TALKING BUSINESS
What effect have AI workloads had on power distribution?
There is a monumental push for increased power capacity driven entirely by AI racks. When we look at AI racks today compared to standard racks from just a few years ago, the contrast in power consumption is stark – they are far more powerhungry. Consequently, power infrastructure across the board has had to rapidly evolve to keep pace with escalating demand.
To put this into context, four or five years ago racks were drawing under 10 kW. Today, we see racks drawing 150 kW or more. This represents a dramatic change in the growth rate we’ ve traditionally seen in the rack space over the past half-decade.
We are witnessing this evolution across the entire power chain, resulting in higher available fault current. This rapid, dramatic transformation has forced power infrastructure benefactors to evolve in an incredibly short timeframe.
What are the major challenges for data centre power distribution today and what must future-ready products and strategies provide?
To ensure future-readiness, infrastructure must now be specified not only to satisfy current demand but also to account for the long term. Since these rapid increases in demand and subsequent infrastructure changes show no signs of slowing, data centres must integrate long-term thinking at the planning stage.
For instance, we were once accustomed to seeing 400 amp busway and below specified, whereas today we’ re seeing 800 amp or 1,000 amp allocated for server rows. To remain future-ready, data centres need to plan for a longer term – perhaps even‘ over-designing’ or allocating more power capacity within server rows than is immediately required, and potentially considering busway from the outset. Companies must adopt this long-term mindset, planning for rising demand despite uncertainty and designing infrastructure that is adaptable as power needs change. Our open channel busway is available up to 1200 amps, offering very high capacity that is unique in the market.
How do traditional RPP systems compare to overhead busway solutions when it comes to supporting future-ready data centre operations?
On the surface, on‘ day one’ installation, Remote Power Panels( RPPs) and overhead busway systems appear similar. Both can be specified from a given design brief and installed to meet those immediate requirements.
The significant advantage of the busway system, however, truly emerges during live operation: the‘ day two’ phase, or when futureproofing is required.
With busway, organisations can specify a higher capacity system from the outset, even if that capacity isn’ t initially required. When higherdensity racks are deployed, custom plug-in units can be quickly and easily added to meet increased demand.
This is where the flexibility of busway helps streamline ongoing operations. You can procure custom-built units and scale capacity far easier than with an RPP. With RPPs, scaling or reconfiguration typically necessitates a system shutdown and the complex routing of new power cables, making busway a more straightforward solution for long-term evolution.
How does moving power distribution overhead and utilising a modular design fundamentally change a data centre’ s white space planning?
With busway, the system’ s backbone is installed overhead, effectively spanning the server racks. Visually, it’ s quite easy to trace the plug-in unit powering a specific rack or load.
The design significantly reduces the potential for mistakes, as it provides a simple and intuitive way to distribute power.
Crucially, design modularity fundamentally changes white space planning: circuits can be added or removed with minimal effort, offering a very straightforward mechanism for scaling capacity and maximizing space without reconfiguring power infrastructure.
How do installation processes differ between RPP and busway systems and what effect does that have on overall installation cost?
This is where RPPs and busway systems fundamentally diverge. RPPs can be resourceintensive, requiring significant labour and time. To illustrate, an RPP system involves two physical locations: the RPP source and the final rack location. If power is needed for 20 racks
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Chris Osian, Product Manager at Starline, a brand of Legrand www. intelligentcio. com
INTELLIGENT CIO MIDDLE EAST
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