A few years ago, choosing a server came down to three questions: how many cores, how much memory and how much storage. Today that approach falls short. A fully configured ASUS XA VR721-E3 — Vera Rubin system weighs about 1.8 tonnes and draws up to 230 kW — as much as 25 conventional server racks. The AMD-based equivalent from ASUS, the XA AI Helios, weighs close to 3.2 tonnes (according to AMD's CEO, about as much as two compact cars) and draws around 240 kW. This is physics the entire industry now has to face.

That is why, over the past year, the focus in the enterprise IT hardware segment has shifted. The conversation is no longer only about chips. ASUS, for example, now positions itself as an integrator of complete "AI factories" rather than a component maker — compute, networking, power and cooling, designed as a single whole. What customers buy is an ecosystem, not a chip.

The same logic applies on a much smaller scale — not to a data center with thousands of GPUs, but to a single server for a Bulgarian company. When a client asks for a new server for a specific task, the first question is rarely whether the room's electrical panel can handle the extra load, whether the air conditioning will cope with the additional heat, or whether the network connection will become the bottleneck. These questions, more than the CPU specification itself, determine whether the new server will actually work from day one.

For Bulgarian companies this is no longer a distant topic. According to the Electricity System Operator (ESO), requests to connect data centers in Bulgaria already exceed 9,300 MW — more than the entire country's winter peak demand (7.5–8 GW). More and more businesses want real control over their own data. Security is no longer something to think about "later" — it is part of the architecture from the very start. And the cloud, however convenient a model it is, is not always the right answer, especially when the data is sensitive.

That is why understanding servers alone is no longer enough. To advise a client properly, you also need to understand other things. Electrical infrastructure — power levels that were unthinkable just a few years ago. Air conditioning and liquid cooling. And the building's structure — because not every floor can carry that kind of weight. The infrastructure behind the hardware is made up of many such building blocks. We understand each of them — and we can build it, if and when it is needed.

Svetoslav Karpachev, Commercial Director at PERSY