OPINION
IMPROVING SUSTAINABILITY IN THE DATACENTRE
Many businesses find it more expensive compared to running an on-premise data centre and with none of the budgetary certainty of an on-premise facility.
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hen it comes to provisioning the IT on which all businesses rely, running costs and energy efficiency have long played a significant role in the decision-making processes. Recently, however, concerns about global warming and soaring energy costs have moved them to the top of the priority list. This, in turn, is causing CIOs across the board to fundamentally rethink the approach they take, particularly when it comes to the data centre where huge benefits are to be had on both counts.
THE SIZE OF THE PROBLEM Estimates vary but according to the International Energy Agency (and others), datacentres and their associated infrastructures account for around 1% of global energy consumption. In EMEA alone that translates to over 90TWh
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per year, or enough to satisfy the domestic energy needs of a small country. Moreover, this figure carries with it an environmental impact equivalent to running almost 6 million vehicles. Big numbers whichever way you look at them and which, in turn, mean that any action to reduce energy consumption would not only save businesses money but have a significant impact when it comes to climate change.
DATACENTRE CHANGE There are lots of ways of tackling this issue with some organisations, for example, abandoning their on-premise datacentres altogether and moving to the cloud. That, however, doesn’t necessarily save on running costs. Indeed, many businesses find it more expensive compared to running an on-premise datacentre, and with none of the budgetary certainty of an on-premise
biznesstransform.com
5/2/2023 10:31:57 AM
