The project, completed this month at NFrance's sovereign facility outside Paris, centred on Vertiv's Liebert PDX direct-expansion cooling units, fitted with variable-speed scroll compressors that modulate output between 25 and 100 percent as heat loads shift. Waste heat is handled by Liebert HPA-HCR condensers equipped with EC fans, shedding the need for evaporative cooling towers and ending all water consumption in the thermal loop. The entire system is coordinated by Vertiv's Liebert iCOM controller, which balances multiple units in what the company calls Teamwork mode to optimise overall performance without manual intervention.
NFrance has operated critical digital infrastructure for public and private sector clients in France for nearly 30 years and holds ISO 27001 and HDS certifications. As cloud usage from its tenants grew and the service-level requirements of hosted workloads rose, the existing cooling infrastructure was no longer adequate. The company needed a higher-performing and more resilient thermal chain without suspending services during deployment.
The architecture Vertiv designed includes a dual refrigeration circuit with independent condensers, providing N+1 redundancy. If one circuit fails, the remaining circuit maintains up to 50 percent of cooling capacity, with automatic restart completing in under 40 seconds. Vertiv also provided commissioning, project management, and a Preferred Warranty contract covering 24/7 technical support with on-site intervention.
The measured outcomes from the deployment are: power usage effectiveness improved, with roughly a fifth less electricity consumed by the cooling plant; water usage effectiveness dropped to zero; and operations continued without service interruption throughout the switchover.
"The performance of our hosting services depends on the stability of our infrastructure. By choosing Vertiv cooling solutions, we have not only secured 99.99% availability for our servers, but also significantly reduced our PUE. Since installation, we have observed absolute thermal precision, even during peak loads. Less energy consumption, more computing power: a winning choice for our profitability and for the planet."
— Julien Dal, Datacenter & Infrastructures Manager, NFrance
"Our collaboration with NFrance demonstrates how our comprehensive approach, combining cutting-edge technology solutions, consulting expertise, and local services, delivers concrete, measurable results in operational performance and energy efficiency. Beyond technical performance, it is our ability to support our clients at every stage, from initial sizing to preventive maintenance, that makes the difference."
— Roberto Sanchez, Enterprise Sales Director, Vertiv France
To stay across the latest in cloud, AI and enterprise tech analysis from Compare the Cloud, subscribe to our weekly newsletter at https://www.comparethecloud.net/newsletter
