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Dell - Internal Use - Confidential

inlet air FAC allows into data centers. In parts of Asia, ASHRAE reports that 98% of AC-equipped datacenters have

moderately high corrosive environments (ISA-71 G2).

In 2013, Dell EMC’s MDC saw its first long-term corrosion-related issue. In response, Dell EMC kicked off the Fresh Air 3.0

initiative with a focus on corrosion and corrosive environments.

Lab environments, being less effective in replicating real-world conditions, drove Dell EMC’s deployment of the Fresh-Air Hot

House in 2012: a living R&D cell and showcase of the hardware’s ability to survive Texas summers in an un-air-conditioned,

kiosk-sized, tinted-window enclosure drawing in filtered air. Its cooling relies only on a central ceiling fan and the compute and

storage internal fans. In this hot house, PowerEdge 11th to 13th generation hardware encounters high temperatures,

humidity, and airborne contaminants from automotive/truck exhaust – as it’s located in a parking lot near the intersection of

two interstate highways.

The next step in corrosion research – Dell EMC’s mini-MDC facility – became operational in 2014. It’s a swamp-cooled

PowerEdge R720XD-populated datacenter, injected with chlorine and sulfur corrosion accelerants. Here, Dell EMC R&D

investigates corrosion; and robustness of hardware, surface finishes, and coatings. Importantly, it also supports the

development of Dell EMC’s environmental early warning IoT device, which is designed to alert data center operators of

conditions that may be harmful to computing equipment.

In the selection of datacenter installation locales, or for the detection of problem areas within FAC datacenters, Dell EMC

believes that prevention is key. To enable customers to detect and mitigate environmental threats, Dell EMC’s IoT solution

incorporates transducers and logic to sense, quantify and log environmental factors that contribute to corrosion. Dell EMC is in

the second phase of development of this device, with improvements targeted in increased sensitivity, better time-domain

logging, and a greater operating temperature/humidity envelope.

In parallel, Dell EMC collaborates with supplier partners to better understand the effects of corrosive environments on

products that are co-developed. Progress on corrosion acceleration allows Dell EMC to simulate over five years of ISA.71-G3

exposure within six months. This has identified areas where Dell EMC and partners have strengthened materials, systems

and components. Dell EMC’s study of connector/contact robustness has provided ongoing feedback to the industry and is

driving mitigation and hardware protection measures. Dell EMC is demonstrating and implementing design features to

increase robustness to combat corrosive airflow.