Data has joined money in having the dubious honour of making the world go round. There's a lot of it and thanks to our obsession with information, it's multiplying like bacteria in a warm Petri dish.
This growth is fuelling huge demand for data centres, which means finding more of what the world is rapidly running out of - space and cheap electricity. With the number of data centres worldwide heading into the millions, organisations, Web companies, and co-location providers are desperately trying to find ways to up storage capacity without guzzling more electricity.
As a recent Gartner survey reveals, data growth is the biggest data centre infrastructure challenge for large enterprises. Almost half the survey respondents ranked data growth in their top three challenges, followed by system performance and scalability, and network congestion and connectivity architecture.
The survey was conducted among representatives from 1 004 large enterprises across eight countries last year, with more than 60% saying they plan to invest in data archiving or retirement by the end of 2011, to address the data growth challenge.
"While all the top data centre hardware infrastructure challenges impact cost to some degree, data growth is particularly associated with increased costs relative to hardware, software, associated maintenance, administration and services," said April Adams, research director at Gartner, in a release.
Signs of economic recovery also mean organisations will start shifting their focus back to growth, and IT companies will have to find ways to support various growth initiatives, adds Gartner principle research analyst, Naveen Mishra.
"Many data centre managers were forced to defer infrastructure upgrades and extend technology refresh cycles in 2009 and, as a result, are now dealing with an aging infrastructure or, in some cases, product obsolescence.”
More than half the survey respondents plan to expand capacity at their existing data centre site by the end of 2011, and 30% plan to build new data centres, although this varies from country to country.
Part of the reason data is reaching such epidemic proportions, says Softworx MD, Jane Thomson, is the increased tracking and recording of people's personal information through sensors, cellphones, and the Internet.
In a recent release, she cites the more than 30 billion pieces of content shared on Facebook every month, and the huge volumes of rich data being exchanged by the world's roughly four billion phone users.
“Globally, the rate of data growth is estimated at 40% annually, which is eight times faster than IT spending,” she points out. “This massive growth in data will have important implications for both individuals and businesses around the world.”
Unplugged
While data growth is certainly becoming a worry in SA, the issue that eclipses all others is the supply and cost of electricity. Load-shedding, blackouts, and Eskom's ongoing price hikes have companies scrambling to ensure they maintain sufficient power supply. This concern, along with new undersea cables and increased competition in the network market, is creating a perfect storm for data-intensive businesses.
Mark van Heerden, MD of local company Perpetual Power Systems, predicts more than 36% of local data centre facilities will run out of space, power, or cooling within the next 12 to 18 months. He believes companies in SA are likely to move from low-density to high-density servers almost immediately, bringing with it significant data centre management challenges.
Despite these predictions, Van Heerden says local players aren't doing enough to prepare for the threats.
”If this dam wall bursts the consequences could be catastrophic, as it could take as little as six months or up to two years to build a new data centre without power availability and infrastructure from Eskom. Future data centres in SA need to be carefully considered and designed to accommodate any eventuality in the future.”
According to Van Heerden, approximately 37% or more of total input power used for data centres is used for cooling purposes. Efforts are being made to reduce this energy consumption with increased tariffs from Eskom. “Clients can either increase their power usage effectiveness (PUE) and save up to 70% on electricity used for cooling, or free up power to be able to deploy approximately 25% or more load and still use their current infrastructure equipment with minimal technology advancements and negligible cost implications."
More than 36% of local data centre facilities will run out of space, power, or cooling within the next 12 to 18 months.
Mark van Heerden, Perpetual Power Systems
He notes many organisations are looking at implementing data centre infrastructure management, to help use resources more intelligently. “A lot of companies are not sure where they're going, and need proper design tools. It comes down to effectively using what you're paying for.”
With a greater focus on reducing energy consumption, businesses are keeping a close eye on PUE, which measures the total energy used in data centre in relation to the energy used by the IT equipment. But, as co-location data centre company Teraco points out, savings brought by greater power efficiency have to be weighed up against the capital investment needed to achieve these gains.
Teraco, which has vendor- and carrier-neutral data centres in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and soon Durban, has to employ various measures to ensure it meets its N+1 (data centre) and 2N (power) redundancy policies.
Balancing power efficiency with performance requires managing energy-efficient cooling units, implementing fit-out of racks on a build-as-you-grow basis, and using 'free' cool air from outside when the temperature drops below 21 degrees Celsius.
