Company: Asetek, Inc., San Jose, CA
Entry Submitted By: Clark Street Associates
Company Description: Asetek is the world's leading provider of CPU and GPU liquid cooling systems for thermal and acoustic management. Asetek's solutions are used by leading OEMs servicing the gaming, workstation and performance PC markets. In 2012, Asetek released its RackCDU product line for liquid cooling of data center servers.
Nomination Category: Products & Product Management Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: New Product or Service of the Year - Hardware - Computer

Nomination Title: RackCDU Liquid Cooling System for Data Center Efficiency

Tell the story about this nominated product or service (up to 525 words). Describe its function, features, benefits, and performance to date:

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BACKGROUND: Data center cooling is one of the biggest problems facing the industry today. Data centers consume 2.2% of all U.S. electricity, with about 40% used for cooling alone (EPA estimate, 2008).
 
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: In 2012, Asetek released a new product line for the data center market called RackCDU. RackCDU is an innovative liquid-cooling technology that can be integrated into virtually any brand of commercial server.  It is a direct-to-chip liquid cooling system that removes heat directly from CPUs, GPUs and memory modules within servers and uses liquid to take the heat out of the data center. Free ambient outdoor air cools the water returning to the data center, so no power is required to actively chill the water.

RackCDU is deployed at the rack level, providing maximum scalability. The system is mounted in a 10-inch rack extension that includes space for direct-to-chip cooling loops within each server. The direct-to-chip cooling loops are drop-in replacements for the existing air heat sinks inside each server, enabling RackCDU deployment as an onsite retrofit to existing data centers, or installed into new servers by equipment OEMs.

BENEFITS: Compared to state-of-the-art air-cooling, RackCDU reduces data center cooling energy by 60-80%, reduces IT energy by 5-10%, allows 40-60% of data center heat to be captured and re-used for on-site heating/hot-water, and increases server density by 250%-400%.  In the U.S., RackCDU has the potential to cut total data center energy consumption by more 42 billion kWh/yr, saving $3.3 billion/yr, while recovering enough waste-heat to reduce national natural gas consumption in commercial buildings by almost 2%. 

Unlike other liquid cooling technologies, which rely on proprietary server designs and typically need to be designed into a data center during construction, RackCDU is a self-contained, drop-in system that works with almost all commercial server brands. It can be installed as part of new construction, or as a retrofit to existing data centers, with 1) minimal infrastructure impact; 2) no need for specialized training of data center staff; 3) no need for proprietary servers; and 4) rapid payback (0-12 months). Unlike previous liquid-cooling solutions, the liquid in RackCDU is completely self-contained in a helium-leak-tested, closed-loop system that is sealed at the factory. Cooling occurs through a copper cold-plate, so no liquid ever comes in contact with the electronics.

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Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that developed this nominated product or service:

André Eriksen is the inventor of RackCDU and CEO of Asetek. Eriksen is a recognized expert in computer cooling. In 2000, he founded Asetek, which is now the world’s leading supplier of in-chassis liquid cooling systems for the desktop and workstation PC markets. Asetek has sold more than 1.4 million liquid cooling systems through major OEMs, including Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer, Intel and AMD. In 2012, Asetek released RackCDU for the data center industry.
Previously, Eriksen worked at Danfoss. He got a practical education as a toolmaker before earning an engineering degree from Aalborg University in Denmark. In 2005, he completed an entrepreneurship program at MIT’s Sloane School of Management. In 2001, Eriksen received an award as Denmark’s Best Entrepreneur from the Danish government.

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