IS SUSTAINABLE SOFTWARE WITHIN GRASP FOR THE UAE’S IT SECTOR?

By: David Boast, Managing Director, MENA, Endava

for nearly 1% of energy-related GHG emissions. It’s no surprise, then, that data centres have been at the focus of the industry’s attempts to reduce its emissions, with the result that data centres have become much more efficient over the past 10 years.

Hard Truths About Software Emissions

The amount of emissions that hardware produces depends significantly on its use and operation – and a key part of this is the software it runs.

There is a vast amount of complexity involved when considering how to reduce the emissions caused by software, with a myriad complicated and related factors to take into account. For example, we need to consider emissions generated during software development, from activities such as test environments, analysis tools and developer workstations. Indirect emissions, like those from commuting, the office space and air travel, are also part of the picture when developing software.

Highlighting these overlooked areas empowers businesses to minimize their impact. During the pandemic, remote collaboration through established communication and file sharing platforms eliminated the need for travel, enabling geographically dispersed teams to work together seamlessly. Optimized software development paradigms like The Endava Adaptive

Model (TEAM) streamline software design and testing, reducing time to market and resource requirements.

Turning focus to software in production environments, enterprises can also reduce the carbon footprint of this by aiming to right-size their infrastructure for the workloads they run. While hyperconverged infrastructure offers an effective solution to scale down the physical footprint of the data centre, as a general rule, using cloud platforms powered by sustainable energy sources is currently the most optimum solution, as these are the lowest-emission platforms available to most organisations.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR ICT SUSTAINABILITY?

As the UAE advances on its green journey, the ICT sector shows increasing awareness and action to be sustainable and reduce environmental impact. Data center engineers and hardware designers are making excellent progress in measurement, standardization, and efficiency, resulting in lower emissions. The next step for the sector may involve developing methods to assess and reduce the environmental impact of software emissions. Though fully accurate quantitative measurement is challenging, simple steps can be taken now to consider software sustainability.