Page 29 - EngineerIT October 2022

DATA CENTRE

generation, culminating in the likes The development of data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) systems
of the current Galaxy VL line. This has continued apace too, allowing the integration of AI to take advantage of
line’s use of lithium-ion batteries has all of these hardware and infrastructure developments. These experiments are
not only increased efficiency, it has now features, allowing unprecedented visibility and control. For those designing
extended operational life, reduced for new developments, software such as ETAP allows power efficiency to be
environmental impact by reducing raw built into the design from the outset, while also accommodating microgrid
materials, and facilitated “energised architectures.
swapping” where the addition and/or
replacement of power modules can be What new data sources will contribute to this?
performed with zero downtime, while The data explosion is expected to continue, with developments such as industrial IoT
increasing protection to operators and 5G, with increasing general automation and autonomous vehicles as driving
and service personnel. factors. The data that will be generated, far from the centralised data
Advances in cooling The data infrastructure, must be handled, processed and turned into intelligence
such as flow control centre sector has quickly, where it is needed.
through rack, row much that will be of New data architectures are expected to improve efficiency in
and pod containment use to organisations and how all of that is handled. Edge computing is seen as an important
systems, liquid cooling industries going on the approach to manage more data being generated at the edge.
and intelligent software journey of sustainability In one example, genomic research generates terabytes of data,
control, ensure that often daily. Sending all that data to a centralised data centre would be
the pure data processing towards increasing slow, demand high bandwidth and be inefficient. The Wellcome Sanger
gains are met and matched. circularity. Institute created an edge computing approach that allowed it to process
By ensuring that every link data close to where it is produced, the genomic sequencers, centralising
in the chain of power from energy only what is necessary. This saves on storage and bandwidth, and speeds up the
grid to rack is as efficient, intelligent time to intelligence from data. “This is where the edge paradigm has come to us”, said
and instrumented as possible, we Simon Binley, data centre manager, Sanger Institute.
provide the right basis for the rapid Modular data centres, micro data centres and better storage management will
development in compute, network and all contribute to handling this developing wave efficiently, keeping that data centre
storage that continues daily. energy consumption line as flat as possible into the future. In the MENA region, 5G and
centralisation with edge architectures will be balanced by more hyperscale facilities
Where does software and apps linking major demand centres.
fit here?
Another key element of the What effects will this have on the whole data ecosystem?
technological development that has However, efficiency must extend through not just the supply chain, but also throughout
allowed such relentless efficiency life cycles. Vendors, suppliers and partners must all be engaged to ensure that no part
has been the application of better of the ecosystem lags in applying the tools to ensure efficiency. This applies as much
instrumentation, data gathering, to the design time of new equipment and applications as it does through working life
and analysis that allows for better and decommissioning. Understanding how an entire business ecosystem impacts the
control and orchestration. This was environment will be vital to truly achieving net zero goals.
illustrated by Google’s DeepMind AI, Agreed standards, transparency and measurability are all vital factors to ensure
where the energy used for cooling results.
was reduced at one of its data These considerations are taking hold across the region, and great efforts are being
centres by some 40% in 2016, which made to do better. Greater transparency is now accepted and embraced, with more and
represented a 15% overall reduction more organisations reporting their progress.
in power usage.
This was accomplished using Tools and processes shared
historical data from data centre The data centre sector has much that will be of use to organisations and industries
sensors such as temperature, going on the journey of sustainability and towards increasing circularity. With the
power, pump speeds, setpoints, expertise and experience in efficiency, combined with the tools and intelligence from
etc, to improve data centre operations and deep commitments to tight targets for net-zero operations, the data
energy efficiency. The AI system centre sector can not only handle the data explosion and digital demands of the world,
predicted the future temperature but do so sustainably, while providing others with the tools and insights to do the same
and pressure of the data centre for their respective sectors. n
over the coming hour and made
recommendations to control For further reference see our Cloud and Service Provider page, with data centres of
consumption appropriately. the future views here.

EngineerIT | October 2022 | 27