Features

How DCs can develop science-based goals – and succeed at them

by Anthea van Scherpenzeel, Senior Sustainability Manager at Colt DCS. Sustainability has swiftly evolved over the last 10 years from a nice-to-have, to a top business concern. The data centres industry is one that is frequently criticised for its excessive energy usage and environmental effects. For example, data centres account for about a fifth of Ireland's total power use, while global data centre and network electricity consumption in 2022 was expected to be up to 1.3% of global final electricity demand. It is clear that responsible roadmaps and measurable targets are needed to lessen the impact of data centres' energy use. But some in the industry really don't know where to begin. The IEA asserts that the data centre industry urgently needs to improve, citing a variety of reasons such as a lack of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data, a lack of internal expertise, or a culture that values performance and speed over environmental credentials. In order to effectively address environmental challenges at the rate required to realise a global net-zero economy, it is imperative that science-based targets and roadmaps are established. It is the industry's duty to move forward with the most sustainable practices possible so that ESG impacts will be as small as possible when demand rises as a result of new technology and developing markets. It is also expected that by 2027, the AI sector alone will use as much energy as the Netherlands, making it more important than ever to take steps that are consistent with the science underlying the Paris Agreement. Being accountable under science-based targets Science-based targets underline the short and long-term commitment of businesses to take action on climate change. Targets are considered science-based if they align with the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. More recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its sixth Assessment Report reaffirming the near linear relationship between the increase in CO2 emissions due to human activities and future global warming. Colt DCS resubmitted its science-based targets in 2023 in line with the latest Net Zero Standard by the Science-based Targets initiative. The targets cover a range of environmental topics, including fuel, electricity, waste and water. These goals are vital not only for the data centres themselves but also to support customers in reaching their own net-zero goals. Science-based targets and roadmaps tells businesses how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if we are to achieve a global net zero economy and prevent the worst effects of climate change. This extends to Scope 3 emissions – often the most challenging to track and manage – where data centre and business leaders must ensure that partners are on the same path to sustainable practices. Data centre leaders must commit, develop, submit, communicate, and disclose their science-based targets to remain accountable. Although science-based targets are vital to improve environmental impact, data centre operators must not forget to cover all three pillars of ESG in their sustainability strategies. Many organisations focus on the ‘E’ with the granularity of data easier to assess; however, social and governance prove just as important. Whether that’s connecting with local communities, safeguarding, or ensuring that governance and reporting are up to scratch, a further focus on the ‘S’ and the ‘G’ can prove a key differentiator. Turning targets into actions With these science-based targets in place, it’s time for data centres to turn targets into actions. Smart switches to new, more sustainable materials, technologies, and energy sources reduce the impact of data centres on the planet. For instance, switching to greener fuel options and procuring renewable energy or choosing refrigerants with a lower global warming potential, go a long way in reducing a data centre’s carbon footprint. A cultural change is also needed to ensure that sustainability becomes a vital part of business strategy. As well as shifting internal mindsets, collaboration with customers and suppliers will be crucial to meeting targets. Being on the same page, and not just thinking of sustainability as a tick-box exercise, must be at the industry’s core. Going one step further, measuring progress is an essential part of the sustainability journey. Close relationships with partners and suppliers are a key part of effective reporting to track Scope 3 emissions – not just for data centres, but also for the businesses that use them. With the incoming EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), this data sharing will prove more important than ever to gain a holistic overview of sustainability impacts along the entire value chain. The future for the digital infrastructure market The carbon footprint of the digital infrastructure market might be significantly reduced if the data centre business adopted science-based targets and actions as best practices. The ultimate objective should focus on embedded acts that begin as soon as land is obtained, rather than just reviewing daily operations. Data centres must make the site lifecycle as sustainable as possible, encompassing construction, materials, equipment, and operations. Measuring embedded carbon is essential to tracking a project's overall impact. For more from Colt DCS, click here.

