Factors affecting the energy consumption of data centres in South Africa

Abstract

Companies in the US and the UK are frantically looking for ways to prevent future exorbitant data centre costs. South Africa does not have the space shortages, nor the high energy costs that companies in the US and UK experience. Hence, data centre energy efficiency is currently not a priority for South African businesses. However, things are about to change. Rising electricity costs and high growth rates in electricity consumption will motivate companies to consider implementing energy efficiency initiatives in their data centres. The purpose of the research begins at an assessment of the level of awareness of the energy consumption of data centres. This report looks at what the perceptions are of the factors that could cause fluctuations in energy usage at the data centre. The report further explores how South African companies are addressing potential fluctuations in usage, and what the motivation is for action taken. The methodology was a series of telephonic, semi-structured interviews with available and relevant stakeholders in data centre energy management. The interviewees were sourced from ICT companies in South Africa identified by the Market Research Foundation in the publication “Top ICT companies in South Africa 2005/6”, attendees of the ITWEB Green IT Summit 2008, and further referrals from these interviews.