EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
MARK ACTON , DATA CENTRE CONSULTANT
say sort of slightly jokingly but also
I with some degree of thought , that it ’ ll look very much the same as it does now . And the reason for that is we build data centres with a 25 – 30 year lifetime . So anything we ’ re building now will absolutely be
A DATA CENTRE IN 10 YEARS ’ TIME IS GOING TO LOOK EXACTLY LIKE IT DOES TODAY , PRETTY MUCH BECAUSE THAT ’ S WHAT WE ’ RE CURRENTLY BUILDING AND WE EXPECT IT TO LAST FOR 25 – 30 YEARS . around in 10 and 20 years . If you look at it superficially , a data centre in 10 years ’ time is going to look exactly like it does today , pretty much because that ’ s what we ’ re currently building and we expect it to last for 25 – 30 years .
Internally , I do think there ’ s going to be differences . I think that we are beginning to realise rather than this this sort of navel gazing focus on PUE and using it as some sort of incorrect proxy for energy efficiency , PUE is not an energy efficiency metric . So rather than having that focus , which is effectively a focus on the building and facility side of things , I think we ’ ll see a much clearer understanding that what actually consumes the energy in the data centre is the IT load . We need to look at the efficiency of the IT load . We need to look at the efficiency of the code that runs on that IT equipment – why are we not looking more closely at developing energy efficient software ? Why are we not looking more at the energy efficiency of the IT hardware and network hardware that sits in a data centre ? The moment the focus is on the easy bit we ’ re not really looking at the hard bit . If we turn all the IT load off in a data centre , the building consumes zero energy , so the building is not the problem . And I think we need to recognise that and do something about
LET ’ S JUST FOCUS ON THE BIT THAT ’ S ACTUALLY CONSUMING ENERGY , NOT THE BIT THAT PUTS THE OVERHEAD ON THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION .
it . And also , in the process , inform media and government . It ’ s not the building that ’ s the problem , let ’ s just make it clear . If you leave the hot shower running in your house all day , it isn ’ t the house ’ s fault . It ’ s the fact that you ’ ve left it on . The shower is the IT load , your house is the building . So let ’ s just focus on the bit that ’ s actually consuming energy , not the bit that puts the overhead on the energy consumption . So that I think is the big message and something we should focus on .
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