Cloud is key in scaling systems to your business needs

by Brian Sibley, Solutions Architect at Espria Meeting the demands of the modern-day SMB is one of the challenges facing many business leaders and IT operators today. Traditional, office-based infrastructure was fine up until the point where greater capacity was needed than those servers could deliver, vendor support became an issue, or the needs of a hybrid workforce weren’t being met. In the highly competitive SMB space, maintaining and investing in a robust and efficient IT infrastructure can be one of the ways to stay ahead of competitors. Thankfully, with the advent of cloud offerings, a new scalable model has entered the landscape; whether it be 20 or 20,000 users, the cloud will fit all and with it comes a much simpler, per user cost model. This facility to integrate modern computing environments in the day-to-day workplace means businesses can now stop rushing to catch up, and with this comes the invaluable peace of mind that these operations will scale up or down as required. Added to which, the potential cost savings and added value will better serve each business and help to future-proof the organisation, even when on a tight budget. Cloud service solutions are almost infinitely flexible, rather than traditional on-premises options, and won’t require in-house maintenance. When it comes to environmental impact and carbon footprint, data centres are often thought to be a threat, contributing to climate change; but in reality, cloud is a great option. The scalability of cloud infrastructure and the economies of scale they leverage facilitate not just cost but carbon savings too. Rather than a traditional model where a server runs in-house at 20% capacity, using power 24/7/365 and pumping out heat, cloud data centres are specifically designed to run and cater for multiple users more efficiently, utilising white space cooling, for example, to optimise energy consumption. When it comes to the bigger players like Microsoft and Amazon, they are investing heavily in sustainable, on-site energy generation to power their data centres; even planning to feedback excess power into the National Grid. Simply put, it’s more energy efficient for individual businesses to use a cloud offering than to run their own servers – the carbon footprint for each business using a cloud solution becomes much smaller. With many security solutions now being cloud based too, security doesn’t need to be compromised and can be managed remotely via SOC teams either in-house or via the security provider (where the resources are greater and have far more specialist expertise). Ultimately, a cloud services solution, encompassing servers, storage, security and more, will best service SMBs. It’s scalable, provides economies of scale and relieves in-house IT teams from many mundane yet critical tasks, allowing them to focus on more profitable activities. For more from Espria, click here.

Vertiv opens a new manufacturing facility and test lab in India

Vertiv has announced the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Pune, India. The opening was to meet the surging demand for data centres and supporting infrastructure solutions globally, including India and the APAC region. The new plant manufactures thermal management products and solutions tailored for colocation, cloud, telecom, and enterprise data centres, catering to both domestic and international markets. This is Vertiv’s third facility in India, joining with existing manufacturing facilities in Ambernath and Pune. Spanning 4.8 acres (210,000ft2), the facility supports the manufacturing of cooling solutions ranging from 200W to 2MW+, including adiabatic free cooling chillers, large custom air handling units (AHU), thermal wall units, a new range of large direct expansion (DX), packaged DX, free cooling with economiser units, a new range of in-row cooling units, wall mount units, and rack cooling systems. The facility also boasts state-of-the-art psychometric labs, providing performance testing, a customer experience centre, and design support capabilities. It is located in an India Green Building Council (IGBC) compliant park focusing on sustainability and reducing environmental impact. CEO of Vertiv, Giordano (Gio) Albertazzi, says, “With increasing global digitalisation and the rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the data centre industry is experiencing growth and a demand for more capacity, including for data centre thermal and power infrastructure. India’s emergence as a data centre hub in the APAC region is a key reason that we built this third manufacturing facility in India, and it reinforces our commitment to nurturing the country’s data centre ecosystem while also addressing global demand.”

Crusoe announces data centre expansion with atNorth in Iceland

atNorth, a Nordic colocation, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence service provider has announced its collaboration with Crusoe Energy Systems to collocate Crusoe Cloud GPUs in atNorth’s ICE02 data centre in Iceland. This is Crusoe’s first project in Europe and the partnership advances Crusoe’s mission to align the future of computing with the future of the climate. It plans to do this by powering Crusoe’s high-performance computing infrastructure with clean energy sources. “I’m thrilled that our quest to source low carbon power has led us to Iceland,” says Cully Cavness, Crusoe’s Co-Founder and President. “This partnership with atNorth allows us to bring the concentrated energy demand of compute infrastructure directly to the source of clean, renewable geothermal and hydro energy.” “It is very important to atNorth that we are collaborating with companies that share our approach to sustainability,” says E. Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth. “Crusoe’s commitment to maximise their compute while minimising their environmental impact made them a perfect fit.” The atNorth ICE02 site leverages more than 80MW of power, benefiting from the sustainable geothermal and hydro energy produced in Iceland. The country also benefits from low latency networks and fully redundant connectivity to customer bases in North America and Europe via multiple undersea fibre optic cables.  “AI and machine learning are driving the demand for data centres to grow at a record rate,” says Chris Dolan, Chief Data Centre Officer of Crusoe. “We’re excited about our initial commitment to atNorth and look forward to potentially expanding capacity even more in the future.”  The news follows atNorth’s recent acquisition of Gompute, a provider of High Performance Computing (HPC) and data centre services, and the announcement of three new sites: FIN04 in Kouvola, Finland; FIN02 in Helsinki, Finland; and DEN01 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Pulsant gains recognition for environmental and sustainability initiatives

