Fujitsu powers near-zero emissions data centre in wind turbine

Issued by CoCre8
Munich, 07 Nov 2018

News facts:

* WestfalenWIND IT has built one of the world's first data centres located inside a wind turbine, directly utilising eco-friendly electricity.
* Energy-efficient Fujitsu PRIMERGY servers and ETERNUS storage data centre infrastructure minimise the data centre's overall need for power and cooling.
* Fujitsu SELECT Expert Partner Green IT - Das Systemhaus, is using the data centre's services to offer its customers differentiated and cost-effective green cloud services.

Fujitsu server and storage technology is powering one of the world's first near-zero emissions data centres located inside a wind turbine in Germany. Part of the WindCORES initiative from German electricity provider WestfalenWIND IT, the new hosting solution enables Fujitsu SELECT Partner Green IT - Das Systemhaus (Green IT) to offer to highly sustainable and cost-effective cloud services to its customers.

Designed by WestfalenWIND IT, WindCORES is a near zero-emissions tier three data centre1 operating in Paderborn, Germany. It forms part of Germany's planned transition to an environmentally sound, sustainable energy supply, while simultaneously meeting growing demand for cloud services. The wind turbine data centre concept has the potential to offset the impact of the increased carbon footprint caused by businesses' ongoing digital transformation.

Fujitsu's energy-efficient Fujitsu PRIMERGY servers and ETERNUS storage systems used in the data centre are playing a key role in minimising power consumption, with enhanced power management to keep overall draw to a minimum, plus the use of highly efficient components such as AC-DC converters and the latest generation of cooling technology.

The low energy requirements, coupled with the low-cost electricity produced by the wind turbine itself, means Green IT is able to pass on substantial cost savings to customers. As a result, the partner's cloud-based services are competitively priced, as well as being eco-friendly with a near-zero carbon footprint.

Dave Hazard, Vice-President and Head of Channel and Sales Operations at Fujitsu EMEIA, comments: "Businesses increasingly expect their suppliers to be innovative both in terms of the services they offer and how they deliver them. By working with Fujitsu to co-create a solution based around virtualised services run from the eco-friendly WindCORES data centre, Green IT can stay true to its environmentally friendly values while providing choice and cost-effective solutions to its customers. The company is at the forefront of service providers creating a new 'green cloud'."

Christian Hoffmeister, CIO at Green IT, says: "We are focused on delivering sustainable, energy-efficient and cost-effective IT solutions for our customers. Unfortunately, most data centres use a considerable amount of energy derived from fossil fuels or nuclear power, backed up by diesel-powered generators in case of an interruption in electricity supply. The WindCORES solution offered by WestfalenWIND IT is the logical way for us to deliver near carbon-neutral services. And, thanks to Fujitsu's power-efficient hardware and dedicated support, we are able to make them extremely competitive."

Dr Gunnar Schomaker, co-founder of the WestfalenWIND IT Group, says: "There is plenty of space inside many wind turbine towers for IT and infrastructure equipment, enabling the low-emissions distributed data centres of the future. With WindCORES, providers like Green IT are able to offer a new differentiated portfolio of cloud services to their customers, who also benefit from low power costs and sustainability, plus a reduction in their overall carbon footprint."

Initiative aligns with support for United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Fujitsu's support for the WindCORES project is aligned with its backing for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The SDGs address global challenges, including those related to climate and environmental degradation. Goal nine relates to sustainable industrialisation, to "build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation".

^1 As a tier three data centre, the project is able to offer a reliability level of 99.98%. To date, 92% of the total energy consumed by the data centre has come straight from the wind turbine. The data centre is connected to two independent electricity providers to ensure both N+1 redundancy and continued operation during the occasional periods when there is insufficient wind to generate electricity.

Fujitsu and the environment: Fujitsu's objective is to bring the Fujitsu Group's CO2 emissions to zero by 2050. In addition, Fujitsu's Climate and Energy Vision has the goals of achieving a decarbonised society and contributing to the response to climate change through ICT. As part of achieving this vision, Fujitsu has been implementing environmental action plans which aim to: improve the environmental performance of products throughout their life cycle, contribute to sustainable development and the preservation of biodiversity through ICT services, and the reduction of Fujitsu's own greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact throughout its value chain.

Online resources:

* Read about the SELECT Partner Program: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/microsites/spp/
* Read about the SELECT Innovation Award: www.fujitsu.com/select-innovation
* Read about the SELECT Innovation Awards' success stories: https://www.fujitsu.com/global/microsite/innovation-award/process/index.html
* Read about Fujitsu Group Sustainability report: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/documents/about/resources/reports/sustainabilityreport/2018-report/fujitsureport201801-e.pdf
* Read the Fujitsu blog: http://blog.ts.fujitsu.com
* Follow Fujitsu on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Fujitsu_Global
* Follow us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/fujitsu
* Find Fujitsu on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FujitsuICT
* Fujitsu pictures and media server: http://mediaportal.ts.fujitsu.com/pages/portal.php
* For regular news updates, bookmark the Fujitsu newsroom: http://ts.fujitsu.com/ps2/nr/index.aspx

Fujitsu South Africa

The evolving nature of every business means changes, enhancements and upgrades to its data centre infrastructure. Businesses are finding data centre upgrades to be not only disruptive, but also costly. There is a constant need to retrain and re-skill data centre staff in order to effectively manage applications while ensuring data availability, security and energy consumption optimisation. Not to mention maintaining compliance and service level agreements.

Fujitsu South Africa's approach to servers, mainframes, storage and integrated systems offers the flexibility to tailor data centre technologies to its customers' specific requirements. It provides the benefits of secure, robust, future-proofed technologies from a single source supported by a unique, consultative approach. This ensures you get exactly what your organisation demands, bringing true business value to companies.

http://www.fujitsu.com/za/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/5386506/

Fujitsu

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese ICT company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 140 000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. Fujitsu uses its experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with its customers. Fujitsu (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.1 trillion yen (US $39 billion) for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2018. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.

Fujitsu EMEIA

Fujitsu promotes a Human Centric Intelligent Society, in which innovation is driven by the integration of people, information and infrastructure. In the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa region (EMEIA), Fujitsu's 27 000-strong workforce is committed to Digital Co-creation, blending business expertise with digital technology and creating new value with ecosystem partners and customers. Fujitsu enables its customers to digitally transform with connected technology services, focused on artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, and cloud, all underpinned by security. For more information, please visit http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/about/.

All other company or product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information provided in this press release is accurate at time of publication and is subject to change without advance notice.

Editorial contacts