It's already late in the afternoon and the snow has long melted from the ground of the Hannover Faire Grounds where the CeBIT 2008 technology conference is being held. This government sponsored super conference is trying to convince Americans to come across the pond to see what Europe has to offer. Those that do find folks trying very hard to make you feel welcome, but with a convention center the size of a smal It’s already late in the afternoon and the snow has long melted from the ground of the Hannover Faire Grounds where the CeBIT 2008 technology conference is being held. This government sponsored super conference is trying to convince Americans to come across the pond to see what Europe has to offer. Those that do find folks trying very hard to make you feel welcome, but with a convention center the size of a small city I found myself in the gamers section when I thought I was heading into the Green Pavilion. Surprisingly, even with themed halls at CeBIT, I found myself wondering just how human computer interface software qualified for Green Tech? A total of approx. 498,000 square meters of indoor display space are divided between 27 halls, each one measuring between 6,850 sqm and 69,890 sqm in size (one sqm equals around 10.7 sq. feet). The Hannover Fairegrounds are reachable by direct trains from the surrounding areas during large trade shows, with our group of American Journalists staying in the picturesque town of Celle. With even the trade unions playing ball, the strikers limited their train slow downs to 3am to 7am each day in order to limit their impact upon the bread and butter trade shows at the Hannover Messe (faireground).While quite a few of the vendors will be familiar to Americans, there are also a HUGE number of vendors that I’ve never heard of. My trek across both the Pacific and the Atlantic was to find out how the rest of the world views our complex industry. Here in Hannover I’ve found that while there were certainly alot of copycats, there were also a majority rolling out some truly unique solutions. So while no one in the Supermicro booth was able to tell me whether this water cool solution was European in origin or not, I do know that this water cool solution is new enough that only the engineering folks could get me details. (Soon to come) So what I could get from the folks there, was that this is their answer to how to cool high density blade solutions without putting a huge strain on existing computer room cooling systems. Exactly like the water cooling systems commonly used by gamers and other overclockers; the unique portion of this solution is a water manifold system that can distribute the cold water to each blade through PEX hoses and then back to a Mini-tower sized heat exchanger.Some of the questions I really need an engineer for: Can I take a feed off of building chillwater? Just how far can I pump the water? They were showing a Rittal unit, but will it work with any cold water system? Just what kind of heat can this system shed? I’m assuming I can go colder or to glycol to get colder, but what are the limits? Just how far can I take this system and how crazy can I get on overclocking my blades? At what point do I start voiding my warranty? At what point do I risk the China Syndrome? Keep tuned, we’re negotiating with the SuperMicro folks to do a hands on review by one of the InfoWorld Editors. /brian chee Technology Industry