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8 Tips to Reduce Costs of Data Centre Energy Bills

By Blog, Thought Leadership

Operating a data centre is expensive, but energy consumption is vital to the ongoing expenses of a data centre, which is one of the reasons why the industry is making such a drive for sustainability.

Today, the most significant cost of running a data centre is energy, with the average data centre spending 25% to 60% of its total expenses on energy consumption alone in the UK. It illustrates the need to act by integrating green technologies into new and legacy data centres.

What uses the most energy in a data centre?

Energy consumption is the biggest expense involved in running a data centre. This is because of the immense costs of running servers and the necessary cooling infrastructure. In fact, data centre energy consumption has grown so much that it now accounts for 3% of the global electricity supply.

So, what are the largest contributors to your data centre energy bill?

Servers/IT Equipment – Servers, storage and networking devices and peripherals are the largest energy consumers in data centres.
Cooling – Data centres generate massive amounts of heat. Advanced cooling systems, including chillers and air conditioning units, are required to prevent overheating.
Power Distributions – Data centres rely on Power Distribution Units (PDUs), including Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs), to distribute electricity and provide emergency power if outages occur.
Lighting – Whilst lighting doesn’t consume as much energy as servers and cooling systems, permanent lighting is required for maintenance, monitoring and accessibility. This fact alone means lighting contributes a large chunk to your energy expenditure.

Can data centres reduce their energy consumption?

Data centres can take action to reduce their energy consumption. Although data centres will always consume significant energy, taking steps can result in massive cost savings.
Actions like upgrading legacy technology, recycling old systems and using renewable energy sources are ways that data centres can tackle the sustainability issue.
Additionally, new data centres can focus on sustainability as part of a genuinely green data centre. The Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact has already been established to set firm guidelines as to what constitutes a sustainable data centre.
For existing data centres, the path to sustainability will likely be a long-term endeavour because legacy hardware may need to be replaced within the boundaries of current budgets.

Tips on how to reduce costs of data centre energy bills

Utility bills are no small expense. Whilst some data centres may concede these as unavoidable expenses, creative problem-solving and a real commitment to sustainability can save data centres tens of thousands annually.
Follow these tips for some simple ways to reduce the cost of data centre energy bills:
1

Integrate modern cooling systems

Cooling systems are an enormous drain on your resources. Some estimates state that inefficient data centres could spend up to 60% of their utility bills on cooling alone.
By introducing next-generation cooling solutions however, companies can decrease their utility bills. Some ideas could include:
  • Deploying hot/cold aisle configurations.
  • Minimising bypass airflow.
  • Investing in air handlers and chillers.
Doing away with legacy cooling systems can reduce your energy wastage and allow you to take more control over environmental conditions, including temperature and humidity.
2

Software-powered smart design

Experts know that data centre efficiency boils down to choosing the solutions that cover the greatest workload with the lowest number of hardware pieces.
Identifying underutilised pieces of equipment and removing underused applications can lower your energy costs across the board. It’s also possible to remove “bloatware” from the equation.
Bloatware is ineffectual software that drains power from your data centre due to excessive CPU cycles.
In other words, software-powered smart design is based on limiting hardware and doing more with less.
3

Leveraging server virtualisation

Server virtualisation is a powerful tool enabling you to consolidate servers and storage as part of a single platform. Virtualisation allows you to segregate applications, data and operating systems.
Running applications on shared hardware via virtual machines reduces your need for space, more power, more cooling and more resources.
Note that server virtualisation cannot solve all of your problems. For example, you may still require underutilised equipment to handle peak loads. Either way, virtualisation still contributes to efficiently migrating your data centre’s workload.
4

Controlling airflow management

Airflow management is another crucial energy efficiency practice. For example, if your data centre has raised floors, there’s a strong possibility that you are experiencing uncontrolled air leakage. Sealing these raised floors and removing unnecessary blockages within would be one solution.
What if clutter control and underfloor blockages are irresolvable problems? In this case, consider installing overhead cable trays. According to Schneider Electric, overhead cable trays lead to a 24% reduction in cooling fan power consumption.
5

Switch to variable-speed fans

Another option for decreasing energy usage is moving to variable-speed fans. This move could provide a much-needed CPU fan speed reduction.
The beauty of these fans is that they only run at the required speeds when needed. This is because they operate using sophisticated thermostatic equipment.
You can apply this same principle to other devices beyond your servers. Consider examining the cooling features of hardware like UPSs.
6

