Information week has an interview with Microsoft President Bob Muglia. Which reveals Microsoft’s container is providing evaporative cooling in the containers.
InformationWeek: There's a next-generation container on the show floor?
Bob Muglia: In Chicago, we used the previous generation of container. The one on the show floor incorporates advances coming out of Microsoft Research. *
Our servers have no fans in them.Ambient air is drawn over a membrane onto which a small amount of water is released. I think it's two gallons an hour. The slow release of water drops the temperature of ambient air coming in through a system of louvers by 20 or 25 degrees and that's sufficient to keep the servers cool enough. You have to realize servers run comfortably at 95 degrees. Maybe you and I are not comfortable working at 95 degrees, but servers are.
*Note: this quote is struck out due to a reader pointing out the server fan noise. See this post for specifics.