COMPUTING & IT RESOURCES
The World Economic Forum has also outlined the significant role higher education will play in helping meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. While strengths like education and research are at the heart and soul of universities worldwide, higher education institutions are also uniquely positioned to help build and engage communities and influence people to act to help solve our climate crisis. Through the Universities for Sustainable Development project, the UN is helping schools develop action plans and implement real-time data scorecards.
With this increased emphasis on sustainability, colocation data centre operators offer universities energy-efficient and environmentally friendly solutions for managing their IT infrastructure. These facilities are designed to optimise power and cooling by leveraging infrastructure that maximises energy efficiency and minimises waste. Wherever possible, they utilise renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, or hydroelectric power, to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Colocation data centres can help. A colocation data centre offers space for organisations, including universities, to house their servers and IT infrastructure. Instead of building and maintaining their own data centres, universities can co-locate their equipment in these shared facilities, which provide essential services such as power, cooling, security, and connectivity. They also offer robust infrastructure and redundant systems to enhance the reliability of IT equipment. They can be a cost effective and sustainable solution for universities challenged with managing their growing IT infrastructure needs.
Cost efficiency for constrained budgets
With so much uncertainty around higher education budgets in the UK, the cost efficiency of colocation data centres cannot be understated. Establishing an on-campus data centre requires substantial capital investment in construction, specialised infrastructure, and high- performance cooling systems. Additionally, universities must regularly upgrade equipment to keep up with advancements in technology, which can be costly and time-consuming. By outsourcing their IT infrastructure to a colocation provider, universities can dramatically reduce these upfront costs.
The operational costs of running and maintaining a data centre are another significant burden universities can offload to a colocation provider. The expenses related to energy, maintenance, security, and staffing are absorbed by the data centre. Managing power consumption spikes – an expensive issue in recent years – ongoing facility upgrades, or maintaining security standards, are all part of the service provided by the data centre operator.
Universities are then able to allocate their financial resources more strategically, investing in other critical areas. Given the growing demand for high-performance computing and data storage in modern research, colocation can provide an efficient, scalable solution without the need to sacrifice precious financial resources.
Achieving sustainability goals
Colocation data centres can also align to a university’s sustainability goals. Universities are increasingly committed to reducing their carbon footprints and promoting sustainable practices. In 2023, the QS Sustainability Rankings were launched. The rankings measure a higher education institution’s ability to tackle environmental, social and governance challenges so students and communities can fully understand the progress each school is making on these critical issues.
November 2024
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Colocation data centres also deploy advanced technologies like liquid cooling to manage the heat generated by servers more effectively than traditional air-cooling methods. Liquid cooling works by circulating a dielectric fluid directly over the hottest components, which not only keeps temperatures in check but also drastically cuts energy consumption and reduces the overall carbon footprint of the data centre. Liquid cooling technology also enables colocation operators to reuse the heat waste generated from the data centre to further reduce power consumption and supply heat to local houses, businesses and schools via district heating systems. This blend of renewable energy and innovative cooling technologies positions colocation data centres as an ideal, sustainable solution for universities. The schools can sidestep the environmental and financial burdens of constructing and maintaining their own data centres while still supporting their high-performance computing needs. They are also able to align more effectively to the school’s broader sustainability goals by housing their IT infrastructure in more eco-friendly facilities.
Scalable and flexible IT infrastructure
Finally, colocation also offers universities more flexibility when it comes to managing their IT workloads. Depending on workload demands, universities can take advantage of “compute as a service” types of models where the compute infrastructure is owned and managed by a colocation provider and the university pays for the service as needed. This allows them to scale up or down as workloads demand and avoid paying for services and equipment that may no longer be needed. Alternatively, they can opt to host their own infrastructure within a colocation facility. This gives universities more control over their IT environment while still benefiting from the enhanced power and cooling capabilities of the data centre. The operator can allocate dedicated space for university equipment and expand capacity as needed. This flexibility is crucial for universities facing challenges in upgrading their on-campus labs due to financial or logistical constraints as they can maintain their research and educational activities without costly upgrades to their own facilities. Colocation data centres offer a versatile and sustainable solution for universities aiming to enhance their IT infrastructure. By leveraging colocation, universities can significantly reduce the need for substantial capital investments in on-campus data centres while also offloading operational expenses. This approach is particularly valuable as UK higher education faces budgetary pressures alongside the demand for sustainable growth, not to mention the scalability and flexibility offered by colocation allows universities to manage evolving IT needs more efficiently. In an era of tight budgets and increasing demand for high-performance computing, colocation offers a strategic approach that ensures universities can continue to excel in research and education while meeting their sustainability goals.
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