END USER INSIGHT
END USER INSIGHT
media , remote working and learning and meeting platforms , video and music streaming , shopping , travel , health and medical research – everything runs from a server in a data centre somewhere .
While that is exciting , it is also a huge responsibility and challenge for the data centre providers to keep it safe , secure and available .
How does increased demand for sustainability impact your own innovation strategy ?
While a laser focus on sustainability is absolutely key to the future of the data centre industry , it is not new . For a long time , we have recognised the need to produce more efficient data centres with lower and lower Power Use Effectiveness ( PUE ) and Water Use Effectiveness ( WUE ) designs to ensure we deliver the right service to our customers , at the right cost . The by-product has been a more sustainable outcome for the industry . how to make all facilities the most energy efficient they can be – and we continue to work internally and with our supply chain to achieve this objective .
Increasing scale , sophistication and speed of customer requirements is also a driver that keeps us innovating .
How does VIRTUS deliver stateof-the-art data centre solutions to its customers ?
Operational Excellence is where the truly great data centre providers lead . There are some design innovations that can make a difference in terms of efficiency and robustness , but in the main , the core infrastructure parts are pretty similar within every data centre worldwide . The difference lies in how you design , build , test , maintain , change and operate the facility – ensuring robust and reliable availability is delivered . Inevitably , things will break ; it ’ s how you plan for these incidents and your response to check and test all is restored and working effectively which makes the difference . This is where experience is also key . The data centre needs to be designed , built and operated by people who have had many years doing the job and know what to look out for .
How does VIRTUS play an integral role in supporting the Digital Transformation journey of UK organisations ?
I believe that data centres are the lifeblood of modern civilisation – without them , society simply couldn ’ t function in this digital age . Data centres and networks are the arteries and organs of the Internet and all that runs and relies upon it , which is increasingly everything . We enable all the great technology advancements our customers are achieving in the world – cloud computing , world-wideweb and application services , social
We continue to innovate but also to broaden our view of the data centre with regards to sustainability , from the carbon impact of the physical construction of the buildings , right through to how we use natural resources such as rainwater harvesting , aquifers to access natural water resources , and even living walls on the exterior of our data centres .
What will the data centre of the future look like ?
Market demand has been growing year on year and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future as more and more devices connect to the Internet and more data than ever is produced . We spend a great deal of time and investment on research and development of every aspect of our solutions – from cooling systems to distribution , to security , to monitoring . Trends like immersion cooling , backup power solutions , battery technology , gas or water turbines , Bio fuel sources and generation solutions are all interesting areas for the future . A key concern for all businesses is sustainability and we continue to look at what our industry can really do to help to mitigate climate change . ◊ www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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