DCR Q1 2023

Q1 2023

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Unveiling the next generation of modular UPS at Data Centre World 2023 Visit stand D520 to reserve your place at our exclusive launch event

Reliable power for a sustainable world

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Cooling

Telecoms & 5G

Is liquid cooling the key to sustainability?

As demand grows, who foots the bill for 5G?

22

Cloud Computing Balancing the rising costs of public cloud

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News 04 • Editor’s Comment And we’re off

Contents

06 • News Latest news from the sector.

Features 12 • Cooling Intercity’s Philip Bindley explores how to keep data centres at optimum temperatures without further contributing to climate change.

16 • UPS & Standby Power How can data centres better manage their energy consumption during the current energy crisis? Centiel UK’s Louis McGarry weighs in.

20 • Telecoms & 5G Fawad Qureshi, Industry Field CTO at Snowflake, explains why the future of the telco industry will be built on customer data.

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28 • Cloud Computing

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Terry Storrar, MD of Leaseweb UK, takes a look at what savvy IT decision makers really want when it comes to their IT infrastructure.

Regulars 34 • Products Innovations worth watching.

37 • Final Say DCA Advisory Board Member Dr Jon Summers shines a light on how natural gas could be used to reduce strain on local power grids.

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28 37

Editor’s Comment And we’re off Hello and welcome to the first DCR of 2023!

We made it through another year of what is increasingly feeling like the Dark Timeline – so barring my replacement by ChatGPT or zombification by a cordyceps fungus, I’m determined to have a more positive mental attitude this year. I’ll let you know how that went in the Q4 editor’s note.

In 2023, the sector will be picking up where it left off last year in terms of the issues it’s going to be facing. Energy uncertainty, the voracious demand for compute and increased complexity of digitisation, boosting and diversifying the workforce, and of course, the hot topic – pun intended – climate change and meeting sustainability goals.

So as the data centre sector adapts to the changing landscape – with more movement to the edge of the network and a hybrid way of life that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon – DCR will be there along the way, as always, offering a platform for expert debate, discussion and innovation.

We’ve got a lot of exciting things in the works for this year, including new video webinars and interviews, the ER & DCR Excellence Awards in May and, of course, the second annual Critical insight, which will be taking place once again in November. The inaugural event was a great success and this year, Critical Insight is set to be bigger and better yet – so stay tuned.

As always, you can reach out to me at kayleigh@ datacentrereview.com, and don’t forget to join us on Twitter (@ dcrmagazine) and on LinkedIn (Data Centre Review).

Kayleigh Hutchins, Editor

EDITOR

Kayleigh Hutchins kayleigh@datacentrereview.com

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EDIT

News

Image credit: Vantage Data Centers

The latest highlights from all corners of the tech industry.

Vantage to develop 48 MW London campus

V

antage Data Centers has announced plans for the development of a 48 MW data centre campus in London.

The campus marks a £500 million investment by Vantage, with the site set to comprise 430,000 sqft across two 24 MW multi-story data centres once complete.

The first facility is scheduled to open at the end of 2024, and comes after Vantage introduced a corporate office in central London in December of 2021 to support the company’s expansion in EMEA. This announcement coincides with Vantage’s completion of the first phase of a second 40 MW facility at its Cardiff campus. Once fully built out, the 46-acre Cardiff campus will provide three data centres offering 148 MW capacity combined.

“Vantage has experienced rapid growth over the past three years as we continue developing state-of-the-art data centre campuses across EMEA,” said Antoine Boniface, President, EMEA at Vantage Data Centers.

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SCHNEIDER COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF AVEVA Schneider Electric has closed on its acquisition of British industrial software company AVEVA. Schneider already owned a majority stake in AVEVA, following a ‘reverse takeover’ in 2017. AVEVA will now be wholly owned by Schneider Electric, but intentions have been laid out for the company to retain business autonomy and future R&D investment. AVEVA will now turn its strategic focus on becoming a leading software-as-a-service provider as the company switches to a subscriptiononly business model.

Peter Herweck, CEO of AVEVA, said, “The needs of the industrial world are becoming ever more complex. But the opportunities to create competitive advantage, value and sustainability through digital transformation have never been more compelling.

“AVEVA is now optimally placed, with the collaboration not just of Schneider Electric but all its partners, to drive innovation, change and value for its customers.”

New Italian Data Centre Association founded The Italian Data Centre Association (IDA) has been jointly founded by Microsoft, Equinix, Rai Way, Data4, STACK Infrastructure, Digital Realty, Vantage Data Centres and CBRE Data Centres.

According to a statement, the association has been established to increase recognition of the data centre industry in Italy, and develop a stronger community among its leading organisations.

IDA has said its mission is to serve as a spokesperson at an institutional level for the needs of its member companies, to contribute to defining standards and provide training to the sector.

“National data centre infrastructures are indeed strategic for the competitiveness of the Italian digital ecosystem,” explained Emmanuel Becker, President of the IDA and Managing Director of Equinix Italia.

He added, “We have an important mission in accelerating the digital development of the Italian territory through the increasing presence of data centres. To do this, we intend to work intensively on both the education aspect, generating new jobs, and on environmental sustainability. Our efforts will be aimed not only at training new talents ready to work in data centres, but also at making environmental responsibility and sustainability a collective and virtuous approach involving the entire sector. We believe that enabling data centres to evolve according to environmental sustainability is key to improving the quality of life of citizens and of the society in which we live.”

DATUM TO OPEN NEW UK DATA CENTRES Datum Group has announced plans to open two new facilities, located in Manchester and Farnborough.

Datum acquired Manchester-based Teledata in September last year, and the new Manchester facility – MCR2 – will be located at the Teledata site. It will provide 4 MW of power over 1,000 server racks.

The second site in Farnborough, FRN2, will provide 600 racks on the ground floor, with room to double this capacity on the first floor.

The sites are scheduled to go live in March 2024.

Vodafone to switch off 3G in UK

V

odafone has announced it will be closing its 3G network in the UK in 2023, with the switch off to begin in February.

According to the telco’s website, the 3G network in the Plymouth and Basingstoke areas will be switched off next month. “We’ll share more information about our plans to switch off 3G across the rest of the UK soon,” Vodafone said.

The switch off is the first step in a programme that will see 3G coverage phased out in the UK, to be replaced by more reliable 4G and 5G services.

Vodafone has said that today, less than 4% of the data used on its network travels on 3G – down from 30% in 2016.

Vodafone’s UK CEO, Ahmed Essam, previously said about the switch off: “We’re building the UK’s most reliable mobile network, and focusing on the technologies that best connect our customers and have the least impact on the environment. 3G has connected so many customers over the last 17 years, but the future is 4G and 5G. “We’re going to be focused on giving customers a faster and more reliable mobile experience, and minimising our impact on the environment by taking away a layer of our network that uses inefficient equipment.”

This announcement follows a decision early in 2022 in which UK Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) committed to retiring their 3G networks from 2023 onwards.

Image credit: dotshock / Shutterstock.com

Equinix to reduce energy use by “adjusting the thermostat” Equinix has announced plans to reduce its power use by increasing operating temperature ranges within its data centres.

Equinix has outlined a multi-year plan to adjust thermal operations within its data centres to achieve more efficient cooling and decreased carbon impacts. The company said that, over time, this new approach is expected to enable thousands of its customers to reduce the Scope 3 carbon emissions associated with their data centre operations.

“Most data centres operate within restrictive temperature and humidity bands, resulting in environments that are unnecessarily cooler than required,” said Rob Brothers, Program Vice President, Datacentre Services, IDC. “Equinix will work with enterprises to change the way we think about operating temperatures within data centre environments and how the industry can ensure optimal service levels for mission-critical digital infrastructure, while improving data centre efficiencies.”

Equinix said it expects to operate its facilities closer to 27°C (80°F), aligning its data centre operating limits to the boundaries of the A1A standards from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

“Our cooling systems account for approximately 25% of our total energy usage globally,” said Raouf Abdel, Executive Vice President, Global Operations for Equinix.

“With this new initiative, we can intelligently adjust the thermostat in our data centres in the same way that consumers do in their homes. Once rolled out across our current global data centre footprint, we anticipate energy efficiency improvements of as much as 10% in various locations.”

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Image credit: Ralf Liebhold / Shutterstock.com

NEWS

SPONSORED FEATURE

Examining the future of modular UPS Riello UPS Business Development Manager, Chris Cutler, explores the evolution of modular uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and looks ahead to the next stage in their development.

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SPONSORED FEATURE

W

hile the first modular uninterruptible power supplies date back to the early 1990s, it’s really during the last decade where they’ve really come into their own.

Up until then, most data centre UPS lived up to the stereotype of the big, bulky, inefficient black box sitting in the corner of the server room.

But UPS technology has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years. First came the development of more efficient and lighter transformer-free systems. That was followed by the rapid growth in popularity of modular solutions offering data centre operators far greater flexibility and scalability.

Now we’re reaching the latest stage in this UPS evolution, with advances such as silicon carbide components providing the potential for enhanced energy efficiency and increased power capacity in a further reduced footprint.

Background to modular UPS A modular UPS differs from the traditional monolithic unit in that it comprises a frame which you populate with several individual power modules to build up to your required capacity and redundancy.

Take our award-winning modular range Multi Power, which offers the choice of 15, 25, or 42 kW power modules and various cabinet sizes to ‘build’ with.

This principle makes it far easier to closely mirror your UPS system at initial installation to the actual load requirements in your data centre, minimising the risk of wasteful oversizing, whilst also controlling your upfront infrastructure costs.

