 Welcome to JSA TV Europe and our live two-day event on 2023 predictions. I'm Jean-Marc Lehmann, joining me today is Richard Berger, Senior Manager for Global Business Optimisation Strategy for Data Centres at Airdale by Modin. Richard, welcome to JSA. I hope everything is okay with you. Thanks, Jean. There's no doubt this has been a very busy year for everyone in the sector. So I kind of wanted to start by asking you what balance do you make of 2022 when it comes to data centres? Oh, wow, that's a good question. Balance in terms of everything that is driving the market, sustainability is an area where we have seen real leverage this year. I think we've got challenges and opportunities all the way across in terms of driving us towards carbon net zero, energy efficiency, where we really try and drive towards tackling things like water scarcity that has been increasing in terms of column inches right the way across the board looking at ambient temperatures, pressures that are going on right the way around through Europe and beyond as well. You've got power. Obviously, the build-out rates that we're seeing are still very aggressive and in terms of supply chain, we have to really try and manage that through. But we have seen that power has become an increasing issue in terms of power usage, which is where we try and come in in terms of maximising the least amount of power that we use. We've got players who are doing self-generation in terms of power as well and autonomy inside of that. You're seeing some of the hyperscalers who are really starting to develop that. Areas where we're trying to look to drive is that maximise free cooling side, really trying to drive the marketplace in terms of that efficiency piece, power usage as well. We're seeing a lot of growth in the market. We've seen a lot of supply chain pressures right the way through in terms of it can be the smallest component part. It can be things like fans, compressors, controllers that we have to manage and we have to be proactive with. I think for that, we've had to manage that in terms of active supply chain management all the way through. As I alluded to, we're seeing a big increase in terms of things like sustainability. It's becoming a business issue, a daily issue. Consumers are more aligned with what's going on in the data centre space and are asking questions and that's an area where we're really trying to maximise, look at how we move forward. Okay, interesting. When you look at the sector and as we now go into a new year, do you think we are heading in the right direction when it comes to sustainability, carbon neutrality and all the climate topics that we've been discussing over the last 12 months? Yeah, directionally, yes. I think we are. I think we're moving in more positive direction. I think players, suppliers, operators are trying to get ahead of legislation that is obviously coming and is here. We're trying to self certify and really try and drive the agenda moving forward in terms of how we look at things like carbon emissions, how we look at things like PUE, power usage effectiveness and WE, water usage effectiveness as well, talking around that water scarcity. I think key to all of this is how we collaborate together as a kind of a main ecosystem right the way through and I think there's still work that we can do in terms of that, defining what good looks like, sharing best practice, getting that ratified sustainability programmes and parameters around that, really trying to ascertain what good looks like and what the measurements are. In terms of measurements as well, controls I think is a big area that is driving that as well. In terms of you look at everything that's happened in the last 12 months, energy efficiency, mapping out power, having your whole facility in your hands so you know exactly what's being used and where. I still think we need continued two-way education right the way across the board in terms of data centres and the communities with which they're residing. There's a lot of opportunities in there, in terms of sustainability, how we use those facilities. Heat reclaim is something that everyone is talking about, there's use cases there for it. Okay great, if your data centre is right by the side of a vertical farming application or a pool but it's also looking at the district heating that you've got in there, where you can really try and use that hot, that warm air. I think the adoption of various DC packs as well, also increasing. So ESG is really front and centre, it's imperative, focusing on waste pollution. So yeah, I think we're in a good place to keep tackling. If everyone keeps going, moving in the right way towards the goals that you're seeing, operators are really trying to bring that forward. So like I say, engagement key with local communities and just really trying to push that pathway forward. Yeah, you touched upon so many different aspects of it because there are a lot of good use cases and I think especially from summertime till now, we've seen a lot of deployments around heat reusable in Europe, I guess in parts because of what's happening. But also the technology, the adoption of technology has changed and that's the natural progression of the industry. But I was going to ask, a technology that has been around for a long time is air cooling. And you guys are quite big in air cooling, one of the biggest players in the market. I don't know the market show, so I'm not going to say the biggest because I don't know if it's the biggest, second or third, but it's within that range there. Yeah, absolutely. But what are still the challenges around air cooling? Yeah, I mean, there's always challenges that are at play in any kind of market. I think the challenges that we see are density and continued efficiency there, the biggest challenges that we see as the market pushes towards next generation GPUs and CPUs coming online. We believe that they'll continue to see air as the primary medium. We can cool to levels 25, 30 kilowatts plus in terms of rack densities, but we do appreciate that that capacity side is rising. And