We have recently contributed to exciting and leading-edge developments in data centre equipment technology.
With the advent of virtualised "cloud computing" came the requirement for faster switching and throughput, placing higher demands on EMC containment and thermal management. In this application, products are manufactured in high volume and at low cost: performance is critical but "price-per-port" becomes an important metric if the product is to be competitive.
Countering this trend is a return to the approach for centralisation of many computing nodes into a large monolithic unit, exceeding the limits of conventional thermal management techniques. One such development is one in which we have played a central role achieving cooling of high-end computing hardware by liquid cooling through total immersion in a specially engineered dielectric fluid. Using this technique the ability to dissipate thermal power is unprecedented, thus redefining the boundaries of PCB design & layout beyond that generally accepted as being possible.
