Data centres are significant energy consumers, using about 2% of the world’s power and emitting carbon dioxide equivalent to the airline industry. They also have the IT industry’s fastest growing carbon footprint. While the rapid data growth in India is forcing data centres to flourish, there is a pressing need to make them energy-efficient, says Khalid Wani, senior director of sales, (India) Western Digital. Wani dicusses with Sudhir Chowdhary some of the measures deployed to cut energy waste.
How is generative AI impacting the data centre market?
Generative AI tools are projected to contribute $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually, as per McKinsey’s report, leading to a surge in data. This necessitates real-time processing of large language models (LLM) databases, driving the need for upgraded data centre and network infrastructure. This includes more powerful hardware, faster storage, increased bandwidth, and the rise of edge computing.
How is the global data centre market growing?
The global data centre industry has evolved from mainframes to cloud and edge computing. According to a report by Allied Market Research, the global data centre market is anticipated to reach $517.17 billion by 2030. This evolution continues to shape the industry, with future trends pointing towards increased adoption of cloud services and data centres serving more devices at the edge to meet dynamic business needs and technological advancements.
Are there any India-specific trends that stand out?
India currently ranks 13th globally in operational data centres, boasting 138 currently with an anticipated addition of 45 new facilities by the end of 2025. Within the Indian market, two noticeable trends are emerging: an increasing demand for colocation data centres and the emergence of newer edge data centres. These trends highlight the unique demand dynamics within the region. While the demand for data centres is growing, not all organisations are inclined to invest in and manage their own facilities. In response, colocation services present an appealing alternative. Consequently, it is anticipated that the colocation market in India will grow at a CAGR of 16%, nearing a value of $1.4 billion by 2025.
How can data centres become more efficient?
Considering data centres are massive energy consumers, making them sustainable is extremely important. It is encouraging to note that several upcoming data centres in India are investing in renewable energy facilities. In fact, there are a few facilities that have achieved 100% renewable energy use in data centres. In addition to embracing renewable energy, data centres can also explore innovative cooling technologies such as immersive, liquid and evaporative cooling. Data centres can further improve their sustainability practices by focusing on making computing, networking, memory, and storage technologies more efficient. For instance: CIOs are considering using efficient and high-density storage solutions, such as Western Digital’s high capacity 24 TB drives and innovative platforms such as the Ultrastar Data102 storage platform (JBOD) — configured with upto 102 HDDs in a compact and efficient form factor and offers up to massive 2.44PB of raw storage in 4U using the company’s 24TB HDDs.
What is Western Digital doing to make data centres sustainable?
Western Digital started shipping its new 24TB CMR HDD for hyperscalers, cloud and enterprise data centre customers recently. We have also started sampling the new 28TB SMR HDD. These high-capacity HDDs are a significant step forward in meeting the company’s sustainability targets and toward helping data centre customers meet theirs. Specifically, these 28TB and 24TB HDDs are built with 40% (by weight) recycled content and are 10%+ more energy efficient per terabyte, contributing to customers’ data centre infrastructure power efficiency goals at scale.
Our strategy focuses on leveraging innovation, technology, and execution capabilities to become a leading developer, manufacturer and provider of storage devices and solutions supporting data infrastructure. Some key elements of our strategy include innovation and cost leadership, delivering products timely to meet market demands.