we're seeing that that is slowly being eroded in certain areas. We play in different areas of the market as well, but the need to use less energy and other resources coupled with things like space claim and footprint are key areas that we see. Footprint is always a massive one in terms of Europe. You're trying to get that maximum capacity out the smallest possible footprint. And that's where we're looking to things like kind of design and those kind of areas, refrigerants as well, changing out in terms of the refrigerant side. I think we're seeing growth drivers within that, driving us towards low GWP, which is interesting and we're at the forefront. We've kind of got things like free cooling potential, obviously on our ambient profiles where we've got potential to really maximize cooling and reducing that mechanical cooling side as well. What we do believe to be true really as a market is that this hybrid approach to data centers of the future will continue to be forthcoming. We'll have a mix of high density, liquid cooled areas and areas of medium dense air cooled as well. That's kind of what we're seeing with our customer base. I think there's still vast advantages in terms of that complete system and bringing everything together from the outdoor to the indoor, combining it through with intuitive controls as well. That's really an area where we kind of come to the fore to make that maximized solution. Okay, I was going to ask, when you go into a customer's data center, what's one thing that you still see them doing wrong that really throws you into a different stratosphere? I don't think there's many things that you really see that are going wrong. I mean, it's horses for courses in a way. Everyone has a different operational strategy and a different way of putting things together. What is key for us is that there's no right or wrong way of doing things. The key for us is getting in early, working with design consultants and really kind of ingraining, working collaboratively to try and get the right kind of solution moving forward. You always see retrofit, old historic data centers and obviously there's legacy systems there where you can get a lot of efficiencies based on swapping out equipment or retrofits to existing equipment. I think controls is a big one. I think controls is a big one in terms of integrating everything together, not looking at just one system, but looking at it as a whole complete package and how we can monitor that and then make little changes, little tweaks that really drive that operational efficiency, reduce your cost to run your data center as well. That's kind of what I would be saying on that side. Interesting. Then looking at Airdale and what the company is going to be focusing on next year. Tell us about expansion, launches, new hires. What kind of have you got plans business-wise across Europe? Yeah, absolutely. In terms of a market, Airdale by Maudine has gone from strength to strength. We're part of the Maudine group so we are obviously sizable. We're $2 billion worth. We're trying to drive ourselves towards, we are a diversified industrial, we're trying to engineer a cleaner, healthier world. What we've done with that is we've expanded out from our nucleus of the UK base and we now have manufacturing capacity right the way across the globe so we can facilitate our customers globally. We have two plants within North America where we've had really aggressive expansion. We also have two UK facilities, one in concert, one in Leeds, where we look at cryo production, chiller production and we have our control sensors as well there. Then we've also manufacturing out in Europe as well. We have a large scale plant in Guadalajara in Spain and we're also increasing and driving into the Indian market as well out of our Chennai facility. Exciting times for our expansion, kind of footprint and growth. With that, you mentioned about employees. I mean, for us, our people is our greatest strength. We're engineers, first, second and third. That's what we drive towards doing. So we're investing in our workforce and we're investing across the globe on that. Training, aligning to the right customers in the right markets to give that level of support. So we're really just trying to invest in that, trying to grow. You mentioned about what do I see in other day's centres. It's about that tacit knowledge that you take on right the way through. I think for us, controls is absolutely central and pivotal to that. As we kind of move forward, we're expanding out product ranges, fan wall side, chillers, right the way across all the different platforms. So we've got coverage right the way across the board and we're really trying to drive that expansion through, hand in glove with the customer. Okay, so if you want to reach out to learn more, how can you do that? Sorry, J.O., if we want to reach out more. If you want to reach out to learn more about Airdale. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Sorry, of course. Don't worry. Don't worry. I could talk to that. I've had IT gremlins all day, so I know exactly what you're meaning on that. In terms of reaching out to us, easiest ways is to go on the website. That's www.airdale.com. That's A-I-R-E-D-A-L-E.com. We're on a multitude of social media channels. You can find us on LinkedIn, Airdale by Meridine. You can connect with my GoodSelf and others right the way across the board. So yeah, in terms of email addresses, you've got connect to Airdale.com if you've got any inquiries on the back of this and you can reach out to me directly as well. So they're the main areas, J.O. Okay, and I was going to ask you to wrap it up. If you had to describe how you feel about going into 2023 in one word, how do you feel about the market? Exhilarated. Okay, well, that's a different word from usually what people choose. That's a good one. You've always got to be, haven't you? Yeah, you have to choose a different one. So, Richard Berger, thank you so much for joining us. As for our viewers, thank you for tuning in to JSA-TV Live. 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