Digital Realty head of engineering, Damien Spillane, explains the most important factors to consider when designing a new data centre.
Attention naturally tends to focus on the processing and storage capabilities of the new facility. Will it be able to support your organisation’s growing computing needs? Can it be expanded to support future demand growth? Does it have resilient network links?
However, an equally important consideration is the resources that will be required to keep the data centre operating – and topping this list is electricity.
In today’s world, it is almost impossible to discuss any business operation without considering efficiency and the data centre industry is no exception.
According to Digital Power Group research, the global technology sector now consumes almost 10 per cent of the world’s total electricity output, with a significant slice of this amount used within data centres.
By their very nature, data centres are hungry beasts when it comes to electricity and this will only continue to be the case as more objects become connected to the Internet.
Racks of servers and ancillary equipment must be powered and cooled around the clock, so it is imperative to find ways to improve the energy efficiency of data centres. This, however, requires a multi-pronged approach.
Some key factors to consider include everything from geographic location and local climate to the specific systems used to cool equipment. As you could imagine, forensically assessing all these variables is a big task. But it is good to see that consistent progress is being made in this area.
One example is the rise in outside air economisation within a growing number of data centres in climates conducive to this practice. This technique involves using air drawn from outside a data centre to cool racks.
Another example is the use of modular pods within data centres. Rather than having a more traditional hot/cold isle approach to design; racks are housed in pods thereby reducing the volume of air that needs to be cooled. Such techniques can significantly improve the overall power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating of a data centre.
While Australia is making progress, there is still room for improvement when it comes to energy efficient data centres. According to a recent Digital Realty-commissioned report by Forrester Consulting, almost a third of organisations in the region said the PUE metric was either not important or they were not familiar with it.
The introduction of the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) Energy for data centre rating tools is a particularly important step in ensuring there are more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable data centres.
The tools provide a recognised benchmark of performance and a common language to facilitate a clearer understanding of environmental performance across building owners and operators, customers, companies operating in the energy efficiency sector and their stakeholders. A number of organisations, including Digital Realty, have already made the pledge to use the NABERS suite.
As other data centre providers commit to rating their energy efficiency with NABERS, it will ensure that the Australian data centre industry is a forerunner in energy performance and sustainability.
As the number of data centres across the region continues to increase, it’s important to find ongoing ways to improve energy efficiency. These efforts must cover everything from data centre design and construction, to water and electricity use.
Through cooperative initiatives such as NABERS, as well as ongoing advancements in technology from data centre providers, the industry can significantly improve both the country’s environmental credentials and the economic bottom line.