Intelligent Data Centres Issue 42 | Page 63

UNCOVERING THE LAYERS
The inconvenient truth is that western governments have seen the warning signs from countries with emerging hostilities and read the scientific-backed evidence of climate change for decades but have been exceedingly slow to adapt and transition to new means of electricity generation . Instead , they have opted for the reliance of natural resources from questionable countries with different ideologies to our own . The result is that until countries can become energy secure by building their own sustainable energy infrastructure such as nuclear , solar , wind and hydroelectrical generation , volatile energy prices are here to stay .
Industries that process data and keep the world connected – such as the telecoms and data centre sectors – have been particularly affected by the increase in energy prices . Colocation providers that offer all-in customer pricing models are particularly affected , bearing the cost of rising energy prices , and seeing a deteriorating bottom line . Sungard UK , a well-known data centre and colocation services company , went into administration earlier this year and its insolvency was partly blamed on surging UK energy prices .
If high energy prices are here to stay in the short to mid-term , what can data centre and telecoms operators do to reduce their OpEx , while not comprising the operation of their estate ? Well , the two biggest energy demands for a typical data centre are the servers and then the cooling systems that maintain the temperature of the critical environment . Airsys is an expert in cooling solutions with a pedigree in delivering low OpEx solutions for critical environments , and we believe cooling technology has the solution . However , this relies upon people who operate within these sectors to change their mindset and approach , looking at the problem from a different perspective . The answer lies with fresh air . Fresh air has been overlooked for years by operators and consultants who don ’ t believe it is a viable solution . However , Airsys has been delivering tried and tested fresh air free-cooling solutions into telecom and data centre environments for years with great success , substantially lowering our clients ’ operational costs and carbon footprint .
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