An AI data center may refer to either a cutting-edge facility designed to accommodate the intense computational demands of artificial intelligence (AI) workloads or a separate class of facilities that may emerge.
AI workloads consume a lot of data center resources like space, power, cooling, and data/power port connections. Some current data centers can support these high-density workloads, but as GPU-based deployments continue to push rack densities higher, there may be a need for new facility designs.
Characteristics of an AI data center may include:
- High-density deployments. AI data centers may need to accommodate power requirements as high as 50 kW per rack.
- Innovative cooling solutions. Traditional air cooling is insufficient for the amount of heat generated by AI workloads. Liquid cooling is becoming a more attractive option to efficiently remove heat.
- Advanced networking infrastructure. AI workloads heavily rely on parallel processing which demands robust cabling infrastructure within GPU clusters and between racks.
- Modern data center management tools. Manual spreadsheets and diagrams will be a thing of the past as data center managers continue to switch to modern Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software.
- Streamlined operations and workforce optimization. AI-driven solutions have the potential to address the industry challenge of a skills shortage by automating various tasks.
Can Your Racks Support AI Workloads?
Without the right tools, trying to determine if your current facilities can support AI workloads is challenging. It can require gathering data from many disparate source, manual math, and estimations that may or may not be accurate.
DCIM software gives you the answer with:
- Intelligent capacity search. Quickly identify and reserve capacity for AI deployments by entering your device details and getting a list of racks with available capacity.
- What-if analysis. Predict the impact of planned AI workloads on rack-level space and power utilization and proactively manage density across all your racks.
- Automatic server power budgeting. Automatically calculate an accurate power budget number for every device instance you deploy to safely put more servers in your existing racks.
- Dynamic single-line power diagrams. Get insights into the power capacity and load at each hop in your power chain. Ensure three-phase load balance, prevent breaker trips, simplify redundancy planning, and eliminate the need for static paper diagrams.
- Correlated capacity reporting. Leverage a color-coded digital twin of your data center to visualize and analyze multiple capacity parameters like rack temperature and weight simultaneously.
Want to see how Sunbird’s world-leading DCIM software can help you know if your racks can support AI workloads? Get your free test drive now.