Use liquid cooling solutions

High-performance hardware often experiences the trade-off between high-performance vs high energy consumption. This is why high-end equipment often relies on adopting liquid cooling for CPUs as standard.
Instead of using fans to move air across a heat sink, liquid cooling involves using a liquid, such as water, to dissipate heat.
Today, experts consider liquid cooling to be the gold standard of cooling when compared to air-cooling methods.
7

Increase the temperature

Once upon a time, raising the temperature within a data centre would be considered risky. However, equipment vendors have designed systems capable of operating at higher temperatures than usual.
Many servers can operate at 77 degrees Fahrenheit, but most data centres still stick to the 65 degrees Fahrenheit guideline for temperature.
Raising the ambient temperature a few degrees can reduce your cooling systems’ power usage without impacting server performance. Moreover, taking this step requires no investment or overhead.
8

Power down inactive servers

Server virtualisation has demonstrated the sustainability advantages of doing more with your hardware to use less; but, why not power down entire servers that are not in use?
Too many data centres always keep them spinning because they want to have more business agility, but is it worth the thousands in costs that come with operating inactive servers?
Try searching for instances where servers can be powered down. The chances are, there may be some objections to this move, such as:
Lower Server Life Expectancy – The myth that power cycling lowers the server’s life expectancy is just that: a myth. Servers are built using the same components as hardware that’s commonly power cycled, including medical devices and vehicles.
Too Long to Power – Some people claim that servers take too long to power up. However, you can counter this by turning off boot-time diagnostic checks or booting from operational snapshots.
Customer Dissatisfaction – Users have shown they are willing to hang in there to get up and running. Most application architectures don’t decline user requests but slow them down; this has been shown to have zero impact on retention or satisfaction rates.
In short, servers are built to be switched on and off at will. If you have the budget for automation technology, you can even set up parameters that will automatically power up or down servers for maximum energy efficiency.

What is the most cost effective way to reduce energy consumption in data centres?

Upgrading your energy efficiency often means making significant investments; but, there are low-cost alternatives.
Upping the temperature is one option as part of controlled pilot experiments. On the other hand, you can also use “free” outside air-cooling to help harness the Earth’s natural resources.
Studies have shown that this option works incredibly well. For example, Intel saw a 74% reduction in power consumption after implementing free-air cooling. According to the computing giant’s findings, they saved $3 million in cost savings and used 76 million gallons of water less.

If you’re ready to reduce your energy bills for your data centre, contact the Keysource team today.

Whilst these steps can help, creating a green data centre with the help of professionals can always yield better results. Consulting with Keysource on upgrading your data centre or building a sustainable data centre from scratch can allow you to maximise efficiency opportunities.

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29 August 2023

How Data Centre Managed Services Supports Higher Education

By Blog, Thought Leadership
Data centres power modern society. With 8,800 data centres globally, these facilities power everything from governments to small businesses.
One sector that has increasingly shifted to data centre managed services is the education sector. As universities continue to embrace and incorporate new technologies into their setups, data centres have become a central part of that shift.
In this guide, we will discuss how data centre managed services work and the benefits they provide for the higher education sector.

How do data centre managed services work with the education sector?

Universities often operate in-house data centres to manage their cyber assets. The problem is that most universities have built their data centres over time using an ad-hoc strategy. These facilities often contain critical IT assets, but are powered by antiquated hardware and software.
Achieving high-performance computing is often out of reach for most higher education facilities, limiting their capacity and compromising data security. As researchers and academics generate astounding amounts of data, switching to a managed data centre provides access to advances like:

✔ Automation
✔ Machine learning
✔ Artificial intelligence
✔ High-performance computer systems

With the data centre services market projected to increase to $105.6 billion globally by 2026, higher education facilities can tackle logistical, performance and budgetary concerns by outsourcing the challenges of running an on-premises data centre while accessing state-of-the-art infrastructure.

What is the importance of data centre management in universities?

IT spending on data centres has never been higher. By the end of 2023, projections reveal that $222 billion will be spent globally on these services. Universities often spend millions on maintaining and managing their data centres.
Unfortunately, this is something that cannot be avoided. As academics perform their research and utilise increasingly complex programs as an alternative to “wet labs,” management becomes more difficult.
So, what’s the importance of data centre management for higher education?
Security – In 2022, the number of cyberattacks rose by 38%. This is the most significant aspect of data centre management universities must consider, requiring constant software and hardware updates to patch vulnerabilities.
Maintenance – Maintaining systems, including power and cabling infrastructures, is crucial for overcoming the physical challenges of operating a data centre.
Disaster Management – Universities rely on their data centres as backups for their disaster recovery program. Failure in this area can cost years of hard work and valuable academic study.
These are only three aspects that are vital to universities operating data centres, and this is also why outsourcing these functions to a dedicated managed data centre makes sense. It can save thousands every year on management while also producing better results.