When your circumstances change and you need more power, you simply ‘pay as you grow’ by adding in extra power modules or more cabinets in parallel.

Say your data centre has a 100 kW load and you’ve got a modular cabinet holding five 25 kW modules. The UPS shares the load across its 125 kW total capacity and if any of the modules were to fail, you’d still have enough power in the remaining four to support the load until the faulty one is replaced – that’s your classic N+1 redundancy.

In such a setup with a modular UPS you require just a 20% increase in capacity compared to the full load. To achieve the same N+1 protection with a standalone UPS you’d

A modular UPS differs from the traditional monolithic unit in that it comprises a frame which you populate with several individual power modules to build up to your required capacity and redundancy need a separate unit (i.e. 100 kW + 100 kW), a 100% capacity increase, which would also tie up significantly more floor space in your IT room.

Indeed, the vertical and horizontal flexibility of a modular UPS, such as the Multi Power, enables it to offer capacity ranging from as little as 15 kW to more than 1 MW power plus redundancy in a single UPS system.

Such scalability future-proofs your data centre’s power protection needs without wasting valuable energy, floor space, or air conditioning.

Every individual power module is hotswappable too. That means you’re guaranteed downtime-free maintenance during any service visits. Or if you ever experience a fault with any of the modules, you don’t have to power down the whole system while you replace it.

Exceptional energy savings In addition to scalability, compactness, and ease of maintenance, another major benefit of modular UPS is high operational efficiency, which reduces both your day-to-day running costs and overall environmental impact.

As explained previously, the principle of modularity enables UPS power capacity to closely mirror the data centre’s actual load, eliminating the risk of wasteful oversizing.

Modular UPS are typically transformer-free too, which ensures the highest efficiency possible even in maximum protection online double conversion mode.

Our Multi Power range also incorporates a dedicated Energy Saving Mode that guarantees high efficiency (95%+) even at low loads of around 20% without compromising on reliability.

This special operating mode keeps the UPS running in online mode with the inverter powering the load, so you still get maximum protection. But the UPS’ microprocessors only activate the necessary number of power modules to support the current load. The rest are inactive with the inverter closed

and charger switched off to maximise overall efficiency.

A power module can stay in this energysaving state for up to 15 hours. After that, it swaps with one of the active modules to ensure all components age at a similar speed.

And if there’s any disruption to the mains supply, all the inactive modules immediately restart to provide maximum protection. The same happens if there’s a fault with any of the modules or there’s a sudden increase in your load.

Modular gains put into practice We’ve recently replaced a legacy UPS at a Manchester colocation, cloud, and hosting data centre with a Multi Power installation.

The original transformer-based UPS system operated at just 85% efficiency, while the new solution can achieve up to 96.5%, a significant improvement.

Due to the scalable design of the new solution, the client load level sits higher in the efficiency window and as a result will deliver energy savings of around £12,000 a year.

On a similar theme, replacing end-ofservice-life transformer-based UPS systems at a leading consumer goods supplier’s two data centres with Multi Power boosted overall UPS efficiency across both sites from 92% to 96%, cutting the customer’s electricity bills by more than £300,000 a year whilst slashing air conditioning by 72%.

Incredibly, these exceptional economic and environmental improvements required less than half the original floor space, with the upgrade to Multi Power actually resulting in a 59% per m2 reduction in footprint. Talk about doing more with less!

An eye on the future So where next for modular UPS? Everyone’s goal is to develop the most efficient UPS system as possible.

One of the likely key drivers in this ongoing evolution will be manufacturers making

Q1 2023 www.datacentrereview.com 9

SPONSORED FEATURE

greater use of silicon carbide semiconductors, which are far smaller and lighter than the silicon-based components typically used in UPS production. They also produce less heat, which in turn reduces your on-site cooling needs.

The higher efficiency of the silicon carbide components significantly reduces the energy needed to run the UPS and increases its overall performance, enabling it to achieve efficiency around 98% whilst operating in maximum protection online mode.

That’s equivalent to the efficiency ratings you only tend to see at the moment when the UPS is running in various eco or ‘economy’ modes, where any energy saving always goes hand in hand with a trade-off in reduced protection.

As the availability of silicon carbide improves, the modular UPS systems of tomorrow will be able to deliver greater capacity at a higher operating efficiency in a smaller footprint than even today’s most advanced solutions.

The official UK unveiling of Riello UPS’ latest range of modular power protection solutions will take place during Data Centre World at ExCeL London on 8-9 March. Register for free at www.datacentreworld.com. Bring the ‘golden ticket’ attached to this magazine to Stand D520 to secure your place at Riello UPS’ exclusive new product launch and networking event scheduled for the evening of day 1 of the show (Wednesday 8th March).

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Our Multi Power range also incorporates a dedicated Energy Saving Mode that guarantees high efficiency (95%+) even at low loads of around 20% without compromising on reliability

COOLING

Turning down the heat Philip Bindley, MD of Cloud and Security at Intercity, explores how firms can keep data centres at optimum temperatures without further contributing to climate change.

A

ccording to the European Digital Strategy, energy demand for data centres in Europe is set to steadily increase in the next decade in line with global temperatures.

The Met Office confirmed that 2022 was the UK’s hottest year on record, with an annual average temperature of over 10°C recorded for the first time. A recent study by the Met Office also found that human-induced climate change made the UK’s record-breaking annual temperature around 160 times more likely.

Globally, it’s estimated that data centres use 200 TWh of energy each year, or the equivalent of 1% of electricity demand worldwide, which is more than the national energy consumption of some countries, including Iran. As temperatures continue to rise, data centres around the globe will require more energy for power.

To combat growing energy consumption, the European Commission released a decade-long plan to achieve climate-neutral, highly energyefficient, and sustainable data centres by no later than 2030. As a result, energy-efficient data storage has become a priority for businesses and policymakers alike.

Data centre temperatures Most IT produces heat, which needs extracting quickly to ensure performance isn’t affected and safety risks are avoided.

Data centre temperatures are typically kept between 17 and 24°C to prevent servers from overheating and malfunctioning. The heat produced by these data centres means that facilities need to be cooled, ventilated and humidity controlled to operate within the desired temperature range and at peak efficiency.

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However, rising external temperatures are putting pressure on cooling equipment – and with the current climate regularly reaching and exceeding 30°C during summers in the UK, data centre operators will be looking for ways to keep their data centres at a sufficient temperature without contributing to climate change further.

Sustainably cooling data centres Minimising thermal gain is one of the most efficient ways of combating high temperatures. Measures include building data centres underground, where there is little sunlight, low ambient temperatures, and natural geothermal cooling.

Higher temperatures also bring higher amounts of UV rays, which can be captured through solar panels and turned into energy to power the data centre and keep temperatures cool. The combination of housing data centres underground and using solar energy to power and prevent high temperatures affecting data centres will create a modern, efficient facility that uses less power and emits less carbon.

With air conditioning increasing electricity usage and gas emissions, many operators have turned to water to ensure that data centres remain at an optimal temperature. However, water is becoming a scarce resource, with many areas of the country suffering from seasonal droughts, meaning using water to cool data centres isn’t the most sustainable of options.

The future of cooling Organisations can reduce energy use through ‘decentralised colocation’ – an emerging trend in which enterprise servers, and private and hybrid clouds, are located or hosted in third-party data centres spread across multiple locations rather than just one central point.

Moving your IT infrastructure to a regional colocation site generally means housing it in a purpose-built site designed to power and cool data servers. Colocation sites incorporate best-practice methods, including more efficient cooling systems, heat reuse, better infrastructure, and renewable energy.

This simple switch from in-house centres to an off-site location to store data can make organisations nationwide more sustainable while keeping data centres at an optimum temperature for performance.

5YearWarranty

5 year warranty as standard on all UPS models up to and including 3kVA

Reliable power for a sustainable world

COOLING

A liquid solution With air as a cooling medium reaching its limits, developments in hybrid and liquid cooling will allow providers to rise to the challenge sustainably, says Markus Gerber, Senior Business Development Manager, nVent Schroff.

T

he data infrastructure industry is facing a number of challenges in today’s digital world.

Demand for data services is growing at a phenomenal rate and yet, there has never been a greater pressure, or duty, to deliver those services as efficiently and cleanly as possible.

As every area of operation comes under greater scrutiny to meet these demands, one area in particular, cooling, has come into sharp focus. It is an area not only ripe for innovation, but where significant progress has been made that shows a way forward for a greener future.

According to some estimates, the number of internet users worldwide has more than doubled since 2010, while internet traffic has increased some 20-fold. As technologies emerge that are predicted to be the foundation of future digital economies, demand for digital services will rise not only in volume, but also sophistication and distribution.

Increasingly, the deployment of edge computing will see demand for smaller, quieter, remotely managed infrastructure. This one area alone is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16% to 2026 to a market of more than $11 billion, according to GlobalData.

This level of development brings significant challenges for energy consumption, efficiency, and architecture. The IEA already estimates that data centres and data transmission networks are responsible for nearly 1% of energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While it acknowledges that since 2010, emissions have grown modestly despite rapidly growing demand, thanks to energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy purchases by information and communications technology (ICT) companies, and broader decarbonisation of electricity grids, it also warns that to align with the net zero by 2050 target, emissions must halve by 2030.

This is a significant technical challenge. Firstly, in the last several decades of ICT advancement, Moore’s law has been an ever-present effect. It states that compute power would more or less double, with costs halving every two years or so. As transistor densities become more difficult to increase as they get into the single nanometre scale, no less a figure than the CEO of NVidia has asserted that Moore’s law is effectively dead. This means that in the short-term to meet demand, more equipment and infrastructure will have to be deployed, in greater

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density. Added to this are the recent developments from both Intel and AMD, where their high-end data centre-aimed processors will work in the 350-400W range, further exacerbating energy demand.

