Colovore Tip 2 – Flexibility and “Power Choice”

Originally published on December 14th, 2020. Edited on February 16th, 2021.

In a new Server Technology video series, Marc Cram leads a series of conversations with Peter Harrison, CTO of Silicon Valley colocation provider Colovore. They discuss the challenges of being on the front lines of today’s high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence applications.  As a colocation provider that specializes in these types of applications, Colovore addresses power and cooling density challenges on a daily basis.  

In the second video in the series, Cram and Harrison address the concept of what Colovore terms “power choice.” It deals with the increasingly important role of flexibility in the design and deployment of their customers’ high-density installations. (as much as data center managers tend to focus on the concrete, physical aspects of power and cooling, they all go to support something that is harder to put your finger on: computing.)

When we hear the word “power”, we tend to think of electrical power. In this second Server Technology video, Peter Harrison sheds light on another kind of power in the data center: computing power. It is important for Peter’s customers to be able to harness this power in different ways. There is another aspect of the concept of “power choice,” which is power in the sense of authority, dominance, or sway in the world of computing. As a result of harnessing “power choice,” Harrison’s customers are better able to compete within their own marketplaces.

As Harrison states, it is a question of “how much of your computing power is going to be in the cloud or on-premises. This is a hyper, very fluid type of environment. The ability to predict what you are going to need, where, when, and how is increasingly more difficult.” Where and how computing power is used has a direct impact on the amount and type of electrical power needed at the rack.

How does Colovore help its customers with computing “power choice”? With Server Technology’s flexible Cx outlet. The Cx outlet is a hybrid of the C13 and C19 outlets. HDOT Cx accommodates both C20 and C14 plugs. Dev ops and facilities managers need to have flexibility in order to add equipment and increase computing capacity. They allow flexibility in supporting different server and equipment power outlet types. That is good because Colovore’s staff gets questions about that on a day to day basis. 

Colovore thinks of the Cx outlet as a new kind of physical power choice – at the rack level. “New equipment requires different permutations and combinations of those outlet types.” They are seeing new computers with much higher GPU requirements, and much larger power needs.

For more details about the role that Server Tech three-phase PDU(s) play in the management of high-density AI and HPC applications, head to https://go.servertech.com/high-density-colocation-computing-videos. Hear more of Marc and Peter’s conversation and learn why HDOT Cx helps support “power choice”.

In our next blog, we will discuss the next video in the series, ‘A Shameless Plug for the Revolutionary HDOT Cx.' If you missed our previous tip, check out Marc and Peter's conversation on "Beefy PDUs".