Storage in datacenters can contribute to decarbonisation

Have you ever stopped to think that achieving carbon emission targets and also operational efficiency targets in datacenter environments are not incompatible and, what’s more, can be based on the same technologies? An article published by MIT Technology Review in partnership with Hitachi highlighted how decarbonisation initiatives for datacenter storage systems can also be a modern platform for business innovation.

The study highlights that although there have been many measures to increase the adoption of renewable energy sources and the implementation of more energy-efficient hardware and software, there is still a need to accelerate sustainability efforts in data centres, as they are becoming a voracious consumer of energy. The International Energy Agency (IEA) attributes around 1.5% of the world’s total electricity use to datacenters and data transmission networks, but this figure is much higher in some countries with expanding data services, such as Ireland (18% by 2022) and Denmark (expected to reach 15% by 2030).

To help in the sustainability endeavour, Hitachi Vantara estimates that emissions attributable to data storage systems can be reduced by up to 96% using an approach that combines new energy sources, modernisation of physical infrastructure, automation of workflows and updating of the software tools that manage data storage assets in datacenters.

“Decarbonisation and the more efficient use of energy in datacenters are supported by the same technologies that promote the modernisation of these environments. Modernisation helps meet sustainability targets, but obviously offers many other benefits, such as better data analysis and business processes,” says David Pearson, IDC’s research vice president.

More than contributing to sustainability goals, datacenter decarbonization initiatives can lead to higher levels of performance for mission-critical applications, even in smaller, denser and more efficient coverage areas, which translates into lower energy and space rental costs. In addition, new management solutions create a unified platform for innovation and new business models based on advanced data analysis and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Where to start

The study points out that it is important to choose where to start decarbonization initiatives in datacenters. For example, liquid cooling technologies are in vogue and seem interesting, but “it may be better to start by optimizing the IT infrastructure so that, when the optimization of air conditioning systems is addressed, it is possible to cool the environment to the minimum possible level,” explains Ian Clatworthy, director of data platform marketing at Hitachi Vantara.

What about storage hardware in data centres? Clatworthy recalls that solid-state flash arrays emerged as an environmentally friendly replacement for hard discs and that, “the 2014 generation of storage produced 27 kg of CO2 per terabyte, a figure that has fallen over the last 10 years to 4 kg”.

For IDC’s Pearson, there are also cost advantages to upgrading. “There will be savings if several hard disc arrays are replaced by fewer dense flash arrays. This can be amortised in relation to the cost of flash,” he says, pointing out that you may have to invest a little more, but the savings will come in the form of less demand for space, lower energy costs and less need for cooling.

A natural concern is how to manage the migration of data from legacy technologies to more sustainable ones. The answer lies in storage virtualization technologies. “The current generation of storage is not only much more energy efficient than the old ones, but also offers the ability to migrate data without interruption,” says Clatworthy.

More modernisation with more security

Migrating to more sustainable storage infrastructures also offers opportunities for modernizing process flows. It becomes easier to meet more capacity or performance demands generated by new workloads. For example, a small company can run all its applications on a single array, eliminating silos of data sources. And a large company can run more workloads on the same infrastructure. “This means that data will be accessible to more applications and more users at the same time. There will no longer be different arrays and media types, which will separate applications into silos and require different management and security actions,” explains Pearson.

Another benefit is that by consolidating data into high-performance arrays, automation technologies can be deployed more easily that direct workloads to the appropriate hardware for maximum use of data centre resources.

Two other tools that help raise the sustainability levels of datacenters are data compression and deduplication. The former encodes repeatable bits into smaller files, while the latter analyses data silos to identify and eliminate duplicate, identical data sets. And the more these technologies are applied, the less space is taken up by datacenter storage systems and the smaller the environmental footprint produced by these environments.

“Times have changed. Everyone wants access to their data and wants it to be available instantly and often with high performance. With sustainability efforts that reduce the footprint of datacenters, as well as optimizing and automating processes, organizations can offset the growth in demand and avoid costly hardware upgrades,” says Clatworthy. If it’s even possible to extend the useful life of infrastructures, organizations will be contributing to not generating more carbon emissions from the manufacture and use of equipment. This is a good thing both from an operational point of view and for the entire life cycle of datacenter storage systems.