The impact on cooling infrastructure In this scenario of increasing demand, higher densities, larger deployments, and greater individual energy demand, cooling capacity must be ramped up too.

Air as a cooling medium was already reaching its limits, being as it is difficult to manage, imprecise, and somewhat chaotic. As rack systems become more demanding, often mixing both CPU and GPU-based equipment, individual rack demands are approaching or exceeding 30W each. Air-based systems, at large scale, also tend to demand a very high level of water consumption, for which the industry has also received criticism. One estimate equated the water usage of a mid-sized data centre as equivalent to three average-sized hospitals.

Liquid cooling technologies have developed as a way of meeting demand for both the volume and density needed for tomorrow’s data services. Studies with different liquid cooling techniques have established that they can be anything from 50 to 1,000 times more efficient than air cooling.

Liquid cooling takes many forms, but the three primary techniques are direct-to-chip, rear door heat exchangers, and immersion cooling.

Direct to chip (DtC), or direct to plate, cooling is where a metal plate sits on the chip or component, and allows liquid to circulate within enclosed chambers carrying heat away. This is a highly effective technique that is precise and easily controlled. It is often used with specialist applications, such as high-performance compute (HPC) environments.

Rear door heat exchangers, as the name suggests, are close-coupled indirect systems that circulate liquid through embedded coils to remove server heat before exhausting into the room. They have the advantage of keeping the entire room at the inlet air temperature, making hot and cold aisle cabinet configurations and air containment designs redundant, as the exhaust air cools to inlet temperature and can recirculate back to the servers. The most efficient units are passive in nature, meaning server fans move the air as necessary. They are currently regarded as limited to 20 kW to 32 kW of heat removal, though units incorporating supplemental fans can handle higher loads in the 60 kW maximum range.

Immersion technology employs a dielectric fluid that submerges equipment and carries away heat from direct contact. Whilst for many, liquid immersion cooling immediately conjures up the image of a bath brim full of servers and dielectric, precision liquid immersion cooling operates at rack chassis-level with servers and fluid in a sealed container.

This enables operators to immerse standard servers with certain minor modifications such as fan removal, as well as sealed spinning disk drives.

Solid-state equipment generally does not require modification.

A distinct advantage of the precision liquid cooling approach is that full immersion provides liquid thermal density, absorbing heat for several minutes after a power failure without the need for back-up pumps. Liquid capacity equivalent to 42U of rack space can remove up

COOLING

Though immersion techniques offer the greatest effect, hybrid cooling offers an improvement over air alone to 100 kW of heat in most climate ranges, using outdoor heat exchanger or condenser water, allowing the employment of free cooling.

In hyperscale, co-location, and edge computing scenarios, Cundall found the total cost of cooling information technology equipment (ITE) per kWh consumed in liquid versus the base case of current air cooling technology varied from 13-21% less.

In terms of emissions, Cundall states PUE and Total Power Usage Effectiveness (TUE) are lower for the liquid cooling options in all tested scenarios. Expressing the reduction in terms of kg CO2 per kW of ITE power per year, results saw more than 6% for colocation, rising to almost 40% for edge computing scenarios.

Cundall’s liquid cooling findings According to a study by engineering consultants Cundall, liquid-cooling technology consistently outperforms conventional air-cooling, in terms of both PUE and water usage effectiveness (WUE).

This, says the report, is principally due to the much higher operating temperature of the facility water system (FWS), compared to the cooling mediums used for the air-cooled solutions. In all air-cooled cases, considerable energy and water is consumed to arrive at a supply air condition that falls within the required thermal envelope. The need for this is avoided with liquid-cooling, it states. Even in tropical climates, the operating temperature of the FWS is high enough for the hybrid coolers to operate in economiser free cooling mode for much of the time, and under peak ambient conditions, sufficient capacity can be maintained by reverting to ‘wet’ evaporative cooling mode.

A further benefit, the report adds, is the reduction in rack-count and data hall area that can be achieved through higher rack power density.

There were consistent benefits found, in terms of energy efficiency and consumption, water usage and space reduction, in multiple liquid cooling scenarios, as well as OpEx and CapEx benefits.

What does the future hold for liquid cooling?

Combinations of liquid and air cooling techniques, in hybrid implementations, will be vital in providing a transition, especially for legacy instances, to the kind of efficiency and emission-conscious cooling needs of current and future facilities. Though immersion techniques offer the greatest effect, hybrid cooling offers an improvement over air alone, with OpEx, performance and management advantages.

Even as the data infrastructure industry institutes initiatives to better understand, manage and report sustainability efforts, such as the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, the Open Compute Project, and 24/7 Carbonfree Energy Compact, more can and must be done to make every aspect of implementation and operation sustainable.

Developments in liquid cooling technologies are a significant step forward that will enable operators and service providers to meet demand, while ensuring that sustainability obligations and goals can be met.

Initially hybrid solutions will facilitate legacy operators to make the transition to more efficient and effective systems, while more advanced technologies will ensure new facilities are more efficient, even as capacity is built out to meet rising demand.

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UPS & STANDBY POWER

Take Control How can data centres better manage their energy consumption during the current energy crisis? Louis McGarry, Sales & Marketing Director at Centiel UK, weighs in.

very business is feeling the pinch of increased electricity costs. The recently announced Energy Business Discount Scheme (EBDS), set to replace the current Energy Business Relief Scheme (EBRS) which runs to the end of March 2023, may not have sufficient positive impact to address the growing concern for businesses across the UK. Data centres using technical equipment such as UPS, which require significant amounts of electricity to run, now seriously need to consider how they can control consumption, and therefore costs, better.

E

Calculate and monitor losses Firstly consider inefficient systems. The main culprits are air conditioning, lighting and UPS solutions. Even the most modern, efficient UPS will produce a 2.5-3% loss, flat lining across a load range, consistently. At 20p/kWh, a 1 MW system is likely to cost in excess of £50,000 (at full load) to run per year in electricity alone. This is using the very latest technology. Imagine an inefficient legacy system which is undersized, perhaps incurring up to 20% losses. It’s important to be aware of, and to monitor, losses in this objective way and work out where savings can be made.

Will replacement help?

A review of existing UPS equipment is useful. We find that replacement of inefficient legacy UPS will usually pay for itself in five years and in some situations as little as 2.5 years. This is based on current electricity prices, and these are set to continue to rise.

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When evaluating a new UPS purchase, taking time to select the best technology which is the most efficient is also key. Buying the cheapest – which will definitely not be the most efficient – will not provide the best outcome over the long term.

But there are easy things that can be addressed quickly. For example, Feng Shui the space! It doesn’t cost much to install a stud wall to separate heat sources from equipment that needs environmental control, immediately saving energy. Similarly, evidence shows that running a data centre slightly hotter is more efficient and it saves on air conditioning too. Consideration could be given to using Li-ion batteries which can run optimally at much higher temperatures.

Right sizing One of the most effective ways to reduce power consumption is to right size the UPS. Appreciating that the load profile will change over the next five to 10 years means selecting a solution which can react and maintain the efficiency of its sweet spot.

When we review and assess a new site to help data centre clients achieve optimal performance of their UPS systems, it is common to see UPS oversized and underutilised. Generally, this relates to large standalone systems, but it can also occur with modular systems too.

Regardless of the topology, if a system isn’t designed based on actual load, organisations are likely to be paying more than they need for running costs, not to mention maintenance contracts and remedials.

If a UPS system is oversized, it doesn’t automatically mean it has to be replaced; there are other things that can be done to hit the sweet spot of

UPS & STANDBY POWER

The key to maximising efficiency within data centres over the long term is increased customer understanding of their UPS solution

efficiency. For example: there may be multiple UPS supporting a much smaller load than initially intended – switching off the UPS that are not required will have a positive effect on efficiency. As long as the required resilience level is maintained, there is no issue with this approach.

Maximising modes Some UPS will offer an economy (eco) mode. In the right circumstances, switching to eco mode can increase the efficiency to 99% – even on the most efficient technology that can reduce losses by 2%. With legacy systems with efficiencies as low as 85%, the savings would be much greater. Again, there is no risk with this approach: if the mains goes out of tolerance, the transfer back to the inverter is instantaneous and seamless. This is a good option for data centres with a minimum resilience level of N+N. A true modular UPS designed with intelligent technology that uses as many modules as needed to match the load demand is an option for data centres looking to maximise efficiency with a new solution. A UPS with Maximum Efficiency Management (MEM) mode will look for the most optimised energy efficient point of the overall system and use activesleep modules to ensure it is always operating at its maximum efficiency, automatically. As the load decreases modules hibernate, and when the load increases the modules become instantly available, maintaining the required resilience.

Battery management I believe the new frontier of battery management will be achieved

through peak shaving. This means at peak times reducing the amount of power taken from the grid and combining this with some battery energy to deliver the load at peak times. Batteries can be re-charged during off-peak times. Because this approach requires many battery cycles, Li-ion batteries are better suited than traditional VRLA units which have limited cycling ability.

Active UPS management There are numerous ways to make an immediate impact on reducing power usage. However, the key to maximising efficiency within data centres over the long term is increased customer understanding of their UPS solution. Understanding load profiles and the UPS’ data means live real-time information can be used to make tweaks and changes to optimise efficiency. We encourage our customers to get involved in the training we offer so they can react quicker to any changes and take ownership and more control of running costs.

UPS manufacturers can also help by working with data centres to assist them in planning how to maximise efficiency. The information is readily available about the true performance of any UPS and experienced manufacturers can use this to help clients to optimise their UPS systems.

