D E E P D I V E
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry?
We’ re going to need to get serious and give more attention to sustainability in our industry. This includes avoiding the‘ rip and replace’ mentality where we’ re constantly replacing our cooling and ITE every few years. Smart investing and positive sustainability practices include properly specifying our hardware and cooling to last at least 10 years. In addition, if we’ re planning on moving towards some form of liquid cooling during that time period, we’ ll want to focus on what type of technology works best for our business case, both now and in the future.
What are the region-specific challenges you encounter in your role?
Since our industry is constantly looking towards reducing energy usage, which includes free cooling and the use of renewable power, one region-specific challenge I encounter is where to build new data centres. While many factors are involved in this decision including the availability of land, power and water, the challenge exists to find and maximise the use of colder climates for new buildings. These colder climates are naturally favorable since they reduce or sometimes even eliminate the reliance on conventional cooling systems which are energy intensive. With cooler climates we may be able to just run naturally available cold air or chilled water in the data centre to reduce temperatures at the ITE, saving significantly on capital costs and reduce operational expenses.
What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the coming months?
Data centres are increasingly adopting greener practices to be more sustainable and energy efficient, and now we’ re starting to see more products inside the white space being made from greener and more environmentally friendly materials. One of my roles recently has been to research and determine the GWP( Global Warming Potential) benefits of using recyclable and composite materials for both cold and hot aisle containment products. Besides further lowering the GWP and carbon footprint in the white space, these products will assist data centres to obtain LEED( Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification which proves they have reduced environmental impact, comply with regulations and are operating with enhanced efficiency. �
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