TALKING

SSDs and low-power servers,” says Warrick Cramer, Managing Director International, WWT.

Amine Kadiri, Senior Principal, FTI Consulting

Walid Issa, Senior Manager, PreSales and

Solutions Engineer, Middle East and Africa, NetApp

Heat recovery techniques are being used to repurpose waste heat, and edge computing is gaining traction for localised, efficient data processing. These advancements aim to reduce energy consumption, optimise resource utilisation, and promote sustainability in data centre operations.

Workload management

CIOs can reduce their carbon footprint by adopting an integrated approach to capacity planning, automation, and energy optimisation. Embracing cloud services or container-based architectures cuts unnecessary hardware. Scheduling data-intensive tasks during offpeak times conserves power.

“ Automated workload orchestration, powered by AI, monitors real-time system usage and prevents resource over-provisioning. Leveraging microservices streamlines resource consumption, while advanced cooling solutions further conserve energy,” explains CommScope’ s Kanary.

Migrating to energy-efficient cloud platforms powered by renewables significantly reduces emissions. Scheduling workloads for off-peak hours and utilising low-power modes for non-critical applications enhances efficiency. Consolidating and containerising applications minimises server usage. monitoring, while careful workload mapping and analysis help determine the most efficient location for each application, whether on-premises, cloud, or hybrid,” says WWT’ s Cramer.

Conducting thorough carbon footprint assessments before implementing changes allows businesses to measure the impact of their sustainability initiatives and ensure alignment with long-term environmental goals.

Transformation best practices

Data centres’ carbon footprint can be significantly reduced through a comprehensive approach. The most important factor is using high performing chips, higher output per watt, which may require increased investment and earlier modernisation of servermemory infrastructure.

Energy optimisation, involves choosing strategic locations, and utilising carbon-free energy sources, such as nuclear and hydroelectric power. Excess heat capturing and repurposing can further decrease the carbon footprint as well.

Regularly reviewing applications usage and decommissioning unused ones prevents energy waste. By aligning workloads with energy-efficient strategies, CIOs can balance performance and sustainability, reducing their organisation ' s carbon footprint effectively.

Optimising data centre layouts, increasing virtualisation and consolidation of hardware are essential. On the operational side, monitoring temperatures and effectively distributing workloads within server rooms are critical for maximising energy efficiency.

Employing containerisation and serverless computing minimises resource wastage. Data deduplication, compression, and tiering ensures storage efficiency.

“ Monitoring carbon usage effectiveness, helps CIOs evaluate and optimise application energy impact, fostering a culture of sustainability across IT operations,” says NetApp’ s Issa.

CIOs should also implement robust monitoring to track and improve sustainability metrics continuously. NetApp’ s advanced storage solutions, such as all-flash arrays, can help reduce energy use while delivering high performance. With tools like Cloud Insights, NetApp helps customers gain visibility into their data centres’ energy efficiency, empowering informed decisions to lower their environmental impact.

CIOs can enhance sustainability by strategically managing application workloads. This includes densifying workloads by consolidating applications onto more energy-efficient systems, optimising software to minimise excessive resource consumption, and considering a shift to cloud-based solutions for improved efficiency.

“ Adopting sustainable sourcing practices by prioritising vendors with sustainability commitments, engaging in carbon accounting to measure and track emissions, and improving sustainability efforts through regular assessments can be beneficial,” sums up WWT’ s Cramer.

“ Implementing virtualisation technologies can further consolidate workloads and enhance energy

These combined elements contribute to a more sustainable and eco-friendly AI data centre. p

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