It also costs nothing to have a full review of existing technology and to make the appropriate calculations to see what improvements can be made. Our experienced team at Centiel offers clients access and assists them to understand the data so they can make informed decisions to help control consumption costs over the long term.

Q1 2023 www.datacentrereview.com 17

UPS & STANDBY POWER

Battery operated Dr Alex Mardapittas, CEO and Founder of Powerstar, looks at the growing need for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and considers the case for investment in technology that offers sitewide protection against power disruption.

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usiness-critical issues of disrupted power supply, coupled with ever-increasing energy costs, require long-term strategic investment as well as short-term management.

Since data centres were not included in the Government’s latest Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (ETII) scheme, times are, arguably, even tougher for this sector.

The current energy crisis is not a one-off, and the transition to renewables involves seismic shifts in the way we produce and distribute energy. Tight supply margins, coupled with the inflexibility of renewable power generation as we move further to net zero, increase the potential for disruption to the National Grid and to energy supply across the UK – with data centres left particularly vulnerable. The shift to greener energy production and usage will only continue to exacerbate this, with the

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Climate Change Committee predicting a 50% rise in electricity demand by 2035.

Traditionally, an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) has been an effective solution to protect specific critical pieces of equipment and vital data in the event of power disruption, so long as the UPS is properly maintained. However, this option is becoming increasingly untenable given the costs involved – both the financial cost of wasted energy and the negative impact this wastage has for sustainability targets.

Most of the time, a UPS will be sitting idle yet still consuming significant amounts of energy as it switches constantly between AC and DC, leading to a capacity loss of between 10 and 15%. Many businesses are replacing outdated UPS with modern BESS technology, which has far lower losses of only around 1%. At the heart of a smart microgrid, a BESS offers site-wide security in the event of power disruption, while offering additional commercial benefits to help offset energy price rises.

A solution in practice It was in this context – the need for a secure and reliable power source in the event of disruption to grid supply and tighter budgetary constraints – that South Staffordshire Council approached Powerstar to advise on an alternative to their existing UPS. Like most public sector organisations and data centres across all industries, councils hold and maintain large amounts of personal and sensitive information, meaning that security of energy supply is critical for day-to-day business operations and given the legal and reputational imperatives.

In addition to protection of data, the council wanted to maximise the ROI on their on-site 100 kW solar array, requiring the capacity to both store renewable energy generated and to have the facility to sell

UPS & STANDBY POWER

this energy to the grid. Given these demands, Powerstar recommended replacing the outdated UPS with BESS technology.

For South Staffordshire, Powerstar installed a 250 kW BESS which provides full, site-wide UPS while also enabling the council to store excess solar power for use when needed, maximising its output, and enabling the council to export energy at the most beneficial time.

Management of this export is critical, to avoid a scenario where agreed export capacity could be exceeded, thereby eliminating the risk of penalties from the grid. In terms of the most critical aspect of the BESS – the ability to protect energy supply during disruption – the new system protected the council’s site from five blackouts last year alone and provided sitewide resilience for 2.5 hours at peak load. In one such outage, a drop in voltage to 0 occurred, during a transient power cut for a duration of around three minutes. The full load for the site was supported during this incident, preventing any loss of power, and keeping all electrical equipment, including IT systems and servers, running as normal. This security of supply meant that the council could lose its carbon-intensive backup generator, removing an energy-intensive and now redundant asset.

In the current energy crisis and given the lack of financial support for data centres as a standalone sector, the capability to generate new revenue while maintaining control over energy demand presents a compelling case for the switch to BESS technology. For South Staffordshire Council, this has meant the ability to store their solar energy. For a sector as energy intensive as data centres, generally, the flexibility of BESS – which can draw electricity down from the grid rapidly when prices are low and release it back when overall demand is high – can allow companies to capitalise on revenue potential while helping to balance the country’s power supply.

Generating revenue With renewable energy growing as an overall percentage of supply, the grid faces more intense pressure in managing increasingly distributed power generation and in balancing supply against demand. While Demand Side Response (DSR) is well-known as a means to both generate revenue and to help balance grid supply through releasing surplus energy when required, the most lucrative option – Firm Frequency Response (FFR) – can prove challenging for businesses looking to engage with grid balancing. And this is where BESS comes into its own.

To qualify for FFR, with its real-time imperative, companies must be able to respond to frequency changes within a maximum of 30 seconds and need to successfully complete a pre-qualification assessment and sign a framework agreement prior to tendering for the National Grid’s monthly contracts.

A successful tender allows the grid to call upon these pre-approved assets to either reduce demand or to increase power generation when needed to maintain grid frequency and help avoid outages. Of the two types of FFR – static and dynamic – the dynamic option offers the highest revenue potential to contracted companies, but companies engaged in FFR receive payment for the availability of their assets even if they are never called upon for standby grid balancing.

While static FFR requires participants to reduce consumption for half an hour should there be a significant drop in frequency, dynamic FFR manages much smaller variations and responses need to begin within a couple of seconds, with participants either reducing or increasing

Inside a BESS

The most pressing reason to invest in BESS is the businesscritical demand for security of power supply, coupled with the need for flexible, efficient, and cost-effective management of energy budgets consumption from a few seconds up to several minutes, depending on the grid’s requirements. In this scenario, the instantaneous nature of BESS technology makes it an ideal asset for dynamic FFR. While revenue generated from balancing services may no longer be sufficient as the primary justification for investment in BESS, the nature of payments for participation can help businesses to forecast new revenue, as they are usually split into two components: an Availability Fee, based on the number of hours a provider is available, whether needed or not – and thus a fixed and known income – and a Nomination Fee, which is a separate payment calculated on actual asset usage.

That said, and as the current economic and geopolitical climate demonstrates, the most pressing reason to invest in BESS is the businesscritical demand for security of power supply, coupled with the need for flexible, efficient, and cost-effective management of energy budgets.

In the context of the energy trilemma – affordable, sustainable, and reliable power – Battery Energy Storage Systems represent a sensible investment for most sectors and, arguably, can be seen as critical assets in a data-driven, energy-intensive environment.

Q1 2023 www.datacentrereview.com 19

TELECOMS & 5G

Customer insight Fawad Qureshi, Industry Field CTO at Snowflake, explores why the future of the telco industry will be built on customer data.

F

or telecoms companies, customer data is, quite rightly, a precious resource which must be kept safe. The requirements of privacy regulations such as GDPR include strict controls over how customer data is stored and used. All too often, customer data is not only locked down within the organisation, but also within the individual department where it is handled. This siloed data remains unused, meaning that telcos miss out on crucial opportunities to improve end-user experiences and drive increased revenues by sharing data anonymously.

For telecoms companies, their data is their most unique asset.

Unlocking the value of this data requires sharing and collaborating with partners. This will enable telcos to unlock and monetise new business streams, along with related applications and newly developed data. With telcos currently dealing with enormous network complexity, freeing data from silos and unlocking its value can also help with network roll-out, cost optimisation and predictive and preventative maintenance.

Across many industries, telcos work as a central nervous system, connecting organisations together wirelessly – but due to fears over data privacy, organisations are left unable to ‘connect the dots’ and derive the benefit of managing, analysing and collecting data. This is where data clean rooms play an integral role.

Can data clean rooms offer an answer?

Around the world, multiple industries rely on telecom companies as the backbone of their operations. In retail, point-of-sale machines run through a telecoms company network, and in transport, the scheduling of commuter buses and trains relies on the very same technology. Yet, despite the importance of telco for society and in connecting industries, network operators are not yet fully embracing the value of the data they have at their fingertips.

Data privacy and increased regulations have prevented telcos from connecting and sharing their data with other organisations due to fears around leaking personally identifiable information (PII). However, data clean room technology is fast emerging to help companies effortlessly share data both internally and with third-parties in a secure and governed environment. Data clean rooms prevent specific identifiable information from showing to other companies when sharing data through a clean room. PII is protected, processed, and managed in a compliant way. This means that companies, or divisions of a single

20 www.datacentrereview.com Q1 2023

company, are empowered to bring data together for joint analysis under defined guidelines and restrictions.

In retail, for example, telecoms companies can collaborate with retailers confidently and safely through a data clean room using governed analytics. This typically revolves on the user’s cellular number, which can help the telco and the retailer access valuable data such as location details, shopping baskets and product purchases. By tapping into this data, retailers can focus on improving personalisation services for their customers and also in-store and virtual experiences.

Building better connections with data Being able to understand individual usage of a network can help networks improve their services more broadly, as seen in the success of increased next-gen network roll-outs. These networks are the first of their kind to effectively ‘slice’ the network, providing different service level agreements to consumers. When you know who is accessing services and what they are doing on the network you can prioritise value over utilisation to deliver the best service for them at that given moment.

Yet, the inability to tap into customer data is preventing many network providers from taking advantage of this. By better understanding network data, telcos can decommission legacy networks, which can be more expensive to maintain, with faster connection and download speeds of 5G networks.

Engaging with the potential of data unlocks new technological horizons for telcos. Moving forward, telcos will be able to capitalise on digital twins, a visualisation tool showing what is happening on the whole network in the real world. Overlaying this with useful data, such as mobility data and customer experience, will allow networks to increase customer satisfaction and improve loyalty by focusing on customer demands and personalising experiences to meet their needs. Over time, this data-driven focus on customer experience can drive an increase in profitability.

Achieving this is the first step in the journey from being a telco to being a data-driven ‘TechCo’ – and the key to this is taking control of data and unlocking its value. Doing so is not a luxury, or an experiment: it’s essential for any forward-thinking organisation in this space.

