FINAL WORD
IT leaders reconciling data centre needs with the Circular Economy
Data centre managers are constantly searching for best practices that allow them to access circular IT with confidence . Here , Ian Shearer , Managing Director , APAC & EMEA , Park Place Technologies , discusses how data centre leaders can close the life cycle loop and achieve their net zero goals .
Jumping into circular IT when you run a complex innovative data centre may seem like a bridge too far . Collectively , data centres house more electrical , compute , data processing and storage equipment than any other type of facility .
With over 8 million sites registered in 2021 , data centres also represent a major focus for IT to achieve new environmental and sustainability targets . Having historically housed the latest bleeding-edge technology , data centres have traditionally left vast quantities of WEEE ( Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment ) in their wake – in part because of short pre-dictated vendor product life cycles for ‘ supported ’ optimal usage that only ‘ rip and replace ’ cycles can overcome .
Yet times have changed in response to the climate crisis , with IT leaders becoming increasingly savvy in extending lifetime windows to avoid disposable IT . Constant supply cycles from incumbent hardware providers are now largely viewed as both unsustainable and unacceptable to corporations . Very few global organisations running data centres wish to continue with arbitrary cycles of buying new – and depleting more precious earth elements and minerals for new kit than is absolutely necessary and critical – while decommissioning perfectly serviceable equipment along the way .
As such , the response of the IT industry to averting the climate crisis is now extending far further , deep into the remit of circular usage and procurement
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