Airedale and Asperitas go head-to-head in live debate

UK: Two leading players in the data centre cooling market are to go head-to-head live online to debate whether air or immersion cooling represents the future of data centre cooling. 

In this free to attend debate next month, UK-based air conditioning solutions provider Airedale International will argue its technology against immersion cooling promoted by Dutch company Asperitas.

Debating the motion “Immersion cooling is more energy efficient and will therefore overtake air-based systems as the preferred cooling method in most large data centres by 2030” will see Airedale’s technical account manager Matt Evans taking on Rolf Brink, founder and CEO of Asperitas, in what has been dubbed Cool Wars.

Airedale will be making the case that air cooling innovations are progressing at such a pace that there is no need for other, newer technologies.

Darren Farrar, marketing manager at Airedale International, explains: “Connectivity underpins everything we do and the data centre industry is constantly evolving to keep up with not only demand, but also its environmental responsibilities. Cooling providers have to match the demands of performance with energy efficiency and as such foster an environment of innovation.

“Liquid cooling as a technology is not just knocking on the door of the data centre world, it’s threatening to knock it down. As a traditional air cooled system provider, we might be looking over our shoulder, but we are confident that with continued innovation, we will not be displaced as the technology of choice within most facilities.”

On the opposing side, Rolf Brink argues: “Immersion of IT equipment within a dielectric fluid has been revolutionary in data centre cooling and is the most efficient solution for today’s high chip density units which generate a lot of heat. Plus, immersion cooling compliments wider goals to achieve an energy neutral data centre industry globally as it can allow 99% of the energy to be used as valuable thermal energy. Immersion cooling enables simplified data centre design and reduces energy costs, so we believe immersion cooling will be the clear winner in this debate.”

The event is being held on on 14 October at 15.00 BST/16.00 CEST. It is free to attend and delegates are required to register in advance here.