Telcos that engage with their data and spread their wings as fullyfledged ‘TechCos’ will gain a crucial competitive advantage over their competitors - and will build on that in the coming years.

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TELECOMS & 5G

Who’s paying for 5G?

With demand for 5G connectivity skyrocketing, Neil Pound, Senior Director of Marketing, EMEA & CALA at Juniper Networks, explores who is responsible for infrastructure funding.

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n the current climate of skyrocketing inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, European telecoms companies are under serious pressure to generate profit. As executives face rising costs and falling profits, governments and companies are making bold statements around the rollout of 5G and the technological advancements this will bring. In recent months, there has been talk of using 5G in stadiums to allow sports fans to have more interactive experiences and the EU has now changed regulations to allow 5G to be used on flights.

However, for these advancements to make a real difference, 5G must be available on a much wider scale. The need for better connectivity is also being driven by a growing appetite for social media; users are spending an average of 147 minutes a day on apps such as TikTok, Twitter and Instagram. In 2022, it was reported that over 50% of all global internet usage was dedicated to just six Silicon Valley companies.

These conditions have brought a decade-long debate around infrastructure funding to a head. European telecom companies are currently looking to major Silicon Valley tech companies for funding for 5G network infrastructure. As Big Tech firms are expected to receive the greatest commercial benefit from improved connectivity across the board, telcos argue that they should make a ‘fair’ financial contribution.

Working together If a collaboration between telcos and tech giants were to happen, it would fundamentally alter the industry dynamic and provide much-needed capital to upgrade network infrastructure in line with government targets and consumer demand. These market shifts could bring lucrative opportunities for younger, less established telecoms providers looking to expand into a greater number of markets.

However, this collaboration would come at the expense of service providers’ autonomy. Partnerships would also inevitably lead to

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discussions on leadership, profitability and accountability. In almost every way, Big Tech firms are fundamentally different with their global reach and innovation to European telecoms companies, which are often country-specific and more traditionally run.

To bring about the maximum investment from Big Tech firms, national telecoms providers should begin by collaborating with one another to create a bigger platform with a louder voice. If Silicon Valley invested in European service providers, they would gain the hyper-local remit of these brands while maintaining their global dominance. This would potentially foster trust in Big Tech firms and lead to improved services for consumers.

However, Silicon Valley partnerships would also require service providers to run all decisions past their stakeholders and other partners.

Even though Big Tech partnerships would likely complicate the approach of European telcos, in the longer term, business potential and returns would be worthwhile.

Going forward, the issues between the two sides won’t be resolved immediately and will probably need to involve a trial-and-error approach to find a solution that works for everyone, both in the short and long term. The beginning of these partnerships will likely appear this year but are unlikely to be fully settled until the end of 2025. Although the partnerships will not be straightforward, with regulations to ensure market security, there could be an opportunity for shared success in the coming months and years.

Improved services In terms of users, strategic shifts could lead to a more efficient 5G rollout and improved connectivity. Only when infrastructure is improved are consumers likely to see a difference in their daily lives through more connected public services and businesses. As changes implemented with Big Tech will be international, this would guarantee more consistent services, no matter what region a user is operating in.

In addition, if service providers manage to acquire the levels of capital they are aiming for, these companies will have significantly greater funds to provide better services and maintenance in the future.

As it stands, European telecoms providers claim they spend €50 billion on the maintenance and rollout of new services. With data requirements growing exponentially as the world becomes more digitalised, 5G offers the next stage in connectivity to improve user experience.

Beyond the consumer impact, this would also lead to greater business innovation, more accessible public services, and better social connectivity – and these changes would lead to greater public welfare overall.

Optimising

back-up

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through the right battery selection

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For enquires please contact LEOCH BATTERY UK LTD. By phone on 01858 433 330, email us at sales.uk@leoch.com or visit our website www.leochbattery.co.uk

TELECOMS & 5G

The next frontier Darren Parkes, Country Practice Leader at Kyndryl, explores what’s next for private 5G networks.

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ireless networks are no longer just operational technology. Today, these networks have the ability to accelerate digital transformation, pushing organisations beyond traditional connectivity and into the next generation.

Many forward-thinking enterprises are exploring how private 5G wireless networks can create more value for their organisation.

These networks offer real-time data analytics, greater control and independence from telecom providers, enhanced security, boosted worker safety and productivity, as well as acting as a conduit for data that enables AI, ML and other technological innovations.

Private 5G networks also eliminate concerns over bandwidth and network coverage, as their network isn’t shared with tens of thousands of other subscribers. And usage is growing rapidly, with the global private cellular network market predicted to expand from $1.83 billion in 2021 to $6.32 billion by 2026.

The power of 5G for Industry 4.0 and retail As it stands today, mission-critical sectors like the manufacturing, petrol, gas and energy industries have been the most successful in deploying private 5G networks. The manufacturing sector accounts for around a third of all 5G and private network deployments.

In these industrial spaces, highly secure and private networks enable connected and automated operations, which enhances process efficiencies and cost savings. Private networks also help eliminate connectivity black spots, providing a strong and stable signal within sites that are difficult to reach with traditional networking infrastructure.

While the manufacturing industry has been leading the pack so far, 2023 will see private 5G networks tested and used across a number of other industries, with the retail sector taking the lead. After the Covid-19 pandemic forced the retail industry to digitally transform and meet evolving consumer needs, private wireless and edge will be the key to unlocking the next generation of shopping.

By utilising these private 5G networks, retailers will have access to quality real-time data, enabling them to quickly respond to shifts in customer behaviour, adjust to competitive challenges, carry out predictive maintenance and optimise the supply chain. All these advancements ultimately lead to a richer and more personalised experience for customers, as well as a streamlined employee experience.

Looking beyond retail Other industries are also now positioned to adopt private wireless and edge networks, including transportation, logistics, finance and healthcare – all sectors which, despite traditionally being late technology adopters, have a keen focus on increasing productivity and cutting business costs.

One such example in the transportation industry is Dallas Love Field Airport, which kicked off a test base for a 5G private network in 2021. Acting as its own ‘smart city’, the test base has since expanded to encompass the entire airport, with the technology department

24 www.datacentrereview.com Q1 2023

TELECOMS & 5G

considering additional 5G implementations within cameras, lighting, smart vehicles, and IoT devices.

Facing mounting budgetary pressures, healthcare services in the UK are also looking for ways to efficiently transfer data across departments in real-time. Bethlem Royal Hospital in Beckenham became the first hospital in the UK to trial the use of a private 5G network in 2022, aiming to improve the monitoring of pharmaceuticals and the speed of staff communications. A private 5G network provides superior connectivity over legacy Wi-Fi networks, which will lead to quicker response times and test result transmissions.

In addition, private 5G networks allow for the safer transfer of confidential patient information between staff, helping healthcare providers to meet compliance requirements like HIPAA in the US and GDPR in the UK. Private wireless network adoption Despite the benefits that private networks provide, business leaders can be reluctant when it comes to adoption, with many believing that it requires a complete digital infrastructure overhaul. To navigate this network integration process, as well as the protection of company and customer data, enterprises need to be open to interweaving technologies to ensure that their unique needs and priorities are met.

When it comes to connectivity, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, so it’s essential to select a partner with unparalleled expertise that can fill any knowledge gaps and help build the most beneficial and personalised solution.

A private 5G network provides superior connectivity over legacy Wi-Fi networks, which will lead to quicker response times and test result transmissions To fully capture the capabilities of connectivity, such as Industrial IoT (IIoT), machine learning, and AI, cloud networking is often implemented alongside private wireless networks. With a great deal of companies now virtualising network infrastructure and providing it as a service to enterprises, the need for a solid direct-to-enterprise channel is becoming more prevalent. Demand to integrate the connectivity with managed services is therefore set to increase over the next 12 months, and enterprises will need the right assistance to manage these multinetworks efficiently.

We’re only just beginning to see the benefits that private 5G networks will enable across all industries – lower total cost of ownership, advanced security and authentication methods, robotics, connected cameras, automation, and, perhaps most crucially, a lower carbon footprint. And while private 5G networks may be just a building block of the future of connectivity, 2023 will see countless enterprises and industries take this vital first step.

Q1 2023 www.datacentrereview.com 25

TELECOMS & 5G

A higher power Henrik Nilen, Director, Global DC Power Offering at Vertiv, discusses harnessing the power of High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) and why this technology is crucial for 5G networks and data centre reliability.

A

s 5G networks continue to expand and become increasingly essential for modern businesses and industries, the need for reliable and efficient power solutions also grows. And, with this pressing challenge, High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology is emerging as a key solution, offering a range of advantages for effectively powering critical infrastructure.

The global market for HVDC systems had a market size of around

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8.85 billion USD in 2020 and is expected to reach 17.23 billion USD by 2027, registering a CAGR of more than 8.68% during 2022 to 2027.

So, what are the specific benefits that HVDC technology offers for 5G networks – and more broadly for the data centre industry? Why is it becoming a crucial solution for data centre reliability and 5G network operations?

Increasing capacity and freeing up space HVDC technology has many advantages that make it a suitable choice for powering both parts of the 5G network and the data centres that support them.

Most pressingly, by using HVDC systems, telcos can free up valuable floor space for the necessary equipment to support the growing 5G infrastructure and meet the increased demand for data and communication capabilities.

When discussing the benefits of HVDC technology, it’s important to note that one of its key advantages is its ability to transmit power at higher voltage than 48V DC. This allows for more power to be transmitted over the same distance using much smaller cables.

