Page 28 - EngineerIT October 2022

DATA CENTRE

Moore’s law, sustainability and

data centres: How software will

handle the future data explosion

By Natalya Makarochkina - Senior Vice President, Secure Power Division, International Operations, Schneider Electric

The data centre sector’s proven record of dealing with massive demand growth can be applied to
wider sustainability challenges

n important principle in the development of IT over the decades has been
Moore’s Law. Simply put, it predicted that transistor density in processors would
Adouble every two years as development progresses.
Despite many predictions of its demise, it has remained a more or less guiding
principle. However, what is perhaps less well known is a similarly persistent trend in the
data centre space.
Despite a six-fold increase in the data being processed since 2010, data centre
energy consumption has only risen by 6% to 2018 (Masanet et al, 2020). How has that
been possible, and how does it inform sustainability developments into the future?
Where does the data come from?
To contextualise this development, we must first understand where the data processing
increase comes from.
The Apple iPad had its debut in 2010, which also saw the introduction of Instagram
and Microsoft’s Azure cloud service. 2011 introduced us to Minecraft, Snapchat and Natalya Makarochkina
Uber, with 2013 bringing Amazon’s Alexa, accompanied by Xbox One and PlayStation.
2017 brought Fortnite and Tiktok.
Social media engagement over the period increased manifold, while global data What tech developments have
production went from estimates of two zettabytes in 2010 to 41 zettabytes in 2019. IDC made this possible?
estimates global data load will rise to a staggering 175 zettabytes by 2025. Multiple technological developments
The pandemic effect has been substantial, with the MENA region seeing a big can account for this data explosion
increase in messaging and social media usage: social media users in MEA and Latin being handled with only minimal
America spend the most time on social networks, averaging over 3.5 hours a day. increases in energy consumption, from
More than half of users in MEA (57%) reported (May 2020) spending even more improvements in processor design
time on social media as a result of the pandemic. Similarly, in a separate study, 71% and manufacture, through power
of Middle East respondents reported WhatsApp and other messaging apps usage supply units and storage, but also
increased since the outbreak of the pandemic. the migration of workloads from on-
premises infrastructure to the cloud.
What impact does all that data have? Schneider Electric has been
To understand the impact of this data explosion, a concept has been developed called committed to sustainable business
data gravity. Coined by engineer David McRory, the term refers to the tendency of for decades and this has meant a
an accumulation of data to attract applications and services toward it, precipitating renewed focus on efficiency in all
further accumulation, which can lead to immobilisation of the data, as well as under- aspects of design and operation.
utilisation. Data that grows too big, too fast can become immobile, reducing its value Gains have been made in efficiency
and increasing its opacity. Only low latency, high bandwidth services, combined in power and cooling, with UPS
with new data architectures can combat this growing and largely undocumented systems and modular power supplies
phenomenon. showing significant gains with each

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