The right location for the right data

On-premise, cloud or colocation? Businesses today have more options than ever on how and where to run their mission-critical application, but Irish enterprises lag those in other EU countries when it comes to moving to modern infrastructure. However, as IT is now central to every organisation’s operations, more and more are running up against the limits of the server closet.

Tanya Lay, director of asset management at Digital Realty Ireland said while there was pressure to sweat existing assets, businesses were increasingly looking at moving away from on-premise infrastructure.

“In today’s digital era, data centres have become the backbone of our interconnected world,” she said.

Typical benefits of moving to colocation in a data centre are efficiency, including energy, and simplification of operations. It is also an opportunity for modernisation as part of a digital transformation strategy.

However, even in a worst case scenario, in which applications cannot be redeveloped to take advantage of the native cloud-like features of colocation, moving out of the server room will have a positive impact.

“There will be improvements in uptime and in business continuity,” she said.

As a result, businesses are taking a serious look at how they can secure and simplify their operations – and are starting by taking account of the limitations of their on-premise infrastructure.

Moving to colocation not only means applications run more efficiently, it also offers an array of connectivity options both to the internet and to private networks, including private connections to the cloud.

“We are seeing people coming to us from all industries and there are a host of reasons for that. Look at connectivity: we have 47 network providers [directly connecting to Digital Realty’s data centres in Dublin] as well as direct on-ramps for INEX, Microsoft Azure and AWS from Amazon, and we have greater security,” Lay said.

Against this, running an on-premise data centre is not only less efficient, it is difficult. “It takes a lot of effort for a business to implement and then run and maintain a data centre.”

Sustainability

One factor that needs to be considered is energy use. Colocation data centres offer a significant improvement over on-premise servers due to their sustainability, design strategies and operational awareness.

Having the right resources across multifaceted teams ensures colocation data centres are efficiently designed and optimised, said Lay.

Larger organisations will need to consider this as changes to the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive come into force.

“The recent updates to the Energy Efficiency Directive mandate transparency and efficient resource use, emphasising the crucial role of data centres in promoting environmental, economic and social sustainability,” Lay said.

Data centres with a consumption greater than 500kW will have to report energy efficiency figures starting from May, something that will impact on-premise deployments.

In addition, by January 1, 2025, new data centres operating at full capacity in cool climates will meet an annual power usage effectiveness (PUE) target of 1.3. Existing data centres will also have to achieve these same targets by January 2030.

“Energy-efficient data centres consume less power, resulting in lower electricity bills when compared to maintaining on-premises. In fact, colocation data centres have been proven to be at least 25 per cent more energy efficient, meaning that they are the most sustainable choice for businesses requiring digital infrastructure. According to [analysts] IDC the standard enterprise data centre PUE is 2.1,” Lay said.

The recent updates to the Energy Efficiency Directive mandate transparency and efficient resource use, emphasising the crucial role of data centres

In addition to simply consuming less power and having the ability to spin services up and down on demand, Digital Realty designs its cooling systems and architecture to optimise power usage effectiveness and water usage effectiveness (WUE). It also has a zero-waste-to-landfill programme and a biodiversity programme that supports local flora and fauna with native landscaping.

“We have joined the Science-Based Targets Initiative as the first company of our size and global reach, and have committed to reducing 68 per cent of our direct and indirect emissions, as well as signing up to the EU Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact,” she said.

The company’s latest initiative is to support the grid’s ability to integrate renewable energy into Ireland’s energy mix.

“Ireland’s main renewable energy source is wind, and this produces variable power output dependent on the weather, which causes greater fluctuations in grid frequency when compared with traditional carbon power sources,” Lay said.

“To alleviate this, Digital Realty uses batteries on our UPS systems to help support the grid through dynamic frequency balancing services.”

Digital Realty launched the pilot programme in September 2023, with additional sites set to be added from April this year. By assisting with its dynamic frequency programme, the company aims to help the grid save 65,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.

Whenever fluctuations occur, the batteries in Digital Realty’s UPS systems transfer the UPS load from the grid in real-time, and in turn transfer the UPS load to the batteries, supporting constraints on the grid and allowing it to reset to normal operating frequency.