Cooling Vendor Turns Up Channel Heat

The SprayCool system consists of modules that spot-cool processors, memory and hard drives in a data center and disperse the heat waste into a condenser, where it can be eliminated through a building's cooling system. Its products include the M-Series, which works with retrofitted 1U servers, and the upcoming G-Series, a full-board cooling option under development that will use DC power.

Liberty Lake, Wash.-based SprayCool pitched its technology approach late last month at a Dallas conference held by the 1NService alliance, which includes 20 regional integrators with substantial network infrastructure and data center practices.

Todd Berard, business development manager for SprayCool, said the modules can remove up to 50 percent of a rack's heat load. The vendor pitches its ability to let companies improve rack density and increase the number of servers in a data center.

SprayCool is working with OEMs such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM (which was part of SprayCool's 1NService booth demo) and Sun Microsystems, according to Berard. SprayCool also is talking to 1NService members and other network integrators about including its technology in their data centers as part of demonstration racks.

Ross Toole, president of Applied Microsystems, a solution provider and 1NService member in Anchorage, Alaska, said energy conservation is clearly an issue for the data center, and a system such as SprayCool could have benefits. However, he was uncertain of where the "monetization" would take place. Moreover, Toole and other solution providers said they would need to study the design implications of the SprayCool module and whether it can be retrofitted easily.

"I can see where it might have an economic impact, but other things should be addressed first," Toole said.

SprayCool's recruiting effort is stepping up along with activity by the Green Grid, a consortium formed to address high-tech power consumption concerns. Its board has 11 companies, including founders Advanced Micro Devices, American Power Conversion, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Rackable Systems, Sun Microsystems and VMware.

Among other things, SprayCool is participating in a rebate program with Avista Utilities, an electric and natural gas utility in Spokane, Wash. Under the effort, companies in the Avista service area that invest in SprayCool-enabled servers will receive a rebate of $100 per SprayCool-configured server or up to $3,600 for a full rack that uses the technology. The rebate applies to new data center facilities or upgrades.