Vertiv cuts NFrance data centre cooling power by 20%

Vertiv has modernised the cooling infrastructure at NFrance's sovereign data centre, cutting power consumption by about 20%.

The French provider of cloud hosting, colocation and managed services said the upgrade also eliminated cooling-related water use and was completed without interrupting service.

The project centred on an integrated thermal management system designed to maintain tighter temperature control while improving energy use across the site. The installation combined direct expansion cooling, condenser units, intelligent control software, commissioning and ongoing support services.

For NFrance, the work addressed a familiar challenge for data centre operators: upgrading core infrastructure while keeping customer systems online. As cloud use has grown, its hosted services have become more critical, increasing pressure on the facility's resilience and efficiency.

The cooling design uses Vertiv's Liebert PDX direct expansion system, with variable-speed scroll compressors that adjust output in line with changes in heat load. The condenser system uses EC fans and dissipates heat without water, helping the site achieve a water usage effectiveness measure of zero for cooling.

The system is managed through Vertiv's Liebert iCOM controller, which coordinates the cooling units in what Vertiv calls Teamwork mode. The setup allows all units to be managed together to improve operating efficiency across the cooling chain.

Resilience was another part of the redesign. The architecture includes a dual refrigeration circuit with independent condensers in an N+1 redundant configuration. If one circuit is lost, up to 50% of cooling capacity remains available, with automatic restart in under 40 seconds, according to Vertiv.

Efficiency drive

Data centre operators across Europe are under pressure to reduce energy demand and water use as regulators, customers and investors scrutinise the environmental impact of digital infrastructure. Cooling systems are a major part of that equation because they account for a large share of site electricity use and, in some designs, substantial water consumption.

Against that backdrop, projects that improve power usage effectiveness and remove water from cooling operations are becoming more common, particularly in facilities that host sensitive workloads and require continuous uptime. Sovereign data centres also face added pressure to show that domestic hosting can meet both operational and efficiency targets.

NFrance said the upgrade supported 99.99% server availability and improved power usage effectiveness.

"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. Furthermore, Vertiv supported NFrance throughout the project with great professionalism, standing out through the technical quality of the qualification, the proximity of commercial and technical teams, and rigorous follow-up during implementation," said Julien Dal, Datacenter & Infrastructures Manager, NFrance.

Vertiv supported the deployment with project management and commissioning services, alongside a support contract that includes round-the-clock technical assistance and on-site intervention support. The approach reflects a broader shift in the data centre market, where suppliers are increasingly expected to manage installation, handover and maintenance as part of a single package rather than simply provide equipment.

For operators such as NFrance, that model reduces the risk of replacing live cooling infrastructure in an active facility. Any outage during a transition can affect customer workloads, service-level commitments and reputation, so staged deployment and service continuity remain central to upgrade planning.

Market pressure

France has become an active market for hosting, cloud and colocation providers seeking to meet demand for local data storage and processing. The emphasis on sovereignty has grown alongside rising concern about where data is stored, who controls infrastructure, and how providers handle security and compliance.

NFrance has been operating for nearly 30 years and says its offering is built around availability, security and data sovereignty. In that context, the cooling overhaul is not only an efficiency measure but also part of maintaining core infrastructure standards for customers running critical services.

"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," said Sanchez.