William Gast is director of global data center design and energy efficiency at CenturyLink, a company that provides infrastructure and communications services through nearly 60 data centers around the world.

In this video he explains the thinking behind Chiller-in-a-Box, an unusual concept pioneered by CenturyLink that brings together the entire chilled water plant – including the cooling tower and air economizer – in a small package, the same size as a traditional air-cooled chiller, so the two become interchangeable.

According to Gast, this approach can easily increase the efficiency of cooling fivefold.

He also mentioned CenturyLink’s data center at Moses Lake – set in a former US Department of Defense bunker and built to withstand a full-scale nuclear attack.

The conversation took place at the DatacenterDynamics Enterprise conference and exhibition in New York.