Tales from the Trenches - Two Decades of Experience in Leading Edge Data Center Technology
About the Speaker
Group Manager, Advanced Computing Operations, National Laboratory of the Rockies
Aaron Andersen oversees NLRs Advanced Computing Operations group within the Computational Sciences Center, providing highly energy-efficient, high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) resources, on-prem cloud, and cloud technologies for researchers across the laboratory. He has crosscutting expertise in data center design, system architecture, engineering, and operations. Andersen has research interests in data centers, thermal management and optimization.
Tales from the Trenches - Two Decades of Experience in Leading Edge Data Center Technology presents lessons learned from nearly twenty years of advancing high-performance, energy-efficient data center infrastructure. Centered on the NCAR Wyoming Supercomputing Center, NLR ESIF Data Center, and the COOLERCHIPS project at NLR, the presentation provides a practical look at how leading-edge facilities have addressed the growing demands of modern computing. These case studies highlight the ongoing challenge of balancing compute performance, energy efficiency, thermal management, reliability, and long-term scalability. The NCAR Wyoming Supercomputing Center offers insight into facility strategies that support large-scale scientific computing workloads. The NLR ESIF Data Center demonstrates how high-performance computing can be integrated with aggressive energy efficiency goals. The COOLERCHIPS project points toward the next generation of cooling innovation, with a focus on enabling more sustainable and efficient operation at higher power densities.