Create sustainable data centre solutions with Centiel

In a world centred around digital activity, data centres have become essential for business and organisations wishing to keep their data safe and secure. Given the substantial volumes of data being stored, it is imperative to minimise operational downtime and optimise energy usage to keep things as sustainable and efficient as possible.

Sure’s Tier III data centres in the Channel Islands store data for some of Europe’s largest organisations, and as we strive for carbon neutrality by 2030, we’re focusing heavily on how we can reduce the energy our data centres use.

Our Facilities Manager, Simon Roger, joined forces with Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) system manufacturer Centiel. At Sure Business, we addressed the inefficiencies of our legacy monolithic UPS systems and looked at how we could modernise these systems for the better. The existing UPS systems were delivering less than 80% efficiency, a standard we found untenable from an energy waste perspective and incompatible with our energy reduction targets. As outlined in the webinar, here’s how Simon and the Sure Business team have made sustainable improvements:

Replacing old UPS systems

We’re committed to playing our part in reducing the island’s carbon footprint, particularly when it comes to minimising the impact of our offices and facilities. Getting rid of old legacy UPS systems and installing a new true modular UPS system from Centiel is a no-brainer, as they pay for themselves within five years. Conserving energy is our main goal, and replacing legacy UPS systems is an effective way to do this and will save businesses money in the long-run.

The previous UPS systems only offered up to 80% efficiency, which is much too wasteful. The new systems operate at 97%, providing an impressive level of resilience and up-time to 1.58MW of power backup across Sure’s Channel Island facilities, ensuring maximum availability for clients.

Free-cooling air conditioning

The most significant carbon penalty is from electricity and where it is generated, which is why the use of solar panels is a reliable solution for data centres and telephone exchanges.
Using free-cooling air conditioning systems can save you exponentially on energy and cost, so this is another key avenue that will allow us to reduce our carbon footprint.

We’re thrilled to now say that our Jersey data centre is 80% free-cooled, and with the new UPS systems we have seen instant cost savings of 20-26% and a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.4, together, almost £100,000 per year. While free cooling AC can be considered as expensive, the pros far outweigh the cons.

Next steps in sustainable practice

Plans are already in place to reduce our overall reliance on fossil fuels by using 100% renewable energy with a smaller site that uses solar charging and storage.

In terms of timescale, we’re looking at 12 months of strategic planning with the view of implementing these practices within the next 18 months. At Sure Business, we’re fortunate to work with one power supplier in each of Guernsey and Jersey, and their values and commitments around sustainability align perfectly with ours. We believe that making continuous improvements, big or small, is an absolute necessity and will enable us to reach our future net zero goals.

Watch a webinar on how Centiel and Sure are working together here