What is it?

New high-performance applications using artificial intelligence (AI) technology require more system power than ever before, which in turn increases energy demands. Fortunately, Lenovo’s 6th Generation Neptune™ Liquid Cooling tackles this problem by using liquid to remove heat, which is much more efficient than traditional air cooling and provides maximum performance while dramatically improving energy efficiency.

With over a decade of liquid-cooling expertise and more than 40 patents, Lenovo leverages their experience in large-scale supercomputing and AI to help organizations deploy high-performance AI at any scale.

Neptune's holistic approach to liquid cooling goes beyond simply cooling the CPUs. It also includes:

• Direct warm water cooling of entire systems for maximum performance and efficiency, turning waste heat into value by allowing hot water re-use in the facility
• Direct water cooling of individual system components (available through the ThinkSystem portfolio)
• Liquid-assisted cooling for the benefit of liquid in an air-cooled system
• Rack-level rear door water cooling
• Energy Aware Runtime (EAR) and XClarity Energy Manager software to optimize performance and power

Why should you care?

NPR reports the average data center uses 300,000 gallons of water a day to keep cool, roughly equivalent to water use in 1,000 homes. Many data centers directly consume water on-site to remove the heat generated by the IT equipment. In Virginia, described as the data center capital of the world, and particularly Northern Virginia (as reported by The Register recently where there are about 300 facilities), data center water consumption has increased markedly over the past five years by almost two-thirds. Financial Times cites data claiming that more than 1.85 billion U.S. gallons were used in 2023, up from 1.13 billion gallons in 2019.

The IT industry has a tremendous opportunity to drive greater computing and operational efficiency for today’s data centers that can have a dramatic impact on both indirect and direct water usage. This opportunity has the capability of lowering the overall electric consumption and utilizing data center cooling that requires little to no water.

How does Neptune's direct water-cooling solution work?

Lenovo’s Neptune direct water-cooling solution uses warm water to cool nearly every component in the system without the need for air-moving devices inside the server. This water-cooled system enables customers to realize up to a 40 percent reduction in power consumption and a 3.5x improvement in thermal efficiencies compared to traditional air-cooled systems. This trademarked method keeps all the server components cool, which reduces the need for traditional power and water-hungry air conditioning systems in the data center. 

The Neptune Liquid Cooling technology can be implemented in the following three ways that will allow your customers to choose which option provides the best solution to meet their energy consumption and cooling optimization goals.

• Direct water cooling: With full systems and core systems available, direct water cooling removes heat from key components—including power supplies—for completely fan-less operation.
• Liquid-assisted cooling: With either a thermal transfer module or liquid-to-air heat exchanger, traditional air-cooled systems benefit from liquid cooling with specifically designed heat handling without added plumbing. 
• Rack water cooling: Heat can be kept down in the rack with either a rear-door heat exchanger or in-rack cooling distribution units. 

Differentiation in the market 

As more businesses look to harness the capabilities presented by AI and high-performance computing (HPC), Lenovo feels it is critical to ensure sustainability is at the forefront of the design and performance of computing systems. As a result, AI and HPC capabilities are being increasingly implemented in a complementary manner, unlocking data-driven insights, accelerated outcomes, and advanced use cases. 

Lenovo has been enabling efficient and high-powered computing for over a decade, that’s why they pioneered the Lenovo Neptune Liquid Cooling technology, which offers:

• Performance: Neptune boosts CPU, GPU and system speed, delivering faster results for new server workloads like AI and HPC. 
• Sustainability: Businesses can meet environmental goals and align with carbon reduction initiatives without sacrificing the ability to deliver the computing power they need to compete and thrive. 
• Density: Neptune delivers more computing power in a compact footprint to support the most demanding workloads. 
• Competitive advantage: For faster time-to-market, scientific breakthroughs, or research grants, businesses can benefit from HPC for quicker results. 

How do you position and sell Lenovo Neptune Liquid Cooling Solutions?

Most businesses today are looking for sustainable, responsible, and innovative energy solutions. So now is the time to discuss this environmentally friendly solution with your customers.

Lenovo’s Neptune Liquid Cooling:

• Maximizes efficiency with a broad range of alternative cooling solutions
• Reduces power consumption
• Increases performance
• Accelerates computing capabilities

The ThinkSystem SR665 V3 manages next-gen apps; optional CPU direct water-cooling increases performance and improves energy efficiency.

The ThinkSystem SR650 V3 supports a variety of workloads and offers optional Neptune direct water cooling for increased performance and energy efficiency.

The ThinkSystem SR780a V3 delivers massive computational performance using eight fully interconnected NVIDIA GPUs and Neptune direct water cooling.

The ThinkSystem SR675 V3 server can scale to meet any performance demand from single-node enterprise deployments to the largest supercomputers.

The ThinkSystem SD650 V3 dual-node tray contains Neptune cooling technology designed for technical computing, grid deployments, and analytics workloads.

The ThinkSystem SD665 V3 delivers maximum AMD CPU performance, extreme density, and leading energy efficiency.

The ThinkSystem SD650-I V3 is cooled by Neptune direct water-cooling technology that results in reliable performance in a dense form factor.

The ThinkSystem SD665-N V3 Neptune server delivers maximum NVIDIA GPU performance to AI and HPC workloads.

How does Arrow help?

Arrow's Lenovo sales and technical experts can provide configuration and quoting assistance, as well as the information and support needed to help you differentiate Lenovo from the competition. 

In addition, Arrow Capital Solutions can assist with any financing needed to help you make these solutions affordable and cost-effective for your customers.

More information

If you have questions or require assistance with growing your business with Lenovo, please contact your Arrow Channel Manager today!

For additional information, view the following:

• View details on Arrow and Lenovo here 
• View details on Lenovo Neptune Liquid Cooling Solutions here
• Tomorrow's High Performance Computing Systems Must Perform for the Planet (article)
• The world's AI generators: Rethinking water usage in data centers to build a more sustainable future (article)
• Lenovo Celebrates 10 Years of Industry-Leading Lenovo Neptune Cooling Technology by Delivering a Broader Range of Sustainable Computing Solutions to Customers Around the World (article)