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IO and ABB Engineer World’s First Direct Current-Powered IO.Anywhere™ Data Center Module
IO.Anywhere Direct Current (DC) Module is 10 to 20 Percent More Energy Efficient than Traditional Alternating Current (AC) Technology
IO, the leading provider of next-generation modular data center technology and services, and ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, announced today that they have agreed to partner in the development of a new data center module based on direct current (DC) power. Together, they will deliver the world’s first DC-powered data center module, which will be completed by the end of the year.
DC-powered technology is being increasingly adopted for electrical distribution in data centers as it reduces power conversion losses and is 10 to 20 percent more energy efficient than traditional alternating current (AC) technology. DC-powered systems also reduce complexity and require less space – decreasing equipment, installation and maintenance costs.
This new module expands IO’s modular products to include a DC-power option supplied by ABB. Similar to IO’s AC-power distribution network (PDN), the new DC-powered module is manufactured by IO using the IO.Anywhere standards-based hardware and software architecture. The AC- and DC-powered modules are managed and optimized by IO.OS®, the first data center operating system.
“The data center has always been DC powered; every device in the data center uses DC power inside,” said George D. Slessman, CEO of IO. “By leveraging the intelligent control of IO.OS and IO’s modular data center platform, we can now deliver the entire data center from the source on DC power, while providing flexibility to deliver AC power where and when needed.”
“ABB has a long heritage in DC-powered technologies since pioneering high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission in the 1950s,” said Tarak Mehta, head of ABB’s Low Voltage Products division. “We are pursuing the further development of DC power in many contemporary applications such as electric vehicle charging, renewable energy, energy storage and data centers where substantial economic and environmental benefits can be realized.”
The project underlines ABB’s goal to expand DC-power applications. ABB recently announced it will design and install an advanced DC-power distribution system for green.ch, one of the top information and communications technology (ITC) service providers in Switzerland. In May 2011, ABB gained a controlling interest in Validus DC Systems, a leading provider of DC power infrastructure equipment.
About IO
IO is a global leader in software-defined data centers and has pioneered the next generation of data center infrastructure technology. IO's integrated hardware and software data center technology platform offers enterprises, governments, and service providers an innovative way to deploy, provision, and optimize data center capacity anywhere in the world. IO technology lowers the total cost of data center ownership compared to traditional data centers, enabling dynamic deployment and intelligent control based on the needs of IT equipment and applications in the data center.
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