Vertiv co-develops with NVIDIA

Vertiv is releasing a complete 7MW reference architecture of the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 platform, co-developed with NVIDIA, that will enable customers to transform traditional data centre architectures into AI factories capable of powering AI applications across the enterprise.

The reference architecture will accelerate the deployment of the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 liquid-cooled rack-scale platform and supports up to 132kW per rack. The architecture takes an end-to-end approach to infrastructure design to optimise deployment speed, performance, resiliency, cost, energy efficiency and scalability for current- and future-generation data centres.

“We are proud to deepen our collaboration with NVIDIA to enable AI-driven data centres of today and tomorrow,” said Giordano (Gio) Albertazzi, CEO of Vertiv. “As a leader in critical power and cooling infrastructure, Vertiv is uniquely positioned to support the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 platform. Our portfolio of high-performance power and cooling solutions, combined with our global scale, will enable customers to deploy AI data centres faster, more efficiently and with greater flexibility to address densification, dynamic workloads, retrofits and enable future-ready designs.”

“New data centres are built for accelerated computing and generative AI with architectures that are significantly more complex than those for general-purpose computing,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “With Vertiv's world-class cooling and power technologies, NVIDIA can realise our vision to reinvent computing and build a new industry of AI factories that produce digital intelligence to benefit every company and industry.”

With Vertiv™ power and cooling infrastructure matched to, and closely coupled with, the NVIDIA Blackwell platform, the reference architecture simplifies and accelerates deployment of AI workloads in new and existing data centres while reducing risk and enabling standardisation across sites. The architecture’s complete critical power infrastructure is designed to significantly reduce stranded power by aligning AI clusters to data centre capacity blocks. The hybrid liquid- and air-cooling infrastructure leverages the interdependent impact of the two approaches to efficiently manage high-density heat removal. In addition, the design includes guidance for optional Open Compute Project-inspired systems, such as DC power shelves.

The reference architecture is part of the Vertiv™ 360AI portfolio of reference designs for retrofit and greenfield data centres, designed to help customers navigate integrated solutions for power and cooling for AI and other high-performance computing applications. Key benefits of the co-developed reference architecture for the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 design include:

● Rapid Deployment and Retrofit: Enabling the use of preconfigured modules and factory integration, VertivTM MegaModTM CoolChip delivers turnkey AI critical infrastructure up to 50% faster than onsite builds.

● Space-Saving Power Management: Using Vertiv’s advanced power technologies, including Vertiv™ Trinergy™ uninterruptible power supply system (UPS) and Vertiv™ EnergyCore lithium battery cabinet, the design delivers industry-leading reliability and energy-efficient power management in ~40% less space compared to legacy offerings.

● Energy-Efficient Cooling: Integrating liquid and low-GWP (Global Warming Potential) air cooling technologies at scale - including Vertiv™ AFC chiller, Vertiv™ Liebert® CW chilled water-based room cooling system and Vertiv™ XDU coolant distribution units - offers up to 20% lower annual cooling costs compared to fixed screw solutions.

● Dynamic Workload Management: Integrated load averaging via lithium-ion battery and next generation UPS provides support for dynamic GPU workloads.

● Installation and Operations Services: With an industry-leading scale, scope, and reach of ~4,000 field service engineers globally, Vertiv is the trusted lifecycle service partner and complex system-level expert for retrofit and newbuild.

As enterprises embrace AI at an unprecedented pace, Vertiv is reshaping the future of critical power and cooling to support accelerated computing, with the most complete portfolio of critical digital infrastructure that enables AI-ready infrastructure capable of managing the unique requirements of AI and other accelerated compute applications.