Cooling solutions for data centers
Data centers turn almost every watt into heat, all day, every day. We design cooling that keeps IT equipment within its limits through failures and heat waves, uses Canada's cold climate for free cooling, and is proven under load before go-live.
What makes it hard
- Rack densities are climbing fast with AI and high-performance computing, past what room-level air cooling can handle.
- A cooling failure can take equipment offline within minutes, so redundancy and ride-through must be designed and tested.
- Cooling is the largest energy user after the IT load, and PUE is now reported to owners, tenants and investors.
- Server rooms in office buildings often depend on base-building systems that shut down at night or in winter.
Our solutions
Design, build, test and tune: the services we bring to data centers.
Codes and standards we work to
- ASHRAE TC 9.9 Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments
- ASHRAE Standard 90.4 Energy Standard for Data Centers
- Uptime Institute tier concepts
- CSA B52 Mechanical refrigeration code
- NECB and provincial energy codes
Questions
Do you handle small server rooms?
Yes. Many projects are a single server or telecom room that needs dedicated cooling separate from the office system.
Can you add liquid cooling to an existing data hall?
Usually. We assess the chilled water capacity, piping routes and floor loading, then design coolant distribution units and piping for the racks that need it.
How do you prove the cooling works before go-live?
With load banks that simulate the IT heat, we run the system at design load and through failure scenarios such as a unit or pump going offline and a power transfer.
Further reading
- Data center cooling design: an overview
A map of the main decisions in data center cooling design, including environmental targets, air and liquid cooling options, heat rejection, redundancy and efficiency metrics, with links to deeper guides on each topic.
- ASHRAE TC 9.9 thermal guidelines for data centers
Learn what the ASHRAE TC 9.9 recommended and allowable envelopes mean, how equipment classes A1 to A4 and H1 differ, how humidity and altitude are treated, and how to use the guidelines to save cooling energy safely.
- Hot aisle and cold aisle containment
Learn why separating hot and cold air is the foundation of efficient data center cooling, how hot aisle and cold aisle containment compare, and the design, fire protection and control details that make containment work.
- Cooling high-density racks and AI workloads
A practical guide to the cooling options for high-density and AI racks, from air with containment to liquid cooling, and the facility decisions owners need to make early.
- Free cooling and economizers for data centers in Canada
Explains the main economizer options for data centers, how Canadian climates affect each one, and the design details that decide whether free cooling actually delivers.
- Commissioning data center cooling systems
A walkthrough of the commissioning process for data center cooling, including what happens at each level, which tests matter most and how to avoid common gaps.
Talk to us about your data center
Tell us about the building and what you need. We’ll be in touch within one hour.