Akash Systems wins $27 mn contract from NxtGen to provide cooling servers

Deal will help NxtGen in providing energy-efficient AI computing solutions

Akash Systems, which provides cooling technology for data centres, artificial intelligence (AI) and space companies, has signed a $27 million contract with NxtGen Datacenter and Cloud Technologies.

 

Akash, which is backed by American billionaire Vinod Khosla, will provide its cooling server called Diamond to NxtGen’s data centres in India.

 

The agreement will help NxtGen in providing energy-efficient AI computing solutions by using NVIDIA and AMD graphics processing units cooled by Diamond, said a statement. The servers will help NxtGen in providing energy-efficient and cost-effective AI computing services to enterprises "of all sizes".

 

A S Rajgopal, chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director of NxtGen, said: “We are collaborating with Akash to set an industry benchmark for sustainable AI. Through a combination of Akash’s Diamond Cooling, waterless liquid cooling, and advanced GPUs from NVIDIA and AMD, we are able to double the performance per watt. This allows us to reduce the cost to our customers and bring down the cost of AI compute services by more than 50 per cent from prevailing market rates.”

 

Diamond is a cooling solution for the semiconductor sector and integrates with existing thermal management technologies. Its thermal conductivity exceeds the next best material, Copper, by 5 times.

 

“Our Diamond Cooled GPU servers will empower NxtGen to deliver unparalleled performance and reliability to their customers, reinforcing their position as a leader in AI and other compute Solutions,” said Felix Ejeckam, CEO and co-founder of Akash Systems.

 

Akash's servers are engineered to handle intensive AI workloads, including machine learning and deep learning applications. Diamond Cooling for satellites in outer space.

 

“This partnership with NxtGen highlights the scalability of Akash’s technology and also showcases its ability to accelerate AI workloads by reducing thermal throttling and maximizing over-compute cycles. In short, the Diamond Cooled servers are the way to go,” said Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures.

 

Diamond Cooling results in record levels of energy efficiency, overall performance, and cost in AI. The servers reduce GPU hotspot temperature by 10-20 degrees Celsius even for NVIDIA and AMD servers that use liquid cooling.

 

NxtGen, which has its headquarters in Bengaluru, operates data centres and offers a range of services, including AI compute, disaster recovery, and managed security. The company is expanding its infrastructure to meet the growing demand for data centre services, said the statement.