The challenges of data centre management for higher education

Higher education must deal with various challenges while managing on-site data centres. Unfortunately, these are the same challenges large-scale data centres face, meaning that there’s no way around them.
Some of the problems a higher education facility may encounter while managing a data centre include the following.

Maintaining Uptime

Availability and uptime are critical to a data centre that does its job. If you continue to rely on spreadsheets for managing server information, you know how much of an issue maintaining accurate and complete information is.

This is a particular problem when dealing with unplanned downtime requiring troubleshooting or mapping out the power chain.

Utilisation of Capacity

Space, power and cooling are the three factors that allow a data centre to function. Creating an efficient data centre often means working with severe limitations in these three areas.

With the help of managed data centre services, you can shift this burden to a dedicated facility.

Reducing Operating Expenses

Operating expenses are a constant headache for facilities running even small data centres. By design, these installations consume vast amounts of energy.

Moreover, universities must budget for upgrading software, getting the latest hardware, and replacing broken components. You may also need to employ a dedicated team to run it all.

With 25% of English universities reporting a budget deficit in 2018, controlling costs is a massive problem for higher education institutions.

Achieving Zero Days

A “Zero Day” means that your data centre was not attacked. While you cannot guarantee one of these days, you can ensure that your servers aren’t breached due to a cyberattack.

Most of your time managing your data centre will be spent obsessing over security, and with so many potential physical and virtual entry points, it typically necessitates employing a dedicated cybersecurity team.

The costs of failing to meet this challenge are immense. For example, the Blackbaud Hack of 2020 saw more than 20 universities and charities in the UK, U.S., and Canada fall victim to a data breach.

Complying with Governmental Regulations

Previously, data centres were largely built and managed based on commonly accepted best practices. However, as cyberattacks grow in number and prominence, governments worldwide have acted to enact legislation to regulate data centres.

Higher education institutions must also comply with these regulations while managing their data centres. Moreover, these regulations are constantly evolving, necessitating an in-depth knowledge of the latest developments within the sector.

What benefits do data centres provide for higher education?

Data centres are essential for how higher education facilities operate today. Whether opting for an in-house data centre or outsourcing to a managed data centre, the benefits are the same.

Some of the reasons why universities worldwide rely on data centres include the following:

✔ Secure off-site servers that enhance your university’s security.
✔ Higher uptime rates guarantee constant access to vital data.
✔ Reduced costs of data storage.
✔ Greater capacity to manage enormous amounts of data.
✔ Fully scalable infrastructures to grow alongside your operations.

With students, tutors, academics and administrative staff generating more data than at any other point in history, data centres are the only way to store, process and disseminate this data.

In short, a data centre is a must-have for the higher education sector.

Which data centre approach works best for higher education?

Deciding how best to address the data centre issue means evaluating the pros and cons of each solution.

For most higher education institutions, the choice is between an on-site data centre or a managed service. In some cases, colocation facilities may also be on the table.

Every higher education institution differs, and each option has pros and cons. What works for your campus may not work for another.

In this section, we’ll discuss some of the most common approaches to data centres.

On-site data centres

Campuses often choose to utilise on-site data centres. While costly and complex to maintain, they offer several benefits unavailable via outsourced services.

Some of the advantages include:

✔ Total control over your data centre.
✔ Added in-house security.
✔ Flexibility to grow your data centre as you please.
✔ Long-term savings.

Even though on-site data centres offer higher upfront costs, they can be more cost-effective in the long term, especially compared to colocation facilities.

Managed data centre services

On the other side of the spectrum is the managed data centre. These facilities allow higher education facilities to purchase a package and have a dedicated company do everything for them.

This also includes renting the hardware and software that allows a data centre to operate in the first place. Unlike a colocation centre, you don’t need to supply hardware or software.

So, why do managed data centre services make sense?

✔ Multiple locations to improve your backup plan.
✔ Access to unrivalled expertise.
✔ State-of-the-art hardware and software.
✔ Simple scalability.
✔ Save money on employees, infrastructure and running costs.

Everything can be managed via a customer-facing interface, and you can contact tech support if there are any problems.