TELECOMS & 5G

savings and more configuration flexibility whilst guaranteeing minimal losses. All this also means that telco operators can have more flexibility if they need to plan for future expansion and growth.

The implementation of HVDC technology at large sites saves space and enables much higher power capacity. Hence it offers the key benefit of increased computing capacity. This is particularly important for telco core sites and edge locations that support the data needs of 5G networks.

Ultimately, by pushing more communications capacity through the same physical space, with HVDC, telco providers are in a better position to accelerate high speed connectivity and increase capacity on behalf of customers.

Fewer interruptions and reduced CO2 emissions Another advantage of HVDC technology is that it is less susceptible to power interruptions and outages than many UPS systems that are normally used to power data centres. This is because the HVDC system has fewer conversion stages and the battery is always connected directly to the load, so the battery is always available to support the load in case of any power interruption, which increases overall system availability.

Additionally, with few conversion stages, HVDC technology minimises inefficiency and losses.

HVDC already supports some providers’ ongoing pursuit of reducing energy consumption. For example, one telco organisation reports that whilst its legacy DC distribution equipment had peak efficiency levels of around 90%, new installations, including HVDC equipment, operate at up to 98% efficiency, drastically reducing the kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy being consumed and lowering CO2 emissions.

By using HVDC systems, telcos can free up valuable floor space for the necessary equipment to support the growing 5G infrastructure For example, in a large core telecom site, legacy -48V DC systems have been traditionally used – for reasons of safety, durability (lack of cathodic corrosion), fault tracing, and easy battery integration. However, these systems (sometimes several systems) need to be placed relatively close to the communication equipment and still require large, bulky cables that take up a significant amount of floor space.

With HVDC technology, it’s possible to implement backup solutions, which allow for the movement of batteries and power systems to more remote locations such as basements, freeing up a significant amount of ‘white space’ for servers and transmission gear. Thinner, longer copper cables used for HVDC then replace bulky -48V cables, providing cost

Powering the race for 5G According to Brian Partridge, Research VP, 451 Research, “5G represents the most impactful and difficult network upgrade ever faced by the telecom industry.” And naturally, operators are investing heavily in their 5G networks and infrastructure – both in terms of equipment and capacity – to meet these challenges.

As 5G technology continues to grow, so does the need for more and larger radio and edge sites. This increase in the number of access points requires additional equipment to support the increased amount of data.

Utilising HVDC systems in large sites will help to meet the increased demand for data and communication capabilities required by the growing number of 5G sites.

And importantly, HVDC allows for the integration of renewable energy sources – most often solar – and the ability to feed power from different sources into a common grid. This enables operators to make the best use of available resources and increase the penetration of renewable energy.

A bright future So, it is evident that High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology is a powerful solution for supplying power to both 5G networks and the data centres that support them.

HVDC technology is well-suited to support the power and computing equipment needed at core sites and data centres. This technology is particularly useful for large sites, but its application can also be beneficial for all types of sites in order to support the expanding 5G infrastructure.

Utilising HVDC systems can help meet the increased demands of 5G networks and ensure smooth operation of data centres.

Q1 2023 www.datacentrereview.com 27

CLOUD COMPUTING

Collaboration is key Terry Storrar, Managing Director of Leaseweb UK, explores what savvy IT decision makers really want when it comes to their IT infrastructure.

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n recent years, the ability to deploy almost anything to a hyperscale public cloud environment has perpetuated perceptions that this has become the go-to approach for IT professionals. While the unlimited scalability and ondemand compute resources offered by suppliers like AWS, Azure and Google undoubtedly hold a strong appeal for enterprises large and small, recent research findings highlight how public cloud is not always all it’s hyped up to be for every business model or need.

Indeed, the experiences and concerns reported by UK-based IT professionals in relation to their dealings with public cloud providers over the last two years raises some serious questions about the role of public cloud in the longer term. Plus, in light of Ofcom’s recent announcement that it will be investigating the dominance of Amazon, Microsoft and Google in the UK cloud services market, clouds appear to be gathering on the horizon for the hyperscalers.

With everything to play for, getting a grip on what’s driving today’s IT movers and shakers when it comes to IT infrastructure decisions will

I

CLOUD COMPUTING

prove crucial for data centre operators and co-location providers looking to ride an upcoming wave of opportunity.

A question of trust While today’s businesses are increasingly reliant on cloud platforms and services, many IT leaders confirm that public cloud platforms aren’t proving to be the universal panacea they were anticipating.

So much so that a recent Leaseweb study exploring the experiences of 500 UK-based professionals with public cloud providers found that over half (55%) now trust public cloud services less than they did two years ago.

A number of key operational issues have contributed to this erosion of trust. In particular, leaders at UK firms report having encountered challenges when it comes to effectively controlling costs, with 49% stating it’s been difficult to understand their organisation’s true public cloud usage costs. Similarly, 57% report finding it hard to migrate workloads out of a public cloud environment, with infrastructure managers (78%) in particular finding this a challenging proposition – an issue that is making it difficult to transition to other cloud services or protect the business from the costly consequences of vendor lock-in.

Meanwhile, a fifth (21%) of organisations forced to migrate to the cloud in the last two years say they encountered unexpected costs while doing so. As a consequence, 54% believe they lack the agile infrastructure that will be needed to cope with whatever the future throws at them.

Finally, almost half (49%) of the organisations surveyed struggled to get hold of a cloud provider’s customer services team, with smaller organisations in particular facing an uphill battle on this front. Clearly, only customers with the biggest budgets get to benefit from help from hyperscalers when they need it.

Is ‘cloud only’ the new normal?

While cloud now represents a key component of many IT infrastructure strategies, the study’s findings reveal how ‘cloud only’ or ‘cloud first’ isn’t necessarily the dominant approach among all companies right now.

Instead, organisations appear to be taking a more nuanced approach when it comes to evaluating and implementing cloud technologies.

Pre-pandemic, a cloud-first approach proved the top ranked option of choice for 36% of UK organisations, followed by 26% of organisations voicing a preference for using private cloud while 19% were committed to a cloud-only approach.

But fast forward to 2022 and the appetite for ‘cloud first’ has fallen back to 31%, while cloud only is proving the top choice for 25% of organisations – typically those with less than 500 personnel.

Highlighting a largely static investment in cloud infrastructure since 2019, these figures underscore how organisations are increasingly intent on choosing the right infrastructure for specific applications and use cases. A decision motivated in part by concerns about connectivity or latency restrictions, as well as data sovereignty or sensitivity issues.

In addition to organisations becoming increasingly savvy about

Clearly, only customers

with the biggest budgets get to benefit from help from hyperscalers when they need it

whether hyperscalers are the right option for every operational scenario, it’s also clear on-premises legacy infrastructure remains an important component of the IT strategy for many UK organisations.

One size doesn’t fit all – the case for hybrid Despite the widespread industry narrative that on-premises is giving way to cloud, right now it continues to play an important role for the majority of UK businesses that are looking to springboard a hybrid cloud approach that enables them to take advantage of the best of both worlds.

When asked what they thought would be the optimum IT infrastructure for their organisation, the top choices as ranked by IT professionals was private cloud only (23%) and a mixture of on-premises and public cloud (20%), followed by public cloud only (17%) and a mixture of on-premises and private cloud (14%). Just a small number (8%) felt that a combination of all three options – public cloud, private cloud and on-premises – represented the optimum mix. Clearly, there is no ‘one size fits all’ template for organisations that are investing in infrastructure today or into the near future.

As enterprises become increasingly adept at determining how best to achieve their business goals, 2023 is set to be the year in which customers plump for a hybrid cloud strategy that enables them to customise infrastructure, services and applications in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Examining the opportunities Despite the seemingly all-pervasive growth of big cloud providers like AWS, Azure and Google, the changing attitudes of IT decision makers with regard to hyperscalers highlights a growing opportunity for providers that can offer the know-how, networking capabilities and ultra-personalised support today’s organisations are looking for.

To make the most of this opening, suppliers will need to work cooperatively and in tandem. Because while hyperscalers still have a lot to offer, their services will form part of a wider solution that’s specifically tailored to the needs of each and every customer.

As UK organisations look for trusted partners that can deliver access to data centres in top locations alongside expertise in procuring or assembling the cloud resources they need, suppliers will need to consider how best to meet – and keep – this ballooning demand.

Clearly, maintaining transparency and clarity on pricing models will be key to ensure that decision-makers, already burnt by their experiences with hyperscalers on this front, aren’t tempted to jump ship once again.

Similarly, rather than trying to sweep up all of a potential customer’s estate or workloads, providers will need to provide honest and unbiased guidance on the best route forward for each and every client.

Finally, to deliver the optimised performance and usage costs that IT decision makers need, service providers will need to implement highly consolidated and converged infrastructure solutions to underpin the delivery of highly efficient cloud platforms. As the energy and climate change crises continue to bite, shifting to 100% renewables will surely be the way forward.

With Gartner predicting that by 2025, 85% of infrastructure strategies will integrate on-premises, colocation, cloud and edge delivery options, compared to just 20% in 2020, service providers that work within a co-operative ecosystem will be best placed to secure their place in an increasingly hybrid future.

Q1 2023 www.datacentrereview.com 29

CLOUD COMPUTING

Staying secure Massimo Bandinelli, Enterprise Marketing Manager at Aruba, gives his expert opinion on commonly asked cloud security questions and shares his tips for a successful and secure cloud migration journey.

t’s no secret that the pandemic launched most industries into a period of rapid technological change, and now digital transformation is at the top of the business agenda for most. However, this transition into a digital-first approach has inevitably come with an array of new threats to security.

