No Silver Bullet for Data Energy Costs, but SustOps Helps
Slowing AI innovation isn’t a realistic solution to reduce the massive energy consumption of expanding data centers and digital infrastructure. The AI genie is out of the bottle.
A slowdown would create competitive economic and major security risks, as bad actors and nation-states seek advantage. But the fact remains that grids around the world are already strained by data volume and movement involved with AI as well as blockchain, gaming and IoT. Despite talk of nuclear fusion advances, there’s no silver bullet for the tech power crisis.
Reducing consumption, cutting carbon emissions and making businesses more sustainable – meaning more environmentally friendly, which makes them more competitive – requires an ecosystem-wide approach that integrates sustainable technology and AI every step of the way.
SustOps – aka GreenOps or CarbonOps – is a new concept spanning technology, business intelligence and other key, data-driven sustainability practices that looks to aid in the process.
From DevOps to SustOps
SustOps doesn’t replace DevOps, DevSecOps, AIOps and FinOps. It’s a fifth – potentially overarching – dimension. SustOps empowers data center administrators to make trade-offs about operations that may look cost-efficient, but carry higher net costs due to emissions.
By connecting data across the data center, real-time reports, analytics and recommendations can trigger automated Scope 1, 2 and 3 actions (reducing direct and indirect emissions) and even Scope 4 actions (avoiding emissions).
Sustainable hardware and software choices for maximum impact
A prerequisite for SustOps and the larger ecosystem of decarbonization is choosing advanced hardware and software built to decrease physical data sprawl and data’s footprint in terms of storage, compression, deduplication and efficient data movement.
All hardware isn’t the same, and what can seem like “little things” make a big difference. A device delivering 80% energy efficiency versus 75%, at scale, makes a major difference in dollars and kilowatts. Using better data compression technology to store the same data, but with 60% less footprint, reduces power consumption and carbon emissions.
Combining IoT sensors and digital twins can automatically detect temperature changes and trigger optimized cooling. Digital twins paired with augmented reality can enable data center administrators to spot problems, do root cause analysis and recommend actions – all remotely.
Implementing a horizontal platform layer over all operations enables teams to manage data centers in an integrated fashion to reduce energy use, emissions and carbon footprint.
Green coding for data flow and resource optimization
Code running software in the data center and applications in the cloud is often extremely inefficient and energy-intensive. Green coding cuts away unnecessary dependencies during software development, improving build management, eliminating excess versioning, decreasing repetitive tasks and consolidating tool use along the software supply chain.
Intelligent algorithms can improve data flow and sustainability, detecting idle states and automatically triggering power-saving mode, and regulating what’s in hot versus cold storage.
Circularity across the value chain and outcome-based SLAs
Aligning technology and practices across the data ecosystem with the circular economy is crucial. From cradle (product conception, R&D, raw materials sourcing) to grave (waste management, carbon capture, recycling, waste heat reuse), circularity must be planned and can be improved by end-to-end data visibility across the value chain.
SustOps dovetails with the move toward IT solution providers selling outcomes vs. products and services. An SLA might guarantee 30% power savings compared to existing or alternative installations. Now, the strength of IT solution providers will be based on their ability to stand behind guarantees, and enterprises will be freed from worrying about piece parts of their IT environments.
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