Implementing an on-campus data centre requires expertise and experience. At Keysource, we can support your university in designing, building and maintaining a dedicated data centre that fits the needs of your campus.
The first hurdle is the design. Your data centre must be built to your needs ten years from now, meaning you need a space to accommodate potential growth. The issue also extends further than floor space. Your team must factor in cabling, ventilation and power issues.
Once a space has been established, you must manage how data is transmitted. This goes back to the cabling – how much data can travel over your connection?
Bandwidth must be high to guarantee a certain network speed. On the other hand, you have latency, which is data delay. High latency means a low-performing data centre.
Your data centre however, is vulnerable without the appropriate security measures, even with the proper infrastructure. Some of the primary problems to address include:

✔ Compromised credentials
✔ Phishing
✔ Cloud misconfiguration
✔ Third-party software vulnerabilities
✔ Physical security

Finally, there is the environmental side. Today’s data centres account for 1% of all global electricity, which is enormous. With so many universities committed to sustainability practices, how will you manage the green implications of your data centre?

Speak to our team today for tailored university data centre solutions

With the complexities of implementing and managing campus data centres, it’s essential that you get the support you need to make your plans a reality. At Keysource, we specialise in building sustainable data infrastructures for the education sector.

Contact us
23 August 2023

SECR Overview

By Blog, Thought Leadership

Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR) is the new industry legislation introduced in April 2019, replacing the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme. This scheme changes the requirements for energy and carbon emissions reporting, putting more responsibility on organisations to choose how they measure and report their emissions. The first reports are due in 2020.

SECR has been introduced as part of the UK Clean Growth Strategy, which aims to improve energy efficiency among businesses by 20% by 2030. Additionally, as per the requirements of the Fourth Carbon Budget, emissions must also be reduced by 51% by 2027.

WHO IS IN SCOPE?

A company falls into scope if they fulfil two or more of the following criteria:

Within a managed data centre, you’ll find the same standard components as in any other type of data centre, including:

✔ They have more than 250 employees.
✔ The annual turnover is more than £36million.
✔ The annual balance sheet is greater than £18m.

WHO IS EXEMPT?

✔ Companies that are not registered in the UK.
✔ UK subsidiaries that qualify for SECR but are already covered by a parent’s group report (unless the parent company is not registered in the UK).
✔ Public sector organisations, charities and private sector organisations that don’t file reports to Companies House.
✔ Companies that use less than 40,000 kWh of energy in the reporting year.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF COMPLYING WITH SECR?

SECR allows companies to improve their carbon reduction and energy efficiency. Such improvements could drive financial savings and become an investment area for energy improvement measures.

SECR falls under the same compliance rules as financial reporting so non-compliance could result in penalties and unlimited fines.

WHAT ARE THE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS?

✔ It is an annual requirement and a statement must be included in the Directors report.
✔ LLP’s are required to submit a standalone report to BEIS.
✔ SECR came into force on 1st April 2019 and the first report should include data from the 2019 –2020 period alongside their financial reporting.

What to Report

_ _

_
  • Energy Use
  • Scope 1 Emissions
  • Scope 2 Emissions
  • Scope 3 Emissions
  • Carbon Intensity
  • Energy Efficiency
    Measures & Results

Quoted Company

_ _

_
  • Global
  • Global
  • Global
  • Voluntary
  • Yes
  • Yes

UnQuoted Company

_ _

_
  • UK
  • UK
  • UK
  • Voluntary
  • Yes
  • Yes

At Keysource, we specialise in helping organisations to overcome the challenges of sustainable data centre design, building and management

Speak to our team today for tailored advice and guidance on creating and operating a data centre fit for the next generation of computing.

Contact us
14 August 2023

What is a Managed Data Centre?

By Blog, Thought Leadership

Data centres are the core part of our modern world. They are responsible for keeping the world connected by providing a hub for storing, processing and sharing data and applications.

Today, global IT spending on data centres has reached $222 billion, showing just how important these have become for supporting the everyday functions of society as a whole. In short, the world would look very different without the power of data centres.

However, what actually is a managed data centre? In this guide, we’ll discuss the critical components of these data centres, how they’re managed, and how they work.

What are the key components of managed data centres?

The U.S. makes up the bulk of the world’s data centres, with more than 2,700 data centres located in the country, followed by Germany with less than 500. Despite this imbalance, the industry is growing fast in every major developed nation, including the UK.