Pulsant has seen its commitment to environmental and sustainable working practices receive two key industry certifications in recognition of its focus on environmental and sustainability initiatives across its data centre estate and management systems.  Rating in the top 25% of responding businesses, it received a silver medal from EcoVadis, with particular strengths in the area of its environmental practices. This achievement reflects Pulsant's commitment to environmental stewardship and social responsibility. The company has implemented numerous initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint, minimise waste, and promote ethical business practices, including wellbeing and mental health. Furthering its sustainability credentials, its energy management system has been awarded the respected ISO 50001 certification, giving independent assurance to its effectiveness in improving its energy performance. As an operator of a variety of UK data centres, it is working towards an overall PUE of 1.3 by 2030, and is on track to surpass the 2023 target of 1.53, following from the success of a number of initiatives such as consolidation project at Maidenhead site, cold aisle containment, cooling and UPS infrastructure upgrades, and temperature optimisation. Commenting on the news, Helen Munro, Head of Environment and Sustainability at Pulsant, notes, "Sustainability is a key priority at Pulsant. We are committed to continuous improvement across all aspects of our activities, both internally and across our wider supply chain. These certifications highlight that our comprehensive policies and programmes are delivering meaningful results. Credit to the teams across our sites and operations across all parts of the business for making it happen." As the need for improved environmental management intensifies, Pulsant is focused on further minimising its climate impact, with initiatives already underway, including piloting HVO fuelled generators and evolving cooling technologies. “We are currently ahead of the annual targets we set to work towards our 2050 net zero targets, but well aware that we need to continue to push to find new opportunities to improve our carbon footprint and environmental impact in the years ahead. We all have a part to play in safeguarding the planet and we are aware of the role our organisation needs to play in that,” concludes Helen.

Schneider Electric finalises acquisition of EcoAct 

Schneider Electric has announced that it has finalised the acquisition of EcoAct SAS (EcoAct), an international leader in climate consulting and net zero solutions headquartered in Paris, France. The completion of the transaction follows consultation with the relevant employee representative bodies and approval from the competent regulatory authorities.   The acquisition represents the coming together of two best-in-class organisations to accelerate business solutions that deliver true value for both climate and clients. EcoAct’s portfolio of net zero and nature-based products and services, including consulting, climate data tools, and carbon offset project development, will expand and accelerate Schneider Electric’s global Sustainability Business, a provider of advisory services in the areas of energy management, energy efficiency, renewable energy and environmental commodity procurement, sustainability and net zero consulting, climate risk, sustainability communications, and reporting and disclosure.   The joining of the two organisations expands Schneider's capabilities to provide end-to-end solutions that lead organisations through the net zero transformation and beyond. The company’s advisory services support the development of sustainability strategy and target setting through to decarbonisation across scope one, two and three, enhanced by its AI-led portfolio of digital and data management tools.  “We have long admired the team at EcoAct, and bringing our two organisations together will help us to accelerate the ability to serve our clients all over the world,” says Steve Wilhite, President, Sustainability Business. “Companies understand the urgency to act but continue to face complexities, when it comes to decarbonisation. I’m confident that our combined best-in-class teams will help our clients to accelerate even faster towards their net zero ambitions.”  “Urgent climate action is at the heart of our mission, and I know we’ve found the right partner in Schneider Electric,” says Stuart Lemmon, CEO of EcoAct. “The company’s own demonstrated commitments to net zero – in its own operations and for its clients – speaks loudly in the market, and our EcoActors are excited to join together with another leading advisory team, putting climate and nature centre stage to accelerate sustainable corporate transformation.” 

Neterra launches Startup Accelerator program

Neterra has initiated Startup Accelerator program with the aim of nurturing and supporting start-ups. Under this program, it is providing complimentary or substantially reduced services encompassing cloud, colocation, connectivity and cyber security. The neterra.cloud offering is built on cutting-edge Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum processors, offering unlimited data traffic and scalable enterprise-class storage solutions. This package also includes free backup, disaster recovery solutions, and DDoS protection for the initial six months. In a bid to further assist innovative start-ups, it grants access to colocation services in its Tier III+ data centres, including EU based Sofia Data Center 1 (SDC 1), Sofia Data Center 2 (SDC 2), SDC Stolnik, and SDC Ruse, coupled with their high-quality carrier-grade connectivity and global internet exchange through the NetIX platform. For the first six months, Neterra covers the expenses, while start-ups are responsible for their electricity costs. Following this initial period, the global telecom extends discounted colocation services starting at starting at 12 euros/1U rack unit/month. Additionally, Neterra is extending consultancy services to program beneficiaries, offering expertise in network architecture, hardware and software recommendations, configuration, best practices, and managed services for cloud, application servers, hosting providers, and more. The current start-up support program is a continuation of its longstanding commitment to assisting start-ups, a tradition that has been upheld since the company's inception nearly three decades ago. Back then, it played a pivotal role in helping numerous internet providers launch and prosper.  In more recent times, Neterra has demonstrated its dedication to supporting start-ups, as exemplified by its involvement with ucha.se, an online learning platform. Founder of ucha.se, Darin Madzharov, crossed paths with Neven Dilkov, Founder of Neterra, through a mentoring program aimed at nurturing and guiding young talents. In the early stages of development, it extended its support by offering complimentary services during the initial months.

