FEATURE
Data centres are increasingly looking
to utilise energy-efficient technologies
to reduce their carbon footprint. Vasiliki
Georgiadou, Project Manager, Green
IT Amsterdam, looks at why the data
centre and energy sectors must be
brought closer together and start
talking the same language to trigger
real change.
Content supplied
by the DCA
he continuous infusion of IT services in our daily lives,
with the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT),
distributed data centres and the cloudification of legacy
computer systems, brings data centres to the front
lines. Data centres are often, and accurately, perceived as critical
infrastructures of our times with concerns regarding their energy
consumption dominating public discussions. Partially such
concerns are very much valid indeed. Their energy consumption
in the EU is predicted to reach 104 TWh in 2020, after all. And
energy is a precious commodity.
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As such, to ensure sustained availability, reliability and security
of Europe’s critical infrastructures, data centres continuously
reinforce their investments towards energy efficient business
innovation. However, with the highly efficient and ever-evolving
cooling technologies available along with IT consolidation and
virtualisation techniques, PUE focused energy reduction and
efficiency solutions no longer offer high returns.
For sure, the usefulness of a data centre resides in the data
processed, stored and transferred within and outside its
boundaries. And although difficult at times to measure uniformly
among data centres, the industry has made leaps and bounds in
handling its core business effectively.
Nevertheless, a fundamental viewpoint, so far overlooked in the
mainstream discussions, must be considered: at the end of the
Issue 02
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