How Data Centers and Telecom Infrastructure Keep Us Close This Holiday Season

It’s that time of year again. Streets glow with colorful lights, festive decorations adorn stores and homes, and the air is filled with a special holiday spirit. While many of us take this opportunity to slow down, enjoy some time off, and savor the season, data center and telecom operators face the opposite scenario. For them, the holidays mean working harder and faster to keep up with the surging demand for network connectivity. Each year brings greater challenges, with ever-increasing customer expectations and the need for faster, more reliable connections to support holiday joyful celebrations.

The Digital Backbone of The Holiday Season

As the holiday season approaches, data centers and telecom stations take on an extraordinary load, ensuring our increasingly digital lives run seamlessly. To start, data centers and telecom networks serve as connective lifelines, enabling families and friends to bridge distances. For those reuniting in person, Thanksgiving remains one of the busiest travel periods, with American Airlines alone transporting a record 6.5 million passengers in 2023. Behind the scenes, data centers support the smooth operation of airports and airlines, enabling safe and efficient journeys. Meanwhile, in the virtual sphere, telecom networks facilitate countless voice and video calls and online social media updates, fostering the sense of togetherness that defines the holidays.

Beyond fostering connections, data centers and telecom stations drive the bustling world of holiday e-commerce. As gift shopping shifts online, the year’s final months see a surge in digital activity, with e-commerce sales reaching a record 17.1% of total retail sales in Q4 2023 — well above the 14.7% average for the year’s other quarters. Mobile devices are at the forefront of this trend, driving more than half (53%) of digital transactions for the second year in a row, further highlighting the critical role of this infrastructure in keeping the holiday spirit alive. 

The Heat is On: Challenges for Telecom and Data Centers During the Holiday Season

As data traffic surges during the holiday season, telecom networks and data centers face unprecedented strain, revealing some critical operational challenges that could disrupt the seamless connectivity we rely on. 

First, one of the most critical issues is the generation of excess heat. Higher data traffic means servers and equipment must work harder to process information, leading to increased thermal output. That leads to another challenge — the heightened workloads can push equipment to its limits, increasing the likelihood of failures and downtime at a time when uninterrupted operation is crucial. Lastly, the amplified data traffic and infrastructure overwork also translate into increased energy consumption and soaring utility costs for operators. 

To address these challenges, data centers and telecom stations need advanced cooling systems capable of supporting higher-capacity operations. By maintaining optimal operating conditions, these systems ensure that digital infrastructure continues functioning smoothly, even during peak usage periods.

AIRSYS Helps Powering Connectivity

The role of cooling in data centers and telecom infrastructure cannot be overstated, particularly during high-demand periods like the holiday season. AIRSYS’ innovative cooling solutions are designed to mitigate these challenges through four key strategies:

Built for Energy-Efficiency and Scalability

AIRSYS integrates advanced technologies to deliver maximum cooling efficiency with minimal energy consumption. For example, our UniCool™ cooling unit utilizes precision lead/lag control to optimize energy use. Modular systems like UniCool-Edge™ and  Optima 2™ consist of multiple units with versatile cooling capacities that can be activated or deactivated based on a facility’s data processing demands. Additionally, our cooling solutions incorporate built-in AI-driven software with self-diagnostic and predictive maintenance capabilities, as well as smart sensors that monitor temperature changes in real-time to adjust cooling capacities dynamically. These cutting-edge features enable our systems to achieve an impressive Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) as low as 1.03 — an accomplishment achieved by fewer than 12% of data centers worldwide.

Built for Resilience 

AIRSYS cooling systems are engineered to withstand the high demands of the holiday season, offering robust construction and premium materials for uninterrupted performance. For instance, our cooling products utilize components trusted by mission-critical industries (such as high-performance pumps and heat exchangers), fewer on/off cycles, and soft-start technology, extending product lifespan. These strategic design choices not only enhance system reliability but also provide the durability required to maintain continuous digital connectivity during peak communication periods.

Built for Reliability

AIRSYS products are also equipped to mitigate the devastating effects of potential equipment failure or system shutdowns. Specifically, our cooling solutions incorporate redundancy features and automatic restart functionality after power outages to resume service as fast as possible. By ensuring continued operation in times of unexpected events, AIRSYS helps telecom and data center operators deliver reliable connectivity, no matter the circumstances.

Built for Sustainability

Sustainability with AIRSYS’ cooling solutions is achieved not only through energy-efficient capabilities but also by incorporating energy recovery features and green cooling technologies. For example, the LiquidRack™ system, which uses innovative liquid cooling technology, reduces coolant usage by 80% and recovers 100% of the energy from IT equipment. During the holiday season, when data traffic surges, these sustainable solutions help operators maintain efficient, eco-friendly operations, demonstrating our commitment to both performance and sustainability.

Staying Connected This Holiday Season and Beyond

The holiday season highlights the vital role of data centers and telecom operations in bringing people together, sharing joy, and strengthening relationships. None of this would be possible without advanced cooling systems that ensure these infrastructures operate reliably under heightened activity.

AIRSYS plays a critical role in enabling this connectivity with innovative cooling solutions that excel during high-demand periods. Beyond supporting global telecom and data center operators, we also foster connection within our global teams, embodying the spirit of togetherness that defines this special season.

We invite you to explore our cutting-edge data center cooling solutions and telecom cooling solutions, and contact us to learn more about how we can support your mission, not just during the holidays but throughout the year.