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Views: 94 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2022-03-18 Origin: Site
Data center design is reaching a tipping point, driven by a dramatic increase in demand for scalability and performance in both computing and storage. However, more stringent efficiency targets are being set, necessitating the search for a redesign of the data center of the future.
To date, the hardware housed in racks has been largely unlimited as data center operations teams struggle to service an increasingly energy-intensive IT infrastructure. But can hardware be the cornerstone of a sustainability strategy? What can be achieved if one takes a closer look at what is actually in the data center racks? How will this affect operational outcomes? Can data centers become more sustainable and still achieve more advanced performance?
Four truths about data center design
No matter what part of the supply chain is involved in building and operating a data center, there are four fundamental principles that cannot be ignored if the data is to be served for the future.
Today, the amount of data being created worldwide and the number of people and devices that want to access it is growing exponentially. For example, IDC predicts that by 2025, global data will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 61% with one billion more people accessing it (for a total of 6 billion.) The amount of data being generated globally in 2025 will reach 175 ZB, if that's easier, no matter which method is used.
As storage media technology advances, more storage can be installed into rack space, but it's not enough. Current technology developments and storage needs will require more data center space with corresponding additional needs in power and cooling, but this is not sustainable.
Some sustainability gains can be made by increasing storage capacity and still having to power those data centers and provide enough power to support those loads. While power efficiency in data centers has improved significantly over the years, this is still a big problem.
Now, the extra heat is an issue. In fact, about 30 percent of the power consumed by data centers is used for cooling alone. The case of highly optimized data centers deployed by enterprises is rare. Public cloud providers and large enterprises (e.g., YouTube) will build and operate such data centers. It is safe to say that the investment in enterprise-class data center infrastructure by many organizations may have stalled during the wave of cloud migration over the past few years.
While part of the solution is to address climate change, mitigating the growing demand for power through carbon offset programs or signing up for renewable energy contracts alone is not going to cut it. If data center architectures are to reduce their environmental impact and have a positive impact on CSR strategies, they need to fundamentally reduce energy consumption.