In this article, Alexander Troshin, Product Marketing Manager, EMEA at AMD, explains how CIOs and IT managers can optimize the energy efficiency of data centers. Adopting new generation processors that offer far greater efficiency than their predecessors is a good starting point, especially in this era where Artificial Intelligence requires greater effort in terms of energy consumption.
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Reinventing the Data Center: Balancing Power and Sustainability in the Age of AI
In the current technological landscape, where artificial intelligence, science and innovation reign supreme, the demand for computing power in data centers is reaching unprecedented levels. This exponential increase inevitably translates into greater energy consumption, posing a significant challenge for CIOs and IT managers. How can organizations ensure their data centers can handle these growing data flows and performance requirements, while pursuing ambitious energy efficiency goals?
The commitment to decarbonization is no longer a niche choice. An astonishing 90% of CEOs recognize the crucial role of sustainability in the success of their company. However, data centers, in their current form, are among the most energy-intensive entities globally. A search for 451 Research reveals that in 2019, data centers accounted for more than 6% of total energy consumption in the United States. Furthermore, projections for Europe indicate that by 2025 data center energy consumption will increase by more than 21% compared to 2018 levels.
In this context of maximized space utilization, capacity, computing density, energy efficiency and performance optimization emerge as fundamental pillars of modern data centers, especially for the development and implementation of artificial intelligence strategies.
As the world strives to ensure data center energy efficiency by laying the foundation for the IT platforms of tomorrow, modernization and consolidation offer a compelling path to achieve both performance and sustainability goals.
Modernization: the key to driving efficiency and scalability
In today’s ever-evolving technology landscape, IT infrastructure modernization is no longer an option, but a strategic necessity. By adopting the latest CPU and GPU technologies, IT managers can optimize costs associated with data center energy, space and provisioning. Savings achieved through modernization can then be strategically allocated to expand hardware capacity, ensuring greater scalability, or directed towards powering cutting-edge applications such as generative artificial intelligence.
Data center consolidation and modernization initiatives have emerged as an effective way to “make room” for transformative technologies like AI, without compromising Service Level Agreements (SLAs) or exceeding budgets. By replacing aging and inefficient servers, organizations can migrate daily workflows to a more powerful and energy-efficient infrastructure. This not only reduces space and energy requirements, but also frees up valuable resources for new innovations.
Additionally, the performance of legacy equipment tends to degrade over time, while maintenance costs, downtime and space requirements increase. These outdated systems struggle to keep pace with growing business needs and technological advances. Modernization efforts are therefore crucial not only for cost savings and performance improvements, but also for ensuring that companies are prepared for the future and ready to embrace new opportunities.
Efficiency: maximize data center performance, minimize spaces
The computing tasks that power the services, applications and devices that permeate our daily lives can be incredibly resource-demanding. From artificial intelligence embedded in personal computers to the large-scale computational analysis that powers algorithmic trading, these workloads often strain the capabilities of traditional data centers.
An effective way to optimize the energy efficiency of the latter is to reduce their physical footprint. This can be achieved by adopting new generation processors that offer far greater efficiency than their predecessors. They guarantee higher performance for the same space occupied, maximizing the use of resources. For example, replacing five-year-old x86 servers with systems based on the latest AMD EPYC 9334 processors could reduce rack space by up to 70 percent and power consumption by up to 65 percent for the same workload (SP5TCO-055).
Looking to the future: towards a sustainable and powerful infrastructure
CIOs and IT leaders are faced with the daunting task of providing a high-performance computing infrastructure capable of handling increasingly demanding use cases, all while taking into account space and budget constraints. However, modernization efforts can face resistance, especially when it comes to gaining buy-in from corporate leadership. While maintaining the status quo may seem like a low-risk strategy in the short term, it can cost organizations valuable innovation opportunities, especially with the rapid spread of artificial intelligence. Choosing the right hardware platform can make all the difference.
Modern data center infrastructures can deliver significant performance gains and dramatic improvements in energy efficiency for the mission-critical workloads that power our daily lives. However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to modernization. Choosing the right vendor to lead this journey is critical, regardless of the goal, whether it’s implementing AI at scale, reducing energy costs by upgrading aging infrastructure, or simply managing day-to-day operations more efficiently.
The first step is to gain in-depth knowledge of the key areas that need attention and partner with vendors who have a deep understanding of your organization’s specific workloads. By working together, you can chart a course toward a modern, efficient, high-performance infrastructure that enables your organization to thrive in the age of artificial intelligence and beyond.
Of Alexander Troshin, Product Marketing Manager, EMEA at AMD
