 42% expect future cooling requirements to be met by mechanical systems, while 22% say they will be met with liquid cooling and outside air, a result likely driven by the more extreme rack densities being observed today.