ECL Debuts Zero Emissions Off-Grid Data Centers: ECL is a leader in the supply of hydrogen-powered, off-grid, reliable, sustainable, and affordable data centers as a service. Data center veterans from some of the most well-known companies in technology, including Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Cisco, HPE, and Bloom Energy, are among the founders of the firm. Significant improvements in cooling and power management are part of its technology.
ECL’s launch of zero-emissions off-grid data centers is a significant step towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to data center operations.
Off-grid data centers are those that operate independently of the main electrical grid, generating their electricity using renewable energy sources like solar, wind, or hydropower. By using renewable energy sources to power data centers, ECL is reducing its reliance on non-renewable energy sources like fossil fuels, which are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.
ECL Debuts Zero Emissions Off-Grid Data Centers
Database as a Service The first modular, sustainable, off-grid data center powered by green hydrogen was unveiled today by service innovator ECL. ECL will construct data centers with a 99.9999 percent uptime guarantee in 1MW blocks. A $7 million seed round supported by Molex Ventures and Hyperwise Ventures was also disclosed by the company. Nathan Shuchami, Managing Partner at Hyperwise Ventures, and Lily Yeung, Vice President at Molex Ventures, are members of the board of directors in addition to ECL Founder and CEO Yuval Bachar. The completion of the first data center at ECL’s Mountain View, California headquarters is planned for Q2 2023. ECL will use the funds to expand its market presence.
ECL’s DataCenter as a Service – The service is intended for use by mid-sized data center operators, which are frequently significant businesses with a mix of on-premises and cloud IT infrastructures. The total cost of ownership (TCO) of ordinary colocation data center operators is two-thirds lower when calculated over a five-year period for service. The community-integrated data center architecture operates with zero emissions and extremely low noise levels, and it doesn’t consume any local resources like energy or water. ECL’s data centers can be constructed and delivered substantially faster than those of rivals, cutting planning and construction cycles from 18 to 24 months to six to nine months. This is due to ECL’s flexibility and lack of dependency on local utilities.
Before to joining Digital Equipment Corporation, Bachar had executive roles in engineering, infrastructure, and architecture at Microsoft Azure, LinkedIn, Facebook, Cisco, and Juniper Networks. Initiator of the Open19 project, a data center industry movement that suggests a new open standard for servers based on a common form factor, he served as the former president of the Open19 Foundation. In the fields of data center, networking, and system design, he holds eight US patents. He has also won three Cisco Pioneer Awards.
Shuchami continued, “We are thrilled to be a part of this much-needed transformation in the data center industry, and we look forward to working with Yuval and his team as they bring this incredible idea to market. “We can’t wait to join ECL when they open their doors in Q2 2023. They have a tremendous edge over the competition in terms of providing a data center fuelled solely by green hydrogen.”
Lily Yeung, VP of Molex Ventures, remarked that it is wonderful to see ECL investing in this rapidly expanding industry for bespoke modular data centers that can handle the increased demand for sophisticated and flexible processing demands and sustainable power use.
ECL is the Industry’s First Off-grid, Fully Hydrogen-Powered Data Center
ECL is the first to provide a fully-green hydrogen-powered data center, but other data center operators have installed hydrogen fuel cells as a backup power supply and some are doing trials of systems that are anticipated to be commercially viable in three to five years. Combining multiple innovative technologies, including environmentally friendly hydrogen-based power generation, battery energy storage, and highly dependable power architecture independent of the utility grid, has enabled this leapfrog achievement. This nearly eliminates waste while increasing efficiency and delivery time.
Better Cooling Technology Enhance Electricity Use Efficiency
With the increased per-server power consumption brought on by faster chip and system density, ECL cooling enhancements offer much greater density-per-rack than traditional data center vendors. In order to cool ECL’s server racks, the water created as a byproduct of hydrogen-based power generation is used, eliminating the need for external water sources. This results in the lowest Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratios of any colocation data center provider when coupled with unique back door heat exchange technology.
The best-in-class colocation providers achieve about 1.2 with an average of eight kilowatts of power per rack, whereas traditional colocation providers average nearly 1.57 across all of their data centers all of its data centers, ECL will achieve a PUE of 1.05 with up to 50 kilowatts per rack. By achieving significantly lower PUE ratios and higher rack densities, ECL will let its clients enjoy significantly lower expenses for real estate, space, and power usage.
ECL Lightning Data Center Management Platform
In order to monitor and manage every aspect of the ECL data center in real-time, including power generation, power distribution, and rack cooling, ECL data centers use a robust, all-encompassing data center management system called ECL LightningTM. Its distinctive and user-friendly user interface (UI) offers thorough, clear, and easy monitoring and enables accurate administration of all aspects of data center operation.
Networking Flexibility Enables a Wide Range of Locations
ECL builds data centers in the locations selected by its clients, whether or not such locations already have a network connection. An ECL partner delivers a fiber backbone and cloud connectivity when the fiber is not available at the selected site through its network-as-a-service platform, and ECL offers last-mile access through the customer’s preferred provider. With ECL’s green hydrogen-based primary power and this network provisioning flexibility, the location of data center installations is no longer constrained by network or power grid availability.
Hydrogen Among Safest Fuels
When used properly, hydrogen is one of the safest fuels available today, being much safer than gasoline, natural gas, jet fuel, or diesel, according to the US Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technologies Branch. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the US Department of Energy claims that “There is no toxicity in hydrogen. The fuel may also be disseminated rather fast in the case of a leak since hydrogen is much lighter than air and evaporates quickly when discharged. It will become more likely that hydrogen can be as safe as the fuels now in use as more hydrogen demonstrations are conducted.”
“The innovations we are announcing today set a new bar for flexibility and sustainability in the world’s data center industry,” declared Yuval Bachar, founder, and CEO of ECL. “Our cooling system’s unparalleled efficiency, along with our emissions-free operations, make it one of a kind in the world today. Hydrogen has never previously been harnessed for use as the primary power source for the data center. I want to express my gratitude to Molex and Hyperwise, whose support and recognition of our abilities have allowed us to completely change the nature and destiny of our company.