Within a managed data centre, you’ll find the same standard components as in any other type of data centre, including:

✔ Servers
✔ Networking equipment
✔ Storage technologies
✔ Cooling systems
✔ Software
✔ Cabling/power infrastructure
✔ Physical security

What separates a managed service data centre is the customer-facing interface that serves as the customer management platform.

What is a managed service data centre?

Managed data centres are the core of Data Centre as a Service (DCAAS) packages. The purpose of these data centres is to provide the physical infrastructure to clients to manage their data processes.

While these data centres contain the same infrastructure as any other type of data centre, the goal is to outsource the computing power of each centre. The benefits of managed service data centres include providing flexible, scalable and affordable data centre capabilities to businesses and public services.

The popularity of managed service data centres has exploded recently, with the industry expected to reach $600 billion by 2026. In other words, by removing standard data centres’ logistical and budgetary constrictions, managed service packages allow businesses to stay in business.

How do managed data centres work?

Managed data centres are ideal for organisations lacking the space, staff or expertise to deploy an on-site IT infrastructure that serves their needs. Instead, outsourcing your data and IT operations to the experts is a sound choice so that you can concentrate on managing your business.

Within a managed data centre, the process works like so:

  1. The client will lease a dedicated server, storage or networking hardware.
  2. The client has full use of their leased hardware/software.
  3. The managed data centre is responsible for administration, monitoring and management.

However, a similar type of data centre is the colocation facility. Under this model, the client company owns the infrastructure and rents a dedicated space within the data centre. If opting for the traditional model, you’ll be responsible for maintaining this hardware.

This however, is often impractical for most companies due to the remote nature of data centres and the risk of outages. This is why many colocation facilities offer management and monitoring services.

Tasks involved in data centre management

Data centre management involves overseeing computer systems and the information passing through these systems on behalf of clients. A dedicated manager and their team monitor all management responsibilities. Again, the majority of these tasks may be managed 100% remotely.
So, what are the primary tasks involved in managing a data centre?
While every type of data centre serves a different market, the components and running of a managed data centre are largely similar. Moreover, failure in any area could lead to data loss, outages and loss of consumer confidence.

Data Backups

Managed data centres often provide backups and form part of disaster recovery contingencies for UK SMEs. The manager must ensure the integrity and availability of these backups.

Troubleshooting

Large scale computing environments require constant troubleshooting to prevent problems and maintain uptime.

Supervising Technicians

Despite the comprehensive automation that has streamlined today’s data centres, on-site work remains necessary, mainly when dealing with hardware. Part of a manager’s role is to supervise technicians in the course of their work.

Managing Cybersecurity Systems

Managed data centres are under near-constant attack from bad actors; therefore, data centre management must revolve around keeping state-of-the-art cybersecurity systems in check.

Forming a Physical Security Plan

Physical security is also a concern. Today’s security systems may still rely on human security guards, but most internal systems are electronic, including CCTV cameras, biometrics and more.

Supporting Data Centre Integrity

The components that make a data centre work also create new challenges. For example, managers must formulate cooling and cabling strategies to prevent outages.

Data centre monitoring

Monitoring makes up the bulk of operating a data centre. Business clients are paying first for the infrastructure and second for peace of mind.
Your goal in monitoring a data centre is to maintain its health and ensure it reaches its peak potential. Simultaneously, data centre monitoring ensures that the facility complies with external and internal regulations.
A combination of manual and automated tools are deployed to achieve these goals. While data centres have yet to reach 100% automation, most key functions can be managed remotely without human input.
On a side note, while many use the terms “monitoring” and “management” interchangeably, they’re not strictly the same.

Challenges of data centre management

Growing complexities within modern data centres also create unique challenges for the teams operating them. As part of designing and building a data centre, teams must account for these challenges to construct an infrastructure that overcomes them.
Failure in any one area can lead to a catastrophe. Today’s average data centre downtime cost is $740,000, 50% higher than in 2010, so prolonged downtime can cost millions.
So, what are the challenges you need to be aware of?

✔ Power management
✔ Capacity planning
✔ The role of the Internet of Things (IoT)
✔ Data security
✔ Real-time reporting
✔ Balancing efficiency and cost controls

On top of these challenges, data centres must tackle the problem of evolving government regulations. These concerns must be addressed domestically and globally to ensure that you give clients and the general public the confidence they need when sharing and using data.

At Keysource, we specialise in helping organisations to overcome the challenges of sustainable data centre design, building and management

Speak to our team today for tailored advice and guidance on creating and operating a data centre fit for the next generation of computing.

Contact us
7 August 2023
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