According to a survey by IDC, 98% of all companies experienced at least one cloud data breach in 2020 and the first half of 2021. In other words, when it comes to cloud security, the stakes are high.

As companies navigate the new norms of a hybrid work environment, with cloud-based breaches on the rise, planning their security posture every step of the way will become crucial.

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1) What are the main threats to cloud security today?

The ultimate security threat to the cloud are malicious cyberattacks – where hackers try to hijack a computer network or system, usually for the purpose of stealing, destroying or exposing information. Many tactics can be used to prevent this, such as strengthening password security, for example. To work out the best security practices to implement, it’s all about identifying weaknesses in our systems and then figuring out how to plug the gaps.

Cloud-based resources will most often be located outside of the corporate network and run-on infrastructure that is not owned or controlled by the company. As a result, many conventional methods for attaining network visibility are not effective for cloud systems, and some organisations lack security solutions that are specifically geared toward cloud environments. This may make it more difficult for an organisation to monitor and defend against attacks on its cloud-based resources.

In fact, a study by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) reported that 79% of businesses are experiencing widening visibility gaps in their cloud infrastructure.

Last but not least, malware – injections of software designed to harm or take down computers – is another one of the most frequent threats

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that computer users encounter. If a malicious file is downloaded to your local device, there’s a direct route from there to your business’ cloud, where it can access, infect, and encrypt company data.

2) What are the most effective digital measures to protect an organisation’s data?

Data breaches can cost thousands in lost revenue and customer trust.

One precaution to prevent this is to encrypt all sensitive data before sharing or storing it in the cloud. Encryption software automatically converts data into an unreadable format before being either transported or stored in the cloud, making it one of the most effective forms of security. With encrypted data, even if hackers manage to obtain access to the data, it remains incomprehensible. As a result, it becomes a far less desirable target for cyberattacks.

A perfect example of a time to use encryption is when using a hybrid cloud offering where data is often transported across different systems and environments – in this instance, data is particularly susceptible to hackers.

Secondly, businesses can strengthen the security of their cloud infrastructure by using an end-to-end identity and access management (IAM) system. One of the most obvious causes of a data breach is poor password hygiene, and so companies should look to options like multifactor authentication. With the advanced verification involved in this solution, it is harder for hackers to access data, since physical access to devices, email accounts, and one-time codes is also required.

Whilst there is no one-sizefits-all method, the first step is taking a holistic look at your cloud security

CLOUD COMPUTING

As well as this, another consideration to make is who exactly needs access to the company’s database. High-level rights are not required for every employee, and administrators should be limited to a small number of users to minimise unnecessary security risks.

Another way to safeguard your systems from security threats, such as malware for example, is through patching. Fortunately, consistently keeping your programmes up-to-date with the most recent security updates is a simple task. Knowing who is accountable for this process (you or the public cloud provider) is the next challenge. You’ll need to ensure that both sides understand who is responsible for patching, so that any gaps in security can be filled right away and no openings are left for malicious actors to exploit.

3) Are physical security measures still as crucial in this increasingly digital age?

In short, absolutely. Whilst companies have been ramping up their cybersecurity measures, they certainly shouldn’t forget about the role that physical security plays. Data breaches do occur outside of cyberattacks and data centres that house and transmit large quantities of sensitive data for businesses across the country can be prime targets.

One of the ways that data centres can maximise physical security is by maintaining perimeter security. Malicious actors are expanding their already formidable toolkit by introducing new physical attack channels.

This includes the actual transmission of ransomware, in which hackers break into data centres using stealth or trickery and inject malware that can remain unnoticed until activated.

In particular, organisations with on-premise facilities that might not otherwise implement the same level of security as, say, a Tier IV data centre would operate, need to remain vigilant and implement a variety of perimeter security measures to protect data centres.

These measures can include a combination of advanced access control systems that need biometric authentication from personnel, with CCTV,

anti-intrusion sensors, and bollards. Whilst this might sound like extreme measures, they’re becoming common steps that reputable data centre providers are taking towards better security.

4) How can companies ensure they’ve got a good security strategy in place, including mitigating the effects of an attack once it has occurred?

Clearly, there are a lot of factors to consider. Whilst cloud does come with numerous benefits such as agility and scalability, it can also expose vulnerabilities for businesses that lack the internal knowledge and skillset to understand cloud security challenges. Failure to effectively plan and prepare can manifest itself in misunderstanding the shared security duties of the cloud provider and user, and therefore leading to exploitation of unintentional security gaps.

What’s more, most traditional data centre security models are not suitable for the cloud, so IT teams will need to figure out new strategies and skills specifically tailored to cloud computing. Whilst there is no one-size-fits-all method, the first step is taking a holistic look at your cloud security. Once you’ve got a common-sense strategy in place and the right partners on-board, I guarantee it won’t seem so tricky.

Then it’s all about building redundancy into infrastructure. In short, redundancy is the process of storing cloud data across multiple servers in case of system malfunction or a power outage. Redundancy management is just as crucial for businesses using the cloud as having several backups.

However, whilst the two sound similar, they are entirely different.

Redundancy is the process of guaranteeing dependability and uptime in the event of a system crash, meanwhile backups are copies of data that may be recovered in an emergency.

As an example, let’s say one of the cloud servers used by your company fails during the workday. This is when having a fully redundant cloud solution really shines, as it will allow you to keep working without disruption.

Q1 2023 www.datacentrereview.com 31

CLOUD COMPUTING

Getting the balance right Florian Malecki, Executive Vice President of Marketing at Arcserve, gives some insight into balancing the rising costs of public cloud.

he spiralling cost of energy is forcing public cloud providers to raise their prices significantly. A recent report

by Canalys predicted that public cloud prices will jump by around 20% in the US and more than 30% in Europe in 2023. These steep price increases will test the conventional wisdom that moving to the cloud is a cheap computing alternative.

Indeed, many organisations are already looking at their higher cloud bills and assessing whether it still makes sense to keep moving their infrastructure to the cloud. They do have alternatives. For instance, for solutions used regularly and persistently, it might make financial sense

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to bring those in-house rather than host them in the cloud. Owning the infrastructure and managing it yourself could be more cost-effective in the long run.

On the other hand, more complex technologies, and solutions with a high entry cost, such as artificial intelligence, remain good candidates for cloud hosting because they require so much infrastructure and personnel to run in-house. The cloud also remains an excellent option for specific services and solutions where more elasticity is required. Here, I’m thinking about technologies that need to be scaled up quickly for a defined period, such as the last few days of each month or quarter when closing the books, then scaled back down.

These are just some issues that organisations should assess when determining if they should keep their data and infrastructure in the cloud. Moving them back on-premises or transitioning to a hybrid infrastructure entails keeping some data and applications in the cloud while returning others to an on-premises infrastructure. From now on, all organisations must take a step back and assess what will work best for them to find the right balance.

The benefits of hybrid cloud A hybrid cloud has many advantages. Organisations adopting a hybrid

CLOUD COMPUTING

need and better protect its sensitive data. But a hybrid data centre brings more complexity to managing servers, networks, storage, and software across the IT landscape.

For instance, organisations running a hybrid cloud must secure their data and applications both on-premises and in the cloud. They also must be able to recover data and applications on-premises or in the cloud, wherever the company initially hosted the data and applications. And they must handle backup and recovery across a hybrid environment. To do all this, they must have a data management and storage solution that meets the needs of a hybrid data centre.

As the cost of the cloud continues to balloon, many companies will take the dramatic step of ‘repatriating’ workloads to preserve precious IT budgets cloud approach can more easily control costs and manage their data wherever it resides – on-premises, in a public or private cloud. Many organisations now face a range of emerging trends and threats that impact how they run their business, and they find the flexibility of a hybrid cloud essential.

A hybrid data centre is adaptable. It’s a viable and practical system that enables companies to meet the growing threat of ransomware attacks while taking on today’s evolving business demands – all in real time.

A hybrid data centre provides strong security, efficient performance, reliability, scalability, agility, and cost-efficiency.

But a hybrid data centre requires work. Implementing and operating one presents several IT-management challenges. Yes, a hybrid data centre allows a business to efficiently store and shift workloads according to

The rise of data repatriation As the cost of the cloud continues to balloon, many companies will take the dramatic step of ‘repatriating’ workloads to preserve precious IT budgets. Already, rising energy prices are forcing organisations to rethink their cloud strategy and start repatriating their data from the cloud to on-premises.

Indeed, research from market intelligence firm IDC shows that most organisations are now shifting workloads from the cloud back to onpremises data centres. In the IDC survey, 71% of respondents said they plan to move some or all of the workloads they’re now running in public clouds back to on-premises environments in the next two years. A mere 13% said they plan to run all their workloads in the cloud.

There are many reasons why companies are repatriating their workloads from the cloud to on-premises. These include security, performance, regulatory compliance, and a desire for better control of the IT infrastructure. Another reason is cost, which can rise quickly and unexpectedly. Workloads often start small and demand a manageable expenditure, but when workloads jump – which they frequently do – so does the spending, which a company may not have anticipated.

Data volumes in the cloud have increased to a point where they’re often not manageable. Moving some of this data back on-premises can bring benefits beyond lower costs, such as better security and enhanced performance.

But as companies move their data back on-premises, they face several challenges. They need a data storage solution that can protect their data wherever it resides – on-premises, offsite, or in the cloud. They also need a storage solution that ensures their data is available 24/7/365, even in unforeseen circumstances.

Ideally, they also need a storage solution that provides analytics that can rapidly decide what sets of data are critical to operations and what sets are not. With these analytics, organisations can efficiently determine which datasets they can place in the cloud, which can be stored locally, and which they should bring back on-premises.

