Dell has introduced an integrated 'chiller-less' data centre solution, following on from an industry trend of employing better fresh air cooling technologies. Dell's new solution is already being used by a data processing micro-site that provides information for the Microsoft Bing Maps service.

Dell Fresh Air cooling technology helps companies run their data centres at higher temperatures by up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 C). The company said it tested its new approach to tolerate up to 900 hours of 104-degree Fahrenheit (40 C) operation per year.

The allowable humidity supported by the solution ranges between 5 to 90 per cent. As a result of using the new technology, operational expense savings can be made of up to $100,000 per megawatt of IT technology.

"Dell data centre technologies with Fresh Air capability allow for aggressive improvements in energy consumption and the resulting operational costs, even in data centres that have already been economised with respect to cooling," said Forrest Norrod, vice president and general manager of server platforms for Dell.

"The total Fresh Air solution, with thermal, reliability and system engineering fully validated, is based on advanced engineering and design."

This integrated solution includes storage, servers and networking equipment operating under guidelines set out by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

Dell is also one of the companies taking part in the Facebook Open Compute Project, an initiative set up by the social network to make its energy efficiency techniques available to others in the cloud services sector.

Written by Chris Tate

Dell gives breath of Fresh Air for data centre cooling