The proliferation of blades and other densely packed rack servers has mostly been seen as a more-efficient way to put additional computing power in a smaller amount of space. But doing twice the amount of work in half the space could create cooling problems that require some innovation to overcome.

Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday introduced a data-center analysis service that IT and facilities managers can use to determine the impact of server heat on their equipment. Part of HP's Utility Data Center strategy, "smart cooling" analysis uses computational fluid dynamics, like that used to study airplane design, to create a three-dimensional model of heat distribution throughout a data center. HP then recommends a data-center layout to optimize existing air-conditioning equipment rather than add expensive units each time servers are added to the data center.

By compacting IT equipment into a smaller space, data centers create new heat dynamics that must be addressed to ensure the longevity of a company's investments, says Chandrakant Patel, HP Labs principal scientist. "The goal is to shrink the size of the data center," Patel says. It's a move to save money, "but air conditioning in today's data centers isn't designed to cool denser racks."

Smart cooling now focuses on the placement of data-center equipment to dissipate heat. But HP Labs is working on other approaches to cooling. Within the next two years, HP hopes to deliver "dynamic smart cooling," which would let data centers move components of the cooling system itself to areas identified as hot spots. Patel and his colleagues are also experimenting with an ink-jet-assisted precision spray that can cool specific pieces of data-center equipment if their temperature rises to a certain level. This is at least five years away, Patel says.

Not to be outdone, IBM says it has developed prototype cooling systems to accommodate future processors that will run hotter than today's systems. One new technology would attach a liquid-cooled heat sink to server processors. A heat sink is a device designed to keep a processor from overheating by absorbing the processor's heat and dissipating it into the air. Although heat-sink technology isn't new, it's fairly new to the Intel processor space, says Jeff Benck, director of product marketing for IBM's Intel-based xSeries server line.

IBM is also studying how water-cooled systems can be used to keep IT equipment from overheating. One example is a water-cooled cabinet that would feature a device that regulates rack heat using water.