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EDITOR’S QUESTION
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JON LUCAS,
CO-DIRECTOR, HYVE
MANAGED HOSTING
A
s our world becomes ever more tech-focused, the demand
for data centre services is showing no signs of slowing
down. But ongoing concerns over the effects of climate
change are now forcing the technology industry to turn greater
attention towards sustainability.
Since the industry is arguably one of the most innovative, companies
within it should be using their creativity to collaboratively think
outside the box when it comes to ways they can reduce their impact
on the environment.
There are many ways in which businesses can make a difference
by collaborating for the cause. For example, all employees could
collectively use less single-use plastic in the office, the company could
work in conjunction with local governments
to plant trees, or even commit to group-led
initiatives like carbon balancing.
Collaboration is absolutely essential to
ensuring sustainability is at the core of the
data centre industry, and the wider business
landscape. And this should be between
customers, vendors, MSPs, bandwidth and
network providers, policymakers, data centre
owners . . . the list goes on.
These collaborative efforts are needed on
an international scale in order to make
a difference. Data centres and the wider
industries they operate within must come
together and commit themselves to improve
their energy efficiency and using renewable
power together. To set the wheels in motion,
setting up a framework, with industry-wide
standards for organisations to follow, would
be a good starting point.
The sustainability gap in the data centre
industry is a well-known problem. BREEAM
www.intelligentcio.com
recently conducted a survey into it and found that the majority of
respondents believed existing sustainability assessment standards,
like BREEAM and LEED, currently do not adequately address the issue
of environmental impact.
It also found that, beyond energy efficiency, the top impacts
considered most important were renewable energy, circular
economy, waste heat reuse and water use. With the exception of
water use, more holistic collaboration will be required across different
industries in order to address factors outside of the direct control of
data centre operators.
As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), Hyve is always trying to
think of ways to operate more efficiently for both our customers
and the environment. We choose to work
alongside partners like Equinix for a reason
because they are also committed to the
environmental causes we care deeply about.
Equinix’s data centres invest over 100 million
dollars into energy efficiency upgrades and
back in 2015, made an industry-first public
commitment to long-term goals of powering
100% of the data centres’ global footprint
with clean, renewable energy.
“
COLLABORATION
IS ABSOLUTELY
ESSENTIAL
TO ENSURING
SUSTAINABILITY
IS AT THE CORE OF
THE DATA CENTRE
INDUSTRY, AND
THE WIDER
BUSINESS
LANDSCAPE.
Everyone – businesses and individuals alike –
should be reviewing their carbon footprint and
thinking of ways they can reduce it and opting
to work alongside like-minded partners is a
great way to achieve this goal collaboratively.
“It is time for large tech companies to lead
by example and pledge their commitment
to renewable energy resources. Better
education and regulation will also be
necessary in facilitating a change for good
and spreading greater awareness and better
collaboration within the industry, in order to
address these wider sustainability impacts. n
INTELLIGENTCIO
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