EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
Digital Transformation is evolving within the industry and pain points for customers are becoming ever more apparent . Within our engineering expertise , we have focused on tackling key challenges , such as driving data centre performance and increasing energy efficiency , to support our customer ’ s digital initiatives .
With architectures changing all the time , today ’ s data centres need to be flexible and designed to meet the specific needs of each end-user . From colocation environments to micro data centres at the Edge , technologies have had to quickly evolve to keep pace with new developments , and at Subzero we see three key areas which are critical for Digital Transformation .
A data-driven approach
Optimise cooling
Hot and cold aisle containment solutions are an excellent way to improve efficiency and power density since both prevent the cold supply and hot exhaust air from mixing in the data centre .
This results in higher cooling supply temperatures , lower CRAC fan speeds , a lower carbon footprint and a lower PUE . Importantly , one of the key outcomes is a significantly reduced energy bill so by implementing a contained solution and coupling it with an energy management and monitoring programme , end-users can extend the life cycle of their systems and stretch their money further .
Agility at the Edge
With modernisation programmes currently a key focus for customers , Computational Fluid Dynamics ( CFD ) software plays a vital role when it comes to data centre construction , retrofit and helping to improve the efficiency and performance of legacy data centres . It allows the owner or operator to simulate endless combinations of racks , cabinets , cabling and Mechanical and Engineering ( M & E ) equipment for greater optimisation , saving customers an enormous amount of time and resources .
Such software provides a detailed , data-driven analysis of the cold supply air and the hot exhaust air throughout the data centre and identifies the potential overheating of IT equipment and ‘ hot spots ’.
According to Gartner , ‘ more than 50 % of enterprisegenerated data will be created and processed outside the data centre or cloud ’ and with data , connectivity and application availability remaining key requirements for Digital Transformation , micro data centres are a key technology to accompany any strategy .
Edge data centres need to be flexible to meet the demands of secure , localised processing and ultra-low-latency applications such as smart manufacturing , automated payment kiosks and 5G .
If you ’ re planning any Digital Transformation initiative around these technologies , then a micro data centre solution is likely essential . p
Further , the analysis highlights how energy costs can be reduced by optimising and maximising cooling throughout the data centre , meaning that for operators looking to reduce energy usage and CO 2 emissions , investing in an Environmental Impact Evaluation , and the accompanying insights , offers a key starting point from which to build any Digital Transformation programme .
ANDY CONNOR , CHANNEL DIRECTOR EMEA ,
SUBZERO ENGINEERING
www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO EUROPE 37