Colocation is the Energy-Efficient Answer to Data Warehousing
With 2% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions coming from data centers, businesses are intensifying efforts to implement more energy-efficient ways to manage their data warehousing, and colocation can be the perfect solution. A colocation providers’ core competency is to deliver highly available and efficient infrastructure. Facility operators constantly seek ways to modernize equipment for large-scale demand and lower large cost centers across the shared platform, such as energy utilization. This article will take a closer look at some of the critical reasons why colocation should be your go-to choice for data warehousing if you want to go green with your data center operations.
Go Green with Colocation
Collocating IT equipment involves renting space, power, and services, from a third-party data center provider, rather than housing servers in-house at corporate locations. Colocation offers many benefits, including dedicated security, improved disaster recovery capabilities, and access to numerous connectivity solutions. However, one of the most significant benefits of colocation is that it is a more sustainable option for data warehousing than on-premises data centers.
A corporate data center built inside the company headquarters often cannot match the capability of a purpose-built facility when it comes to network reliability, power redundancy, cooling architectures, and operational efficiency. Transitioning many smaller inefficient systems into a larger shared space leads to greater efficiency and optimization over the larger ecosystem. Dedicated focus on maintaining and optimizing all power consumption systems and investments in modernization can return huge efficiency gains. In turn, this cuts down on the amount of energy each company needs to power their data infrastructure, making it a more sustainable option, and offering organizations the ability to manage their energy use.
Companies are looking for low-carbon technologies that are not easy to replicate in-house, especially since data centers consume large amounts of energy. Colocation data centers are often built with sustainability in mind, incorporating features like energy-efficient cooling systems and on-site renewable generation. Providers can reduce energy bills by matching energy needs with the weather and offsetting megawatt-hours with renewable energy resources.
In addition, colocation data centers often have a more robust infrastructure that is designed to be resilient to power outages. For example, resiliency leading providers have essential services contracts with power companies to avoid disruptions even when power outages affect other businesses in the area. Such planning helps organizations avoid downtime while improving productivity, revenue, and stability.
Expand Business Resources to Meet ESG Goals with Colocation
Colocation providers can offer a range of sustainability benefits to help companies measure and reduce their energy consumption. Data centers that invest in 100% renewable energy assist companies with meeting sustainability goals as well as provide enterprises with the following benefits:
- Reduced carbon emissions and energy costs. By outsourcing the energy demands of their data centers to colocation providers, companies can reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and lower their overall energy consumption. This not only benefits the environment but also reduces operating costs for businesses.
- Access to cutting-edge technology and expertise. Many colocation providers are actively working to make their data centers more efficient, and they have access to the latest technologies and best practices in this area. Companies that partner with colocation providers can benefit from these advances and the expertise of their engineers, and partnerships.
- Sustainability certification. Many colocation providers offer sustainability certifications for their facilities, including ISO 14001 and LEED certifications. Companies that store their data in these certified centers can demonstrate their commitment to environmental sustainability to customers and investors.
Create more Sustainable Practices with Colocation
Investing in a third-party partnership is one way for enterprise companies to achieve sustainability goals. Partnering with a trusted colocation provider is a great choice for companies looking to implement sustainable practices. Here are a few strategies for sustainably implementing colocation:
- Evaluate Your Needs: Enterprise companies need to move/add/change applications with the flexibility to future-proof their infrastructure. To achieve this agility, it is essential to evaluate what your company needs from its infrastructure and optimize by workload. Colocation can provide a strong foundation for a hybrid IT model, enabling workload management between dynamic and interconnected elements.
- Evaluation of the Colocation Facility Design: Due to the specialized function of data center facilities, maximizing power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a key indicator in determining data center efficiency. A lower PUE means a more efficient data center and lower operating costs for customers and operators. Data centers achieving measurable impacts to their PUE start with a conservation-focused design, implement technologically smart operational systems, and upgrade equipment with the latest technology.
- Leverage Green Provider Partners: Colocation operators deliver performance at a massive scale. This is an advantage for businesses seeking to add value with providers that can also deliver green solutions while ensuring business resilience. Look for facilities that generate on-site renewable energy, have acquired green certifications, and offer locally sourced 100% renewable energy to fast-track ESG initiatives.
- Replace, Consolidate And Virtualize: Not only can hardware degrade over time, but replacing inefficient hardware allows businesses to capitalize on technology advancements. Also, consolidating and virtualizing servers impacts energy consumption – reduce the number of physical servers needed to perform the same work and the power consumed decreases as well.
Colocation is the energy-efficient answer to data warehousing with significant environmental benefits that can also improve your bottom line. By utilizing colocation and following some of these strategies, enterprise companies can implement more sustainable practices that help minimize their environmental impact and reduce their energy consumption.