Hi Technology Insight; We Talk To Business.

Hi Technology Insight; We Talk To Business.

Liquid cooling start up Iceotope talks about the basics of its business;

Fluids don't always mean death for electronics, as founder Peter Hopton explains.

Iceotope has developed an efficient liquid cooling technology that allows supercomputers and data centers in the UK, and even in hot equatorial regions, to run as efficiently as those based the Arctic Circle. Iceotope's system was modeled using computational fluid dynamics, and eliminates the need for air conditioning units and fans to carry heat away. Wired.co.uk spoke to founder Peter Hopton.

HQ: Sheffield, UK

Founder: Peter Hopton

Launched: 2012

Funding: £2 million ($3.2 million) from Investment Partners of Guernsey. £6.4 million ($10.5 million) Series A funding round with Aster, OMBU and the regional growth fund.

What is your proposition to potential customers?

The company was set up with the objective of making fans and air conditioning units obsolete. Spinning fans that push air over electronics is an incredibly inefficient way of removing heat and liquid cooling has long been seen as a winning alternative. The problem has always been developing a liquid cooling system that actually works and will have big server farm operators willing to use it. I believe we've cracked this nut with Iceotope.

What problem do you solve?

IT generates heat and if this heat is not taken away, electronics will begin to bend, break, and fail. Iceotope's technology removes this heat and it does so much more effectively than traditional cooling methods. It also allows this heat to be recycled in the form of hot water, which can be fed into domestic radiators to reduce heating bills.

On a larger scale, Iceotope helps to solve the biggest problems associated with the rapid growth of the Internet. The global digital footprint is estimated to account for ten percent of energy use worldwide and data centers represent a big part of this. Our technology can halve the energy use of these facilities and therefore has the potential to have a big impact on global energy use as a whole.

How do you plan to make money?

Through shipping equipment, but ultimately we intend to create a product ecosystem around our liquid cooling technology by opening the technology up to other vendors.

Where did you get the idea for the business?

In 2005 I was studying the history of liquid cooling used in old equipment in the 70's and 80's such as the Cray 2 supercomputer. I was interested in making a modern version that met the needs of a modern server user. Immersion cooling has had its issues in the past, whether using lots of energy to pump primary coolant or by degradation during the boiling of coolant in a phase change system. During our experimentation we discovered the convective cell used in Iceotope's technology and filed patents—this eliminates the need for pumping primary coolant and solves problems previously associated with phase change.

What's the biggest misconception about your business?

Most of the liquids people encounter on a daily basis don't mix well with electronics. Everyone's spilled coffee on their laptop or dropped their smartphone down the toilet, probably to disastrous effect.

People can get nervous at the thought of mixing electronics and liquids but fortunately the substance we use doesn't conduct electricity so it's completely safe to do so. I've dunked my phone in the stuff countless times and it still works perfectly.

Can you express in some tangible terms how the business has developed?

18 months ago, all we had was the proprietary technology. Now Iceotope has a commercial product and multiple customers using it daily. We've also had a significant financial boost following the closure of our £6.4m funding round.

What has been the most challenging time for the company?

In late 2011/early 2012, when the company was in flux and we were faced with the mammoth task of making Iceotope's technology into a product. There were lots of new faces in the team (particularly at the management level) and long hours to work, so it's hardly surprising that this was a difficult period.

How did you overcome that?

Hard work and not much sleep. As soon as the new team started to bond, that really helped matters too.

What is the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you?

"Ain't no presentation, without caffeination". I think this stuck with me because it was so well delivered at the time. It's especially true if you've just got off the plane in another time zone and are expected to take a meeting within the hour.

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by Olivia Solon, wired.co.uk Feb 9 2014, 2:07am AUSEDT