The new wave of investment in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing is changing not only servers, but also the infrastructure that supports them. One area where the changes are particularly evident is in the racks used in data centres. Vertiv has just unveiled its new Rack Extreme family of racks, designed for AI and HPC environments where increasing demand for computing power translates into greater cooling, power and cabling organisation requirements.
The new solution is part of a wider trend seen in the market. With the rise of AI models, data centre operators are deploying heavier and more power-hungry servers equipped with GPU accelerators. This is forcing the use of deeper and more robust designs that can handle heavier hardware and provide adequate airflow.
Vertiv points out that the Rack Extreme offers a static and dynamic load capacity of 2045kg. This means that the rack can maintain the same performance during both operation and transport, which is expected to make it easier to move fully equipped configurations without having to dismantle equipment. The design is based on a fully welded frame and heavy-duty slides.
The manufacturer also pays attention to airflow and cable management issues. The cabinets feature high air permeability doors, integrated cable guides and the ability to expand with additional accessories. The overall aim is to support more efficient cooling of high power density infrastructure.
An important part of Vertiv’s strategy is to integrate the new cabinets with its own ecosystem of solutions including UPS systems, PDU power strips, liquid cooling technologies and IT infrastructure management tools. The company has been developing its product portfolio for AI environments for several years, focusing on providing complete power, cooling and power distribution platforms for next-generation data centres.
The launch of Rack Extreme shows that the development of artificial intelligence is increasingly affecting the physical layer of data centres. In practice, this means that innovations today not only involve processors and software, but also infrastructure components that were still in the shadow of servers a few years ago.
