EDITOR’S QUESTION
computing to deliver increased insights
into performance metrics and energy
consumption; and via pre-integrated
products or solutions that leverage
open technologies and allow vendors
to collaborate on established industry
standards, while competing only on the
merits of their products.
MARC GARNER, VICE
PRESIDENT, SECURE POWER
DIVISION, SCHNEIDER
ELECTRIC UK&I
oncern over the effects
of climate change
are forcing the data
centre industry to pay
greater attention to
sustainability. This
cannot be done by individuals, companies
or the industry in isolation; collaboration
is essential to deliver a viable, sustainable
and digitised future.
C
Examples of formal collaborative efforts to
address sustainability at an international
level include the Climate Group’s global
EP100 and EV100 initiatives, which
bring together companies committed
to improving their energy productivity
and the transition towards electrical
vehicles; and the RE100, a group of major
companies that have committed to using
100% renewable power. These initiatives
reflect two key concerns: how do we
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Issue 12
generate energy more sustainably; and
how do we use it more efficiently?
For the latter, the data centre sector
plays an important role in improving
processes and efficiency across today’s
technology industries. The Internet of
Things (IoT) depends on a resilient digital
infrastructure to deliver on that promise.
Here, the industry must set an example,
driving process and energy efficiencies in
its own operation, while assisting the next
generation of technology professionals to
do the same.
For data centres, this can be achieved
in several ways: through more stringent
management of industry processes
and adherence to new standards;
deployment of next-generation data
centre infrastructure management (DCIM)
systems, which utilise AI and cloud
Greater standards and pre-integration
will also drive interoperability of industry-
leading technologies, ensuring customers
deploy only the most energy efficient
solutions, which at the data centre level
will comprise power, cooling, security,
processing and networking equipment.
This becomes even more important
with the advocacy of 5G, where it is well
documented that telco energy usage
across the Edge Computing environment
is set to dwarf that of current data
centres. Therefore, a new set of standards,
potentially similar to PUE, must be created
for the Edge and telco.
When combined with next-gen DCIM
software, these Edge Computing solutions
can themselves be deployed more
sustainably, efficiently and with lower
energy usage.
Schneider Electric is committed to
following UN Sustainable Development
Goals, with 75% of our turnover in
the Digital Transformation of energy
management, which delivers greater
efficiency and reduced CO 2 emissions.
Between 2015–2025, we will invest
€10 billion in R&D and innovation, aimed
at sustainability and to-date, our carbon
neutrality programme has resulted in
Schneider Electric customers saving 100
million tons of CO ² through our offers.
Our target is to achieve carbon neutrality
across all our sites by 2025 and to achieve
net-zero operational emissions by 2030.
Most importantly, we intend to have
net-zero omissions throughout our entire
supply chain, including suppliers, by
2050. Such ambitious targets are not
achievable by one company acting on its
own, meaning a collaborative approach is
essential to achieve these goals.
www.intelligentdatacentres.com