At the Data Cloud Conference in Cannes, Rittal was presented with the “Data Centre Team Excellence Award 2024”. The award recognises the achievements of the Rittal team at the Lefal Mine Data Centre (LMD) in Norway. This includes consultancy and the holistic approach of the RiMatrix containerised platform and Fjord water cooling solution, covering all the pillars of the data centre infrastructure – modularity, standardisation and scalability.
Operated in a former mine, the Lefdal Mine Datacenter is one of the most secure, flexible and energy-efficient data centres in Europe. Norway has a large local surplus of low-cost electricity from renewable energy. Cold fjord water is used for cooling. The data centre offers low project and operating costs, natural EMP security, high scalability and flexibility, and is highly energy efficient with a PUE of less than 1.1.
Rittal is playing a key role in the implementation and operation of this state-of-the-art data centre. The “Data Centre Team Excellence Award 2024” recognises projects that, according to the jury’s criteria, “have had a major impact on the data centre and cloud services sector in the past 18 months”.
Energy-efficient cooling and comprehensive IT infrastructure management Based on the RiMatrix portfolio, Rittal has designed standardised and containerised data centre solutions for the LMD that offer great flexibility and cost efficiency. These pre-configured modules are installed in turnkey containers and have up to ten racks. They are equipped with power distribution and climate control as well as with monitoring software for end-to-end IT infrastructure management. From colocation and private cloud to ITaaS (IT as a service) and DCaaS (data centre as a service), this enables the rapidly scalable deployment of IT systems.
In addition, the Rittal team has introduced a climate control solution with the Liquid Cooling Package (LCP) range. The LCP directs the hot air from the servers through a special heat exchanger connected to the Fjord’s 7°C chilled water circuit, efficiently cooling the hot air to the desired inlet temperature of 15°C before returning it to the system. This process leads to a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of less than 1.1. With 97 per cent of its electricity coming from renewable sources, the low power consumption is not only economical but also climate-friendly.
Anna Klaft, Vice President IT Business Unit at Rittal and member of the Board of Directors of Ledfal Mine explains: “This award from a prestigious jury is a great recognition for us. I am very happy for our team, because this award shows how expertise and a clear view of users’ needs on the one hand and the flexibility of standardised modules on the other complement each other and play to their strengths for the customer.
Megawatt cooling with water
Rittal also gave a preview of its next technological innovation at the “Data Cloud Conference”: Single-phase direct liquid cooling with water as an indispensable “enabler” for AI applications. The reason is simple: The required power density pushes the air cooling in the rack to its limits. Working closely with several hyperscalers and server OEMs, Rittal has developed a new type of Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU) with a cooling output greater than 1 MW. It fits compactly into a bayed OCP rack and its modular design means it can be easily serviced while running.