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IHS: Rack Density Remains Low, But Will Increase (Eventually)

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According to IHS Markit rack PDUs with power ratings in the 5-10kW range account for 41% of 2015 global rack PDU revenue-- an improvement from 38% in 2013, and proof a shift is taking place.

rack pduHowever, while 5-10kW rack PDUs are growing in popularity over <5kW options, growth is "slightly" limited by movement towards higher power ratings. For instance, rack PDUs with power ratings higher than 10kW account for 22% of 2015 global rack PDU revenue, up from 18% in 2013. That said, IHS points out average rack power densities are not as high as the rack PDU power rating data might suggest, since the average actually remains below 5kW per rack.

The analyst points out a number of factors causing power density per rack to remain so low-- more energy efficient power supplies and IT equipment has increased the achievable compute per watt, low-power servers are increasingly used for less power-intensive tasks (such as storage) and virtualisation allows one to run servers at higher capacity (80% instead of 20%), and as a result users run servers closer to full capacity. This leads to less power draw than adding new servers to perform the same amount of computing.

One also has to point out servers with densities reaching almost 50kW find use in applications such as 50kW, and some applications involve rack densities of 20-30kW. The analyst says average rack power densities will continue growing over the next 5 years due to the increasing number of servers able to fit one rack, as well as increasing rack heights.

Mind, it will still take "a few years" for actual rack power densities to catch up with the power ratings on rack PDUs purchased by end users, IHS concludes.

Go IHS Markit