Schneider Electric, the enabler in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, has released a research report to foster an understanding of how digitized and smart applications will be powered in the future.
The report titled Digital Economy and Climate Impact predicts IT-sector related electricity demand is expected to increase by nearly 50% by 2030. Yet, as the electricity system decarbonizes, emissions would not increase by more than 26% by that time. To help mitigate this rise in emissions, the Schneider ElectricTM Sustainability Research Institute recommends continued efforts in achieving efficiencies on the IT and energy sides at both the component and system levels.
Steven Lee, Director, Secure Power, Schneider Electric Hong Kong and Joanne Ng, Product Marketing Manager, Schneider Electric Hong Kong, introduced the latest ‘Digital Economy and Climate Impact’ report, vision of Data Center of the Future, as well as the latest IT innovations ─ the new energy-efficient Galaxy VL UPS, redesigned Galaxy Lithium-ion battery solution, EcoStruxureâ„¢ Micro Data Center C-Series 43U and the EcoStruxure IT software updates.
The highly-efficient, compact 3-Phase Galaxy VL UPS offers up to 99% efficiency , yielding a full return on investment within two years (model dependent) for medium and large data centers and commercial and industrial facilities.
“The data center industry had already begun entering a new generation of data center management while COVID-19 accelerates the transformation. Businesses have to be future-ready and embrace technology innovations to march into the new era. Schneider Electric is advancing the industry forward by leveraging the power of connected infrastructure that meeting the demands for sustainability, efficiency, adaptability and resiliency, and pave the way to Data Center of the Future,” said Steven Lee, Director, Secure Power, Schneider Electric Hong Kong.
With the vision of Data Centers of the Future, Schneider Electric unveiled a series of new innovations to meet the needs of customers today and the evolving requirements of tomorrow. The new line-up includes the newest addition to the Galaxy family, the Galaxy VL 200-500 kW (400V/480V) 3-phase uninterruptible power supply (UPS), as well as the newly designed Galaxy Lithium-ion battery solution. The company has also expanded its EcoStruxureâ„¢ Micro Data Center C-Series with the launch of a new 43U offering which provides the greatest capacity in its commercial and office line of micro data centers solutions and enhanced the software of EcoStruxure IT to reduce complexity in managing hybrid data center and edge IT environments.
Shaping the Data Center of the Future
According to intelligence and advisory firm Arizton, the global data center market will reach US$174 billion by 2023. As digitization and new IoT technologies propel us towards a new, more integrated future, data continues to become more valuable. Schneider Electric believes that the Data Centers of the Future will require these four key pillars:
Sustainability – The Data Center of the Future will be required to integrate into and accommodate a company’s entire upstream and downstream supply chain sustainability data footprint. Beyond just tracking company-based emissions, Scope 3 emissions (or supply chain-based emissions) will need to be monitored, captured, analyzed, benchmarked, and published.
Efficiency – Data center efficiencies, which often encompass only process and hardware performance efficiencies, will soon have to include human resource, capital expenditure (CapEx), and total cost of ownership (TCO) efficiencies. By equipping devices with intelligent sensors, and adding more digital services and remote monitoring capabilities, data centers will be able to drive more efficient human resources workflows, including faster alerting and more precise predictive diagnostics. This will result in reduced unplanned downtime.
Adaptivity – As businesses across the globe scramble to increase flexibility, navigate unorthodox working conditions, and work with unpredictable supply chains, a new mentality for remaining in business has emerged. Businesses are now striving to accelerate the delivery of goods and services, with remarkable speed and precision.
As customers adapt to these new marketplace realities, so must their data center facilities. Much more flexible data center designs will emerge – allowing data center owners to pivot and quickly scale up or down as needed to handle the uncertain future.
Resiliency – By bringing in processes, programs, tools, and resources that both minimize exposure to hazards and associated risks and allow rapid response and recovery from unplanned events, data center owners will be in a much stronger position to control their destinies during times of crisis and uncertainty. Powerful AI-based monitoring tools offer new ways to remotely manage at-risk data center assets. For example, Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure IT automatically collects critical infrastructure sensor values and submits that data to a centralized data lake in the cloud.
Latest innovations from Schneider Electric address the vision of Data Center of the Future, empowering the industry to meet sustainability goals while increasing resiliency of IT and data center infrastructure, thus enabling all to capture the opportunities in the new normal.
“Schneider Electric has been focused on sustainability for the past 15 years and was recently named the most sustainable corporation in the world. We have embraced the mindset that future innovation will deliver better efficiency across the broader connectivity landscape,” explains Pankaj Sharma, EVP, Secure Power, Schneider Electric. “By making smart intentional choices, our industry can help mitigate how much electricity and emissions result from the rising appetite for digital technologies.”