Teraco MD Lex van Wyk points out that companies are at the mercy of Eskom, with no idea whether the utility will hike prices again in the next few years.
“Eskom is the only provider and there's no real alternative - whatever they do, business is going to have to accept.”
This reality, coupled with the landing of international cables and fibre being rolled out, means many firms are trying to plan for a data tsunami they can't even see the crest of yet.
Van Wyk argues that companies building their own data centres will have difficulty in leveraging economies of scale, and benefiting from newer equipment.
“Building the centre in modular phases means you can stay up to date with the latest technology - hardware suppliers are constantly coming out with greener, more efficient solutions. If your facility power is used more efficiently and you add a lot of clients, you get economies of scale and can bank on a bulk of clients with different user patterns.”
Van Heerden, however, argues that it won't matter whether companies outsource or use co-location providers, as these facilities also risk running out of space, power, and cooling.
“In the near future, high density server racks have to manage nearly 10 times the current load while still trying to utilise current traditional data centre environments,” he points out.
The increased roll-out of data centre infrastructure seems to contradict another big trend in the local IT space - virtualisation and cloud computing, which typically involve a reduction in physical hardware and related energy use.
However, these technologies require high-density computing environments and companies will have to find innovative new ways of cooling data centre equipment, says Van Heerden.
In a high-density scenario, cooling the specific load is usually more effective than pumping the whole room full of cool air.
“It's like driving with the aircon on while the window's open; if you close the window you can put the aircon lower and the car stays cool,” Van Heerden explains.
“Especially with virtualisation, you have more heat and the need to cool the IT load increases all the time.”
Getting creative
It comes down to effectively using what you're paying for.
Mark van Heerden, Perpetual Power Systems
Growing electricity challenges are seeing various alternative solutions emerge, some focused specifically on local needs. Telenetix, which manufactures the containerised 'T-Cube' data centre in Africa, took this approach with its FreeGrid solution, which combines the modular aspects of the centre with a renewable energy component.
Dean Hall, operations director at Telenetix, says the energy access problem means off-grid hybrid power solutions are gaining traction, particularly in areas across Africa where many organisations aren't connected to the grid.
According to Hall, Telenetix's hybrid power system, which combines solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and diesel, is suited to the continent's abundant sunshine and decentralised power supply.
The fact that the centres are set up in former shipping containers is also beneficial, as many regions in Africa lack the required building infrastructure.
Its custom-built data centres typically consist of a solar PV array, battery bank and diesel generator system housed in shipping containers of various sizes. The power management system acts as the centre's 'brain', controlling the energy flow between the various power sources, battery bank, and power-using equipment. Once the batteries go below a certain pre-programmed level, the controller kicks the backup power source into gear.
Many of Telenetix's projects come from government, but Hall says the company is seeing interest from other sectors as well. “It's still cost-prohibitive, but in Africa and SA, alternate sources of energy are the only way to go in the long-term.”
Roelof Louw, head of ITO pre-sales at T-Systems SA, says two major factors are driving greater awareness of energy-saving in business: the legislative environment and the tangible effects of new global realities.
“I think in some European countries the reality of the matter is much more predominant. They're running out of space, there are pollution issues and a major focus on alternative energies. In SA, the main driver is the increased cost of energy; the other factors aren't so significant yet.”
While the European Commission adopted a code of conduct for data centres in 2008, whereby participating members commit to continuously improving energy efficiency in their data centres, its voluntary status means few have signed up.
According to Louw, there are no indicators of legislative pressure in SA at the moment, although related regulations such as industry charters and the King III governance code have generated greater awareness around these issues.
He says it's mostly big organisations for which the energy bill makes up a significant part of their budget that are mindful of resource use. Despite the lack of interest from the broader business sector, however, there's definitely a positive move towards implementing more green solutions, Louw adds.
“We see it in our daily dealings. When we're asked for services, we're asked for those that take into consideration green IT and environmental issues, and management of the full lifecycle, including recycling and disposal.”
Louw says the risks to companies are not immediate, but will impact business sustainability in the long-term. He believes the reality hasn't yet hit home for businesses, partly due to the fact that SA did manage to recover from the 2008 electricity crisis scare.
“That's one of our problems - there are still a lot of solutions and alternatives we can follow which means green IT and energy saving is not the only option. There's still a long way to go.”
He stresses that the transition isn't about quick fixes.
“You can't change to a green data centre tomorrow - you need a strategy to be defined and accepted by the organisation first. You have to look at what you have and what you can implement, and then begin embarking on the journey.”
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