Schneider Electric announced findings from a newly commissioned study by 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, that captures the impact efficiency and sustainability have on the cloud and service provider business. The report includes insights from a survey of over 800 data centre service providers around the globe about their perspectives on sustainability and the strategic initiatives they are either deploying or may be using in the future. Additionally, it addresses what’s required to achieve sustainability measures for colocation providers.
“The report from 451 Research provides a snapshot of the influence efficiency and sustainability has on the colocation market,” said Mark Bidinger, President of the Cloud & Service Provider Segment, Schneider Electric. “Multi-tenant data centre operators can use it as a tool to assess gaps in resources and adoption, as well as the risks of not taking action.”
Key Report Takeaways about Sustainability
The report shares the level of maturity global colocation providers have with their sustainability strategies. Here are some key takeaways:
• The majority of respondents (57%) believe efficiency and sustainability will be highly important competitive differentiators in three years, a large increase from the current reading of 26%.
• Only 43% of respondents say they have strategic sustainability initiatives and efficiency improvements for their infrastructure.
• Top drivers for efficiency and sustainability programs are:
o Customer expectations (50%)
o Long-term operational resiliency (40%)
o Regulatory guidelines (36%)
• 97% of providers have between a few or all of their customers looking for contractual commitments to sustainable practices.
• Only 56% of those surveyed said they monitor their operational systems and the remaining said they do not generate reports to track these metrics (utilisation, energy consumption, PUE, etc.). In addition, roughly one third track carbon intensity at all sites.
Data Centre Power and Cooling Cited as Top Areas for Sustainability Improvement
When it comes to sustainability, the report found several common themes for multi-tenant data centre operators. Two of which are:
• Top focus areas for sustainability improvement include:
o Optimising existing datacentre power distribution
o Upgrading datacentre power distribution infrastructure
o Optimising existing datacentre cooling efficiency
o Upgrading datacentre cooling infrastructure
• Metrics to inform resiliency are a significant component of sustainability best practice with attention to how effectively data centre facilities are using power, water, and other resources. Effective product maintenance and modernisation is essential to extending and optimising the lifecycle of a data centre facility along with the use of DCIM and software to predict and monitor system operations and resource efficiency.
Download the free report to learn more
Download the full report by 451 Research, Multi-tenant data centres and sustainability: ambitions and reality.
