Aqua Group has been officially presented with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise (Innovation) by the Queen’s representative in Hampshire, Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, Nigel Atkinson Esq.

The ceremony took place this week <19 October> at the home of Hampshire cricket, Southampton’s Ageas Bowl, and was attended by Aqua’s staff, all of whom were praised for their team effort in supporting the firm’s bid for the prestigious British mark of excellence.

One of only 24 Innovation award winners, the Fareham-based engineering firm received the UK’s highest accolade for business success for its revolutionary Leak Prevention System (LPS), a patented technology which has revolutionised cooling methods in many data centres and server rooms around the world.

Warmly welcomed by Aqua employees, the Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire presented the firm with the highly-prized Queen’s Award engraved crystal bowl after an official citation was read by the Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire, Mr Andrew Kent.

The Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire said: “I am delighted to present Aqua with such a valued mark of excellence, which recognises global success in the cooling solutions market and the team’s outstanding achievement with its LPS technology.”

“I am particularly proud to see a young, small business in Hampshire gaining royal recognition for its innovative products and enterprise culture, and I wish Aqua all success as the company continues to develop ground-breaking products and provide second-to-none service in the UK and across the world.”

Sales Director and inventor of the LPS technology Simon Davis said: “We are honoured to have the Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire with us to present our Queen’s Award for Enterprise. It is the ultimate seal of approval and a real boost as we strive to break into new export markets and industry sectors.”

“Being recognised as one of Britain’s best businesses would not have been possible without the in-ventiveness, commitment and hard work of everyone at Aqua Cooling and together we are deter-mined to remain at the forefront of innovation.”

The Leak Prevention System enables computer data centres and server rooms to benefit from wa-ter-cooled data cabinets with guaranteed leak-free operation. Lowering costs and businesses car-bon footprint, this is the first time the negative-pressure principle has been used commercially in the data room sector.

Aqua Cooling Solutions is celebrating winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise – the UK’s highest accolade for business success. The award was granted for Innovation in recognition of one of Aqua’s data centre products, the UK-manufactured Leak Prevention System (LPS).

The principal use of the Aqua LPS is to enable computer data centres and server rooms to benefit from water-cooled data cabinets with guaranteed leak-free operation. At its heart is the innovative use of a simple scientific principle – not used before commercially in the computer data room sector.

The ability to utilise water as cooling, with leak-free guarantee, brings so many benefits to the market place. It allows a highly efficient alternative to traditional data centre air cooling methods, giving clients substantially lower energy costs and minimising their environmental footprint, in some cases by as much as 95%. In addition, as servers become increasing sophisticated, traditional air conditioning cooling methods will become ineffective, increasing the need further still for water cooled options.

Sales Director, Simon Davis, who designed the LPS concept for Aqua Cooling explains; “Our LPS system has propelled us into the data centre industry and enabled us to grow and develop our business within this market sector, both at home and overseas. In 2011/12 the data centre industry became 33% of our annual turnover – it was previously 0%. In addition, our LPS has opened up new geographical markets to the business, indeed our entire export market – we now manufacture and export from the UK to the Middle East, Africa and USA, with considerable potential to come.”

“In the last twelve months, employee numbers have risen from 30 to 43 and Aqua’s medium-term order book is healthy — we currently have potential US orders worth more than £20 million in the pipeline, as well as strong interest from one of China’s biggest companies. Receiving a Queen’s Award for Enterprise is such an honour, not just for me personally, but for the company as a whole. The Award recognises the contribution made by all of our employees on a daily basis to put Aqua on the map as a global market leader in the data centre field.”

Established in 2001, Aqua’s main office is in Fareham, with a satellite office in York and a sister company, QCooling, based in Dallas in the USA. Approximately 140 Queen’s Awards have been announced this year for outstanding business achievement in the fields of International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development. The awards are made annually by HM The Queen, and are only given for the highest levels of excellence demonstrated in each category.