nVent rear door coolers offer solution for high-density racks

nVent has announced the launch of its RDHX PRO rear door cooling unit, a new high-performance solution offering the capability to upgrade data centres with up to 83kW high-density racks, meeting the requirements for the growing use of AI-enhanced applications, demands for higher energy efficiency and sustainability, and the need for greater data centre space utilisation. Rear door cooling solutions are increasingly popular as a pay-as-you-go method for retrofitting increased data centre cooling performance, in many cases without the need for additional re-engineering of the existing facility mechanical design. When installed as a primary method of heat removal, rear door coolers eliminate much of the need for mechanical equipment including fans, blowers and CRAHs, to provide a more optimised cooling solution aligned with the exact requirements for individual racks, at the same time reducing noise and energy waste. Bringing flexibility to rack cooling One of the features of RDHX PRO RDC is the ability to operate comfortably with 57°F (14°C) warm water cooling, making it environmentally friendly. By utilising free cooling, the device significantly reduces the amount of energy required to cool the data centre, not only reducing overall data centre power consumption but also the carbon footprint of operations. The future-proofed solution can also be combined with direct-to-chip (D-2-C) liquid cooling deployments, for customers who are moving towards a hybrid approach to cooling, and especially those looking to maximise heat reuse opportunities, combined with NVent’s liquid cooling CDU 800. Maximum compatibility and availability The new rear door cooling units from nVent are offered in a range of standard sizes for use with 42U, 47U, 48U and 52U data centre racks, in both 600mm and 800mm widths. The coolers themselves are 250mm deep, one of the features of rear door coolers is that they are compact and do not require any additional floor space or ceiling headroom, it can free up white space compared to other competitor RDCs and cooling devices CRAH and CRAC units may be eliminated from the data centre. Each unit has a maximum power draw of 1800W and features 12x axial brushless DC fans – more than any competitive unit. However, the large number of fans mean they individually do less work than a smaller number of large fans, reducing stress on the electromechanical devices and increasing their lifecycle. In the event failures do occur, nVent has developed an innovative, tool-less and hot-swappable method for fan replacement as well as other critical components such as PSUs. This feature allows uptime to be maximised at the same time as reducing service callouts and associated costs. For ease of integration with data centre management applications as well as BMS software, the new rear door cooling units also feature a newly designed controller which is compatible with most popular network and control protocols including Web Interface, Ethernet, SNMP, Modbus TCP, RTU, and Redfish. The new RDHX PRO RDC is available from September and will be on demonstration at DCW Paris and SuperComputing in Denver, Colorado, US.