Analytics also enable companies to decide which data they must back up and what they can skip. With this, organisations can maintain an intelligent, tiered data architecture that ensures quick access to critical data and saves costs by identifying data they can store in less expensive, less readily accessible media.

Your to-do list for cloud deployment in 2023 As cloud costs rise, organisations must re-examine their data storage systems. They must implement solutions that enable them to manage their workloads cost-effectively and, at the same time, ensure that their data is always accessible and secure.

Q1 2023 www.datacentrereview.com 33

PRODUCTS

Gcore introduces Image Stack

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core has announced the debut of Image Stack. Developed to optimise images processed on Gcore’s all-in-one edge solution, Image Stack reduces file sizes by an average of 85% without visible quality loss and delivers compressed images worldwide on a wide range of devices and browsers. By using Gcore Image Stack, businesses could enjoy savings of around 30% on their web hosting costs due to needing less bandwidth and storage space. In addition, Image Stack supports advanced compression with the AVIF format, regarded by the industry as a technically superior option.

Image Stack is a paid option for the Gcore CDN product. Charges are applied once per each image used, irrespective of how many transformations were made (compressing, resizing, cropping, or quality changing). At present, Gcore Image Stack comes with the following functionality: AVIF image compression; WebP image compression; image quality settings; image resizing tool; image cropping tool.

All image transformations are performed on the edge clusters of Gcore’s network, and all bulk operations can be applied to original image copies by simply adding a few query strings with specific parameters..

Gcore • gcore.com • sales@gcore.com

Teksan’s uninterruptible power for data centres

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eksan offers innovative products and guarantees the energy security of data centres in many countries worldwide with its projectspecific solutions, expert team, and experience.

Teksan carries out many projects with internationally recognised earthquake-certified products that meet Tier III and Tier IV criteria and that are recognised by the Uptime Institute for data centres.

Teksan was preferred for the data centre of one of the world’s leading IT companies in Poland and for the data centres of critical public institutions in several leading European countries.

In an important project of a public institution in Turkey, two 312kWA Ford Ecotorq engines from Data Center Group were used with a seismic isolator and seismic limiter, low noise level container, fire detection, and extinguishing system, and exhaust filter system that can work continuously and has a special cold weather heating system as per the agreement.

Teksan’s project-specific solutions and seismically certified products that meet Uptime Tier III and Tier IV criteria continue to be used in major projects in many countries around the world.

Teksan • info@teksanuk.com • www.teksan.com/en

Automated data centre inventory tracking with custom UHF RFID and NFC labels

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worldwide ICT company needed to automate how their servers were tracked and managed. With thousands of high value ICT assets in play, the ability to report without error on real-time asset whereabouts proved essential for both commercial success and compliance. In addition, the company was looking for ways to enhance cable maintenance intervention speed and accuracy.

Brady Corporation suggested the solution: automated, real-time asset tracking with passive, custom on-metal UHF RFID and

NFC labels.

Relevant asset locations, time-stamps, and other data are available in real-time at the click of a button. Staff no longer have to manually count assets and can assess a site’s entire ICT inventory in a couple of hours, instead of weeks. The data also enables the company to prevent errors in asset movement through automatic alerts generated via the supporting software. This increases overall efficiency and decreases labour cost. Additionally, compliance with various regulations worldwide is easier when whereabouts on the entire ICT inventory are available almost immediately in a central location.

Brady Corporation • csuk@bradycorp.com • www.brady.co.uk

34 www.datacentrereview.com Q1 2023

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Thankfully, throughout the years Continuing Professional Development, also known as CPD, has been a mainstay of the electrical industry, ensuring the UK has some of the highest standards around.

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FINAL SAY

The case for hydrogen Dr Jon Summers, DCA Advisory Board Member and Scientific Lead in Data Centres at Research Institutes of Sweden, explores how natural gas could be used to help power small urban data centres and reduce strain on local power grids.

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he data centre sector rigidly employs established solutions, but innovation in ways of powering small urban data centres on a low environmental impactful gas is now being tested. RISE has been trialling high temperature fuel cells in a proof-of-concept demonstrator.

You may remember from your science teacher or from another equally sound source that hydrogen (as a gas) is the most abundant molecule in the universe and yet we have not managed to transition from a carbonbased energy system to that of hydrogen. There are some practical reasons for this, but first let us look at some interesting facts.

How do we obtain hydrogen? Hydrogen does occur naturally on earth (white hydrogen), but nowhere near in sufficient quantities to support the energy transition. Hydrogen can be manufactured from natural gas (methane) that produces carbon emissions (grey hydrogen) or where the carbon dioxide is captured and stored (blue hydrogen), but these two approaches are evidently carbon intensive.

It can be created by a process of electrolysis – using an electric current

to separate oxygen and hydrogen from water molecules. The electrolysis process can produce 1 kg of hydrogen from 9 kg of water with 39.4 kWh of electricity (assuming that the electrolysis cells are 100% efficient) and 1 kg of hydrogen has an energy value of 33.3 kWh. By comparison, natural gas has 13.9 kWh per kg.

However, the real issue for use is not mass, but volume – and this is where hydrogen does less favourably, with around 30% of the energy per unit volume compared to natural gas, and therefore there are issues of storage and transportation. Of course, the electrolysis process requires electricity and for green hydrogen this electricity must be from a renewable source.

With hydrogen, it is then possible to construct a system that reverses the electrolysis and produces electricity. This is achieved with fuel cells; they operate on the same (electrochemical) principles as batteries but use a continuous flow of (hydrogen) fuel.

A closer look at fuel cells The fuel cell is an old technology, originally demonstrated in 1836 and known as gas batteries. Unlike power generation based on gas turbines, fuel cells produce direct current and do not combust the gas, and therefore they operate very quietly. A schematic was shown in the 1971 volume 225(3) of Scientific American within an article entitled The conversion of energy (redrawn in Figure 1) where a wind generator drives electrolysis cells to split the hydrogen and oxygen and store the gases for later use.

The schematic shows the use through fuel cells to produce electricity that is transferred to the electrical grid with inverters. The water is circulated as it is a by-product of the fuel cells to be used again in the electrolysis cells. Clearly, energy overproduction from renewables can therefore be stored as hydrogen at 33.3 kWh/kg.

Silent, low emissions, low grid power requirements and producing direct current are all attributes that could support small urban data

Q1 2023 www.datacentrereview.com 37

FINAL SAY

centres. While the supply of hydrogen is one of the major practical challenges, there is a type of fuel cell that can run on many types of carbon-based fuels, biomethane or biogas being one of them. Such fuel cells are called solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). If the biogas is produced locally from organic waste or wastewater that would otherwise emit methane into the atmosphere, then employing the gas to produce electricity for an urban data centre with the help of SOFC makes sense.

In practice At RISE in Lulea, an EU H2020 funded project currently operates a small data centre using commercially available SOFC units (from SolydEra) running on locally manufactured biogas. The SOFC units operate at high internal temperatures (around 700°C) and provide electricity with an average of 55% efficiency (electrical energy as a ratio of the biogas energy value) with another 20% of the biogas energy being converted into thermal energy, with a temperature rise across the SOFC units of 20°C when connected to the heating network of the building that raises the return water loop to 65°C. Figure 2 shows the nine SOFC units providing a maximum of 13.5 kW of electrical power lined up in a 20-foot ISO container. The demonstration produces alternating current via an inverter in each SOFC unit and hydrogen is internally produced from the biogas which has a carbon impact that would be the same as combusting the biogas, however with greater electrical efficiency.

Commercial SOFC units are not easy to acquire – there are many

Fig 2: Nine SOFC units from SolydEra in a 20-foot ISO container providing prime power to the small data centre

Silent, low emissions, low grid power requirements and producing direct current are all attributes that could support small urban data centres 38 www.datacentrereview.com Q1 2023

ELECTROLYSIS CELL

OXYGEN STORAGE

HYDROGEN STORAGE

RECTIFIER

FUEL CELL

PUMP BACK CONTROL

INVERTER

GRID POWER LINE

Fig 1: Schematic based on the 1971 Scientific American article by C.M. Summers in volume 225, no. 3, pp. 148-163

prototypes or laboratory produced units which is indicative of the TRL of the technology. However, RISE in Lulea is also coordinating another project that receives funding jointly from the EU H2020 and the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, where a more (> 650%) power dense SOFC system is being manufactured to provide 90 kW of prime power from natural gas with UPS integration and no power conversion.

A data centre demonstrator will operate for a year with a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen to determine electrical efficiencies and full operational understanding. The important fact to note is that when using SOFC systems, the high temperatures of operation mean that these units are not thermally cycled – that is they need to operate continuously, which is why SOFC is for stationary applications, such as data centres.

In the future, the high temperature SOFC will operate on hydrogen as does the more common proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), but with a higher electrical and thermal efficiency. But, since PEMFC systems operate at much lower temperatures, they can be used for mobile and backup power requirements. For data centre backup, there are still limitations versus the common gensets (that could operate with biodiesel) due to current PEMFC power densities and the need for stored hydrogen.

One last fact is that the SOFC can theoretically be used in reverse as a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) with an efficiency (energy value of the hydrogen as a ratio of the electrical energy) of around 80%. Therefore the stationary solid oxide fuel cell infrastructure of the future could potentially be switching between hydrogen storage or electrical generation.

To conclude, there are various lower environmental impact gases that could be used to power small urban data centres or other important infrastructure in urban areas where noise limitations and electrical power grid congestion are important, but also where there are potential consumers of the excess heat from high temperature fuel cells that essentially operate as micro combined heat and power units.

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