Exclusive Interview with Serge Conesa, Founder Chairman & CEO at Immersion4 by Teletimes International
TT: Please tell us a little bit about the vision behind the Immersion4 technology?
SC: We believe in a world based on Eco Conservation and environmental conservation, which are two of the four main principals that drive Immersion4 technology. I do believe we are past the stage where the world can heal itself without cost to mankind. The planet does not buffer for humanity’s current lifestyle. The global trends due to evolving demographics, outdated industrial business models and scarcity in natural resources are fueling the upcoming massive challenges humanity is facing. Adapting and preserving what is left without pollution, emission and unnecessary use of natural resources is mandatory. To achieve that, we have to come back to the root of everything: we must rethink designs, usages and lifestyles. Immersion4 is right at the crossroads on an inflection point solving the datacenter pollution and energy consumption with a positive impact towards achieving the SDG 17 Goals. We are entering an era where data is the 8th natural resource. However, data centers consume almost 15% of the world’s electricity whilst data production implies heat generation. This is where all the laws of physics and effects mentioned above converge together defining the exchange rules. Using the most efficient way, i.e. “liquid to liquid”, Immersion4 DTM systems manage, collect, optimize and transport the digital heat dissipated so most of those calories can then be used to generate heat/cool electricity using any cooling/heating system, becoming a great complement to any renewable energy solution.
TT: Has the Immersion4 mission evolved and grown over time? Would you like to talk a little bit more about the benefits Immersion4 is bringing to the global economy?
SC: Ten years have passed since the time I was back in Washington DC working on the world energy consumption as part of a trusted company from the US Government. I realized that datacenters and air cool electronics are a big problem. Over the years, I saw the depth of a problem that is only getting bigger as the world produces more data. I realized that we can address it only by “coming together”. The vision for Immersion4 is deep rooted in this realization. I have created Immersion4 to address two main concerns for any nation: Data & Energy sovereignty whilst sharing the value chain. We achieve this using “I4IBM”. I4IBM is Immersion4 Industrial Business Model. It is 100% circular economy based: we create local production sites (CoolINT), and labs (CoolLabs) partnering with universities all around the world. I4IBM “Immersion4 Industrial Business Model” is ahead of the COP26 recommendations already. It has been created with the objective to go fast, put a scalable, organized & structured way to do business locally with a reduced carbon footprint. I4IBM creates jobs locally and enhances university R&D.
I4IBM is applicable all around the world, offering equal transparency and understanding. Every nation with their own industry and their own people can benefit from it as they will contribute to it themselves. This will help reduce GHG, CO2 & micro particles emissions and water consumption as well as energy consumption, energy financial debt. I4IBM will ultimately improve a nation’s GDP while reducing pollution. More than ever, the Immersion4 business model, based on circular economy and reduced carbon footprint, appears to be the right answer to limit companies’ and nations’ economic impact and dependence in case of crisis like the one due to the Corona virus. Bundling innovation, technology, methodology and business models is the only way we found to change the current model; this new approach is highly economically viable for everyone and reduces people migration due to economical reason. Reducing the carbon footprint at each stage, from production to delivery, and creating value for communities are the way to help reduce the impact of climate change. I4IBM has been designed to share the value chain with fully involved local investors and industrial partners.
TT: Can you share some details around what kind of energy waste and GHG are being produced through data center energy consumption around the world?
SC: The digital era contributes to reducing carbon emission. However, moral, economic and financial incentives must be put in place to stop this explosive growth of E-waste and e-waste exponential data production. How we cool off electronics in general, and more specifically datacenters, is the root of our suffering. Data performance and programmed obsolescence are generating the e-waste recycling problem. For decades we have tried to perform air cooling by using better cooling systems, adding water to the rack, putting datacenters in cold regions. However these fixes are temporary and fundamentally flawed as our world is digitalizing: Datacenters went from consuming 5% of the world energy in 2016 to 20% in 2025, representing 10% of GHG emissions and over 2 trillion liters of water. On the electronic side, we have protected PCB’s against humidity, corrosion, oxidation with chemical layers called “conventional coating” and highly toxic brominated flame retardants, which is a critical problem for e-waste recycling. Immersion4 technology is about rethinking electronics cooling. We are back to the roots of electronics itself: air cooling is the problem. Today, we are cooling any type of legacy electronics without using natural resources such as air and water, through recyclable DTM & IBCMiners systems with 100% biodegradable engineered liquids. This drastically reduces the datacenter infrastructure, cooling and energy costs, avoiding the need for the chemicals previously mentioned, bringing sustainability in the data world and allowing urban mining. We preserve the natural resources of air and water as this is what biodiversity and humanity need. We use ICE Coolant liquid for electronics: not only does it protect from humidity, corrosion, and oxidation, allowing urban mining, but it also collects the digital dissipated heat 1500 times better than air cooling, enabling the best thermal exchange (“liquid to liquid”) for recovering and reuse. From Exascale to EDGE datacenters, Immersion4 has as unique product offerings for any type of datacenter, cloud, container, data-room through the two product offerings of DTM and IBCMiners systems. The concept is simple: Distributed / Decentralized / « Data as Energy » “Pay as you Grow” / Any building / Any to Any. The best sustainable and economical answer from Blockchain to AI National regulations related to GDPR can also have an important impact. Many nations impose their data to be processed locally. Companies cannot use cloud services or datacenters located outside of their country. This might help the diffusion of decentralized, but local EDGE datacenters. Important issues are connectivity, urban space availability and generated pollution such as CO2 and noise. EDGE Datacenters where the DATA are collected and processed have to be well connected to the network, in collaboration with local telecom service providers using DTM “pollution free” technology.
