DATACENTER UNITED
big or too small , or running bottle-necks that are way too costly . These problems require solutions . That is why we try to bring our services to our customers through multiple DCs , over an area of about 75-100 km ( about a one hour drive in either direction ).
“ Some companies don ' t do everything themselves . They use IT partners , but if you can bring the DCs to your customers yourselves , it ’ s added-value . So we want to accelerate bringing our DCs to our customers in the future , and provide On-Net and Off-Net options over multiple DCs .”
DCU ’ s biggest driver is for proximity DCs . “ 5G means decentralised data , compute , network ability and storage ,” Haringsma says , “ and so the services we provide are requirements for this development .”
For many DCs , sustainability is an afterthought . The centres are built with the explicit – and sometimes sole purpose – of data provision , thus sustainability considerations come later .
“ We are trying to be sustainable by nature , being as efficient as possible ,” says Haringsma . “ But it must be remembered that there are multiple drivers . By affecting all the variables that we have under our control , we are able to lower costs and achieve higher sustainability . However , it must be said that service-continuity is always the primary focus , and then comes sustainability .
“ Nevertheless , we reuse water , utilise solar panels and have heat exchange systems that redirect waste heat to reheat our warehouses , for example . We try to do our best in handling those things .”
Haringsma alludes to the fact that most talk of sustainability in the DC world is not entirely honest . After all , a DC ’ s primary output is energy , not data . “ We could change the loads of machines ,” says Haringsma , “ but this is the responsibility of
178 June 2022