Intelligent Data Centres Issue 42 | Page 40

EXPERT OPINION

IT leaders reconciling data centre needs with the Circular Economy

Data centre managers are constantly searching for best practices that allow them to access circular IT with confidence . Here , Ian Shearer , Managing
Director , APAC & EMEA , Park Place Technologies , discusses how data centre leaders can close the life cycle loop and achieve their net zero goals . umping into circular IT when you run a complex innovative

J data centre may seem like a bridge too far . Collectively , data centres house more electrical , compute , data processing and storage equipment than any other type of facility .

With over 8 million sites registered in 2021 , data centres also represent a major focus for IT to achieve new environmental and sustainability targets . Having historically housed the latest bleedingedge technology , data centres have traditionally left vast quantities of WEEE ( Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment ) in their wake – in part because of short pre-dictated vendor product life cycles for ‘ supported ’ optimal usage that only ‘ rip and replace ’ cycles can overcome .
Yet times have changed in response to the climate crisis , with IT leaders becoming increasingly savvy in extending lifetime windows to avoid disposable IT . Constant supply cycles from incumbent hardware providers are now largely viewed as both unsustainable and unacceptable to corporations . Very few global organisations running data centres wish to continue with arbitrary cycles of buying new – and depleting more precious earth elements and minerals for new kit than is absolutely necessary and critical – while decommissioning perfectly serviceable equipment along the way .
As such , the response of the IT industry to averting the climate crisis is now extending far further , deep into the remit of circular usage and procurement models . Data centres with their vast hardware asset itineraries offer maximum potential . Deploying circular IT methodologies represents the third action on a three-stage tier for data centres
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