URBAN integration – Immersion4 DUDETM Architecture addresses all of them with the utmost mission to host any IT loads and applications locally in accordance with the mapping & zoning plans, generating new sources of revenue to communities.
GRID’s & Internet – With less pressure on the GRID’s and being less demanding in cooling infrastructure and energy consumption/pollution emission, EDGE Datacenters can now be implemented teaming with any service provider networks such as 4G, 5G and/or fiber point of presence “POP” to create as well DATA hosting capabilities using as best internet network access connectivity.
Financials – No more Upfront sizing or initial CAPEX. Huge CAPEX reduction for real-estate and cooling infrastructures as they downsize and reduce OPEX through energy sources optimization with no dedicated buildings having massive footprint reduction. And all of this with the potential re-use of the digital dissipated heat. That is what immersion4 brings to the market “Making the cloud cool again”. As a keynote speaker, I often ask if it makes sense to cool a glass of champagne by cooling an entire room or by cooling just the champagne itself? It makes the audience smile instantly. Well, this is what today’s datacenter technology is about, cooling an entire room to cool a server with a hot spot somewhere in the room. Today our past technology choices are impacting our planet dearly under the name of digitalization. We have the solution: IMMERSION4
“Using the most efficient way i.e. “liquid to
liquid”, Immersion4 DTMTM systems manage,
collect, optimize and transport the digital
dissipated heat so it can be re-used through
heating/cooling systems”
TT: Has the Immersion4 technology been applied in projects so far? Would you like to share any recognition you have received?
SC: Immersion4 has received prestigious awards since 2018 for its technology such as International Inventions Show in Geneva (4 awards), ITU Best use of ICT and Global Excellence Awards in 2019. Labeled by Solar Impulse as one of the 1000 upcoming companies to save the world and Forrester Sustainability Report in the magic quadrant up-right corner in 2020. Since 2019, we are the ITU Sustainability Partner and “AI for Good” Gold partner. This year, Immersion4 DTM technology has been presented at the 2021 GITEX edition on DEWA booth. Today, Immersion4 technology has been deployed and its technology is in demonstration all around the world at HPE Innovation centers in Dubai (UAE), Riyadh (Saudi), Geneva EMEA HQ (Switzerland), Casablanca (Morocco), Innovation Center City of Las Vegas (USA), SNCF Paris (France), ENS/CNRS Lyon (France), Akuo Energy Paris (France), E&Y Paris la Defense (France) and DEWA Dubai (UAE) with everything up to complete satisfaction.
TT: Which markets do you see as the first major markets for Immersion4?
SC: 2022 is Immersion4’s global expansion year with a deep focus on MENA as we are opening our Immersion4 Middle East HQ in UAE, and Russia. It is too early to disclose details but I can say that Immersion4 is getting a lot of traction from major local and international players that have already accepted Immersion4 technology. In the meantime, we will continue to expand our European, Asian and US operations.
TT: Can other companies besides data center organizations benefit from Immersion4 technology? (For example, cryptomining companies)
SC: Absolutely, we have created IBCMiners Product Series containerized & modular palletized system which is a universal liquid cooling offering for any ASICs &/or RIGs designed for bitcoins, crypto-currencies and blockchain. Part of the DUDE Architecture “Distributed Urban Datacenter Efficiency” addressing EDGE datacenter integration in smart cities, DTM & IBCMiners systems as presented in Teletimes’ November 2021 edition share the same concepts & architectures to be cooled using the same cooling circuits based on the same principles and processes. No more need for dedicated building for datacenter & warehouse buildings. The DUDE Architecture is a true response to “unified under the same roof”; the concept is “Data as Energy” bringing additional value to real-estate as there is no “smart building / city” without “smart energy”. In the meantime, Immersion4 created CoolLabs to partner with laboratories, foundations & universities all around the world so Immersion4 immersive cooling concepts & technologies can be used for application on any electronics devices and systems, no matter the type or purpose.
TT: How does the year 2022 look like for Immersion4? What are the key target milestones?
SC: This for me is a question at two levels. The first one is regarding Immersion4 only. I’m confident that 2022 will be a very “cool” year for Immersion4 where we will see the concretization of 10 years of work. We got traction from major players all around the world as well as nations focused on the COP26 agenda and their GDP. Their interest is to deploy “I4IBM” Industrial Business Model (100% circular economy based) in their respective countries, involving local economies and addressing the digitalization needs in their respective regions without energy infrastructure pressure. The second one is the fact that digitalization & human activities today are not in line with the world sustainability agenda. Expanding the Immersion4 ecosystem by inviting people to “come together” to rethink our current data and energy consumption models, motivated by the principles of eco conservation & environmental conservation, is Immersion4’s primary milestone. Our activity has a cost, and so far we haven’t paid the rent of our presence on earth. This is not sustainable. We can only achieve sustainability by changing the way we do things, Immersion4 is a perfect example. Humanity is right at the crossroads, living this crucial time where today’s decision, one decision at the time, can change forever our life on this planet. This is our sole and only home. Over 510 million sq. km as a playground. Each of one of us can contribute to influence that change. This is not just social responsibility, it is also a parental responsibility, a pledge to our children to give to each one of them when we talk about “a brighter future”. I need help from each one of you to make it happen. More people contributing to our ecosystem is Immersion4’s milestone!
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