Kathy Gibson was at VMware Explore in Barcelona – Data centres today use massive amounts of electricity – and this is set to increase by as much as 200% as new technologies come online.“So there is an urgent problem today – and more that we need to solve,” says Kit Colbert, chief technology officer of VMware.
He points out that the global trend towards private clouds has already helped to save 2,5-billion megawatt hours.
The public cloud holds the prospect of additional power savings by allowing companies to run their applications and workloads more energy-efficiently. VMware helps to enable the energy-efficiency with VMware zero-carbon committed clouds, where providers are committed to driving down energy consumption.
“If we all come together, we can flatten the energy consumption curve,” Colbert says.
Through server consolidation, storage and network consolidation, hybrid cloud, telecommunications RAN optimisation, and renewable power supplies, the IT industry is well-placed to make a difference. “And we need to fundamentally accelerate the energy transformation,” Colbert adds.
The VMware Zero Carbon Committed cloud partner initiative is a collaboration with VMware Cloud Verified providers that operate infrastructure-, energy- and carbon-efficient data centres based on VMware software-defined data centre (SDDC) technologies and have commitments to using renewable energy power.
The initiative aims to:
* Catalyse the transition to a zero-carbon Internet through partnerships with public cloud providers;
* Help customers reach their sustainability and decarbonisation goals by connecting them with cloud providers that have aligned goals; and
* Accelerate sustainable computing with VMware’s SDDC technology.
One of the early adopters of the programme, Teraco Data Environments has announced an initiative to enable VMware Cloud Verified partners using Teraco data centre facilities to achieve VMware Zero Carbon Committed status and badging.
This will help enterprise customers and cloud providers in Sub-Saharan Africa transition to zero-carbon clouds and pursue sustainability and supply chain decarbonisation strategies.
As a leading provider of co-location data centres and interconnection platforms in Africa, Teraco made significant strides in building a sustainable future for its business and its customers, with activities spanning the environment, social governance, and community upliftment.
Despite challenging regulations and legislation around the generation and supply of renewable energy in South Africa, Teraco is committed to accelerating the shift to renewable energy and offering its customers, including cloud providers, a route to reduce their carbon footprint.
Teraco has committed to powering its data centre co-location facilities with 50% renewable energy by 2027 and 100% by 2035. It will also maximise its combined rooftop solar footprint across its facilities to 6MW by 2023. VMware Cloud Verified Providers who host their cloud platforms at the Teraco data centre facilities have an opportunity to leverage Teraco’s sustainability commitment to attain Zero Carbon Committed status.
“At Teraco, we understand that our success lies in tandem with that of our customers. This is why sustainability is a business imperative; it goes beyond just renewable energy and our environmental impact, extending to our people’s well-being and development, how we support and uplift our communities, and making sure we continue to grow our business in the right way,” says Bryce Allan, head of sustainability at Teraco Data Environments.
“Teraco’s sustainability goals extend to investing in our rooftop and utility-scale solar energy programme, as well as partnering or working with third-party renewable energy providers and stakeholders across the private and public sector to deliver renewable energy to our facilities. With VMware Cloud Providers, this initiative is the perfect catalyst to assist VMware Cloud Verified partners and their customers who want to move to the cloud and pursue their sustainability goals,” Allan adds.
The initiative is supported by Teraco’s customers and the South African-based VMware Cloud Verified Partner community, many of which use Teraco’s data centre facilities. Five of these partners have recently achieved VMware Zero Carbon Committed status.
“Teraco has set ambitious targets and is pioneering the shift to carbon neutrality within the African data centre industry. Its Environmental, Social and Governance goals and commitments are closely aligned to VMware’s 2030 Agenda,” says Sumeeth Singh, cloud provider business head at VMware Sub-Saharan Africa. “This collaboration provides VMware Cloud Verified Providers with an invaluable and timely opportunity to jump-start their transition to zero-carbon clouds and, in turn, enable their customers to decarbonise their digital footprints.”
Teraco recently underwent an independent ESG sustainability rating through EcoVadis and obtained a silver rating. The rating scores the ESG performance of a company across several themes, including Environment, Labour and Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement.
“We are delighted to be working in collaboration with VMware. Their focus on carbon neutrality resonates with that of Teraco, as we have an open access platform philosophy offering connections to all the cloud onramps, both public and private,” says Michele McCann, head of interconnection and peering at Teraco Data Environments.