Redefining liquid cooling from the server to the switch

By Nathan Blom, CCO, Iceotope Liquid cooling has long been a focal point in discussions surrounding data centres, and rightfully so, as these facilities are at the epicentre of an unprecedented data explosion. The explosive growth of the internet, cloud services, IoT devices, social media, and AI has fuelled an unparalleled surge in data generation, intensifying the strain on rack densities and placing substantial demands on data centre cooling systems. In fact, cooling power alone accounts for a staggering 40% of a data centre's total energy consumption. However, the need for efficient IT infrastructure cooling extends beyond data centres. Enterprise organisations are also looking for ways to reduce costs, maximise revenue and accelerate sustainability objectives. Not to mention the fact that reducing energy consumption is rapidly becoming one of the top priorities for telcos with thousands of sites in remote locations, making the reduction of maintenance costs key as well. Liquid cooling technologies have emerged as a highly efficient solution for dissipating heat from IT equipment, regardless of the setting. Whether it's within a data centre, on-premises data hall, cloud environment, or at the edge, liquid cooling is proving its versatility. While most applications have centred on cooling server components, new applications are rapidly materialising across the entire IT infrastructure spectrum. BT Group, in a ground-breaking move, initiated trials of liquid cooling technologies across its networks to enhance energy efficiency and reduce consumption as part of its commitment to achieving net zero status. BT kicked off the trials with a network switch cooled using Iceotope’s Precision Liquid Cooling technology and Juniper Networks QFX Series Switches. With 90% of its overall energy consumption coming from networks, it’s easy to see why reducing energy consumption is such a high priority. In a similar vein, Meta released a study last year confirming the practicality, efficiency and effectiveness of precision liquid cooling technology to meet the cooling requirements of high-density storage disks. Global data storage is growing at such a rate there is an increased need for improved thermal cooling solutions. Liquid cooling for high-density storage is proving to be a viable alternative as it can mitigate for variances and improve consistency. Ultimately, it lowers overall power consumption and improves ESG compliance. Liquid cooling technologies are changing the game when it comes to removing heat from the IT stack. While each of the technologies on the market today have their time and place, there is a reason we are seeing precision liquid cooling in trials that are broadening the use case for liquid cooling. It also ensures maximum efficiency and reliability as it uses a small amount of dielectric coolant to precisely target and remove heat from the hottest components of the server. This approach not only eliminates the need for traditional air-cooling systems, but it allows for greater flexibility in designing IT solutions than any other solution on the market today. There are no hotspots that can slow down performance, no wasted physical space on unnecessary cooling infrastructure, and minimal need for water consumption. As the demand for data increases, the importance of efficient and sustainable IT infrastructure cooling cannot be overstated. Liquid cooling, and precision liquid cooling in particular, is at the forefront of this journey. Whether it's reducing the environmental footprint of data centres, enhancing the energy efficiency of telecommunication networks, or meeting the ever-increasing demands of high-density storage, liquid cooling offers versatile and effective solutions. These trials and applications are not just milestones, they represent a pivotal shift toward a future where cooling is smarter, greener, and more adaptable, empowering businesses to meet their evolving IT demands while contributing to a more sustainable world.

UK organisations buckling under huge data security strain

Over a quarter (29%) of European organisations have been unable to fully utilise data within their organisation due to challenges with data security, according to an IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by Immuta.   This data security “gap” is a result of organisations grappling with increasingly complex IT and data infrastructures internally, leading to huge siloes of sensitive data. Businesses must manage this alongside the external risk of rising cyber attacks in Europe, as 58% of UK organisations experienced an increase in cyber attacks in the last 12 months, followed by 49% in DACH and 47% in the Nordics.    According to insights from 108 European organisations, data security is rising rapidly to the top of the CEO’s agenda, 45% will prioritise spend on data security, risk and compliance this year to enable trustworthy data collaboration and sharing, followed by workplace solutions (36%), application development and deployment platforms (35%), infrastructure and operations (33%) and automation technologies (31%).  Organisations must also address a new blind spot caused by shadow data - a side effect of data sprawl in the cloud - with only 42% of European businesses selecting 'confident' or 'highly confident' in their ability to discover and classify sensitive data, both known and unknown, in the public cloud.   Meanwhile, evolving privacy regulations are creating tension between digital innovation and data sovereignty, only 15% of organisations in Europe are highly confident in their ability to discover and classify sensitive data in order to protect it. Additionally, when managing compliance with GDPR, the biggest challenges facing organisations stem from identifying and mapping personal data (41%), creating data protection by design (40%), data retention and deletion (38%) and data security (35%).  In the UK, organisations cited working from home and hybrid work as the top operational security priority for 2023, followed by cyber resilience of systems and data privacy and regulatory compliance. 58% described their organisation as 'confident' or 'highly confident' in its ability to discover and classify sensitive data, both known and unknown, in the public cloud - a significant increase on the European average (42%). 56% of UK organisations will expand or upgrade technology related to data access and governance in the next 12 months. “The reality is that organisations are typically operating with data spread across multiple platforms and locations, all whilst navigating a rapidly evolving privacy and regulatory landscape,” says Colin Mitchell, General Manager, Immuta. “Data is a critical asset for organisations, enabling collaboration, innovation and informing decisions. However, as data usage increases, businesses need to manage unauthorised access, breaches and misuse. This creates a complex dynamic between data utility — the usefulness and accessibility of data — and the security and compliance measures in place to protect data from risks.”   Looking ahead, organisations are exploring ways to build trust in data by streamlining their security operations and rationalise their existing security tool environment, 49% of respondents all working within security plan to expand or upgrade implementation of data access controls in the next 12 months. Nearly a third of European organisations (32%) also intend to increase spend on data discovery and classification to overcome challenges of complexity.  The IDC InfoBrief sets out how convergence to a data security platform enhances sensitive data protection across hybrid multi-cloud environments, while enabling authorised users to effectively utilise the data for business purposes. The full findings of the IDC Data Security Infobrief can be found here.