Green data strategies should be utilised in the UK's data centres, it has been asserted.
James Cole, director of infrastructure organisation Keysource, made his remarks after it was widely reported that Dumfries and Galloway planning officials have given their authorisation for the biggest data centre in the UK.
Set to take the form of a 250,000 sq m data storage facility, the site will be partially powered by renewable energy sources.
Mr Cole said that as renewable energy sources become increasingly commonplace, data centres could provide the perfect platform for their utilisation.
Data centres "should be their first port of call to utilise this", he added.
However, Mr Cole explained that reliability is a key factor that needs to be taken into consideration, as "uptime power" is still very much a "prominent driver" for such facilities.
"If it's going into the data centre and it's unreliable, then maybe that power should be used elsewhere," he concluded, suggesting that a debate about renewable power should take place alongside one regarding data efficiency. Source: QAS - Nov 25 2009, 10:00 AM.