Showcased at AWS re:Invent, the company revealed new cooling and rack designs as well as an overhaul of its data centre’s electrical distribution and mechanical systems.
The new capabilities will be implemented globally in AWS’s new data centres — such as its low-carbon steel sites under construction in Sweden, with the new designs also set to be added to some of its existing sites.
Subscribe today for free
“These data centre capabilities represent an important step forward with increased energy efficiency and flexible support for emerging workloads,” said Prasad Kalyanaraman, VP of infrastructure services at AWS. “What is even more exciting is that they are designed to be modular so that we are able to retrofit our existing infrastructure for liquid cooling and energy efficiency to power generative AI applications and lower our carbon footprint.”
Among the new data centre updates showcased at re:Invent include advanced cooling solutions, featuring configurable liquid-to-chip and air cooling technologies for AI servers, including its custom Trainium2 chips.
AWS said the hybrid cooling capabilities will optimise hardware performance by leveraging both liquid and air-based cooling strategies suitable for the right hardware.
Also at re:Invent, AWS pledged to reduce the amount of stranded power — energy that is available but unused or underutilised.
Leveraging AI-powered software, AWS aims to optimise rack power, ensuring it supports high-density AI workloads while making more efficient use of the energy available.
AWS said it has also developed new capabilities for its power delivery systems, enabling the hyperscaler to support a 6x increase in rack power density over the next two years, and another 3x increase in the future.
Upgrades to its power delivery systems include a newly revised power shelf that’s designed to power throughout the rack, reducing electrical conversion losses.
AWS said the revised power delivery system delivers 12% more compute power per site for customer workloads, ultimately reducing the overall number of data centres needed to deliver the same amount of compute capacity.
The hyperscaler is also rolling out new updated control systems that standardise monitoring, alarming, and operational sequences, providing site staff with real-time diagnostics and troubleshooting.
Simplified electrical designs: Focus on energy efficiency
AWS also revealed it has overhauled electrical and mechanical designs in its data centres, simplifying them to make them “more reliable and easier to maintain.”
AWS said it has simplified electrical distribution, reducing the number of potential failure points in one example by 20%.
One part of its electrical simplification saw the hyperscale bring backup power supplies in its data centres closer to the rack, which it said reduced the number of fans used to exhaust hot air.
“AWS is using the natural pressure differential to exhaust hot air, which improves the amount of electricity available for servers,” the company said in a statement. “All of these changes help reduce overall energy consumption while minimising the risk of failures.”
In addition to the electrical simplification, AWS said it’s been working on upgrading the energy efficiency of its data centres.
Beyond the earlier mentioned cooling systems, AWS said it’s working to reduce the amount of carbon it produces by using more sustainable building materials when constructing new data centres.
The hyperscaler said it is reducing the amount of embodied carbon in the concrete used to create the shells of data centre buildings by up to 35%.
The carbon reduction efforts extend to steel, with AWS leveraging steel made through a process called HYBRIT, which uses hydrogen instead of coal to make iron ore for new data centres in Sweden.
Beyond new materials, AWS said it plans to ensure data centre backup generators will run on renewable diesel rather than fossil diesel.
The hyperscale said existing sites in Europe and the US are already using renewable diesel, which is a biodegradable and non-toxic fuel that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% compared to traditional diesel.
RELATED STORIES
Amazon turns to low-carbon steel for greener data centre projects
Tech Mahindra, AWS unveil AI platform to streamline telco network operations
Amazon launches $110m project to provide custom chips for AI research
