Customer aspirations, together with demand for AI-capable colocation facilities and operational excellence, are combining to create an “AI Everest” rising before us. Organizations of all sizes, from SMBs to Fortune 500 enterprises, are eager to embark on an AI journey ─ and colocation is a key enabler. As a result, demand for data centers that can accommodate AI, and the associated high-density servers, cooling and low-latency connectivity, is surging.
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I’d like to say that I came up with that great AI Everest analogy, but it comes from someone who has experienced the ascension of AI at every step: Anthony Hatzenbuehler, SVP of Operations, CoreSite. I had the good fortune of discussing the state of colocation data centers in the current AI landscape with Anthony during our “Empowering AI with Sustainable Data Center Operations” webinar. Handling high-density use cases even before generative AI forever changed the data center industry, CoreSite has adapted well to managing customers’ ever-evolving AI needs in lockstep with sustainability requirements that have matured over recent years.
Most colocation providers agree that supporting sustainable data center operations is just as important as welcoming AI. In a 2022 study conducted by Forrester, we surveyed 1,033 global sustainability decision makers at colocation providers. We learned that 91% of colos had significantly increased their sustainability budget during the prior three years, and 90% planned to continue to increase that line item over the next three years. In fact, decision makers rated implementing and maturing sustainability initiatives as their second-highest priority, only behind improving profitability. Insights showed that tenant and investor requirements were driving more than 50% of respondents to prioritize sustainability at their organization.
So, how do you balance the somewhat paradoxical demands of AI-capable buildouts with sustainability initiatives?
CoreSite is familiar with the challenge of summiting this AI Everest and has become an “AI Sherpa” of sorts, as Anthony describes it. “CoreSite empowers customers at all points throughout their AI journey,” he explained. “We see our data centers as AI-enablers, facilities where our customers can develop and execute their AI strategy. Being purpose-built allows us to offer the power requirements, cooling options and network interconnection that are needed for AI and other high-performance workloads.”
These requirements include:
- Low-latency and reliable, highly secure access to AI-compute and data storage capabilities in private and public clouds.
- A high-density, high-performance environment that can support AI workloads.
- Customizable deployments that can handle multiple types of AI and scale.
- A proven track record of reliability for organizations that specialize in AI-scale data transport and AI-specific services.
How CoreSite Guides Its Customers to the AI Summit
While everyone who climbs Mt. Everest is an expert climber who trains hard for the physical feat, few are actually experts on navigating the mountain’s specific, nuanced terrain. That’s where the role of an Everest Sherpa is paramount. As an AI Sherpa, CoreSite efficiently guides customers who have an eye on summitting the AI mountain. “Sustainability and energy efficiency are built into all our data centers,” Anthony explains. “This approach helps improve power and cooling using techniques to minimize energy demands without compromising reliability and performance.”
How does CoreSite operate as skillfully and efficiently as an Everest Sherpa? It’s all about managing the data center environment and finding innovative and sustainable ways to cool the GPU-driven servers. Specifically, CoreSite:
- Uses free cooling to efficiently control data center temperature without mechanical refrigeration; CoreSite employs free cooling up to 60% of the time.
- Integrates water-side economization as an additional means of free cooling.
- Takes advantage of 85,000-gallon and 120,000-gallon cisterns to help cool its data centers by capturing roof-drain rainwater to offset the use of water from the local provider.
- Employs AI-enabled airflow modeling services to simulate the environment of a deployment during planning to identify the most efficient airflow approach.
- Is exploring AI for intelligent monitoring to enable instantly identifying and responding to opportunities for efficiency gains in deployments.
Finally, regardless of whether AI workloads are being run or not, colocation data centers are inherently more effective when it comes to sustainability than multiple on-premises enterprise data centers. It’s simply a matter of economies of scale created in multi-tenant facilities.
Scaling the Next Mountain, Together
Although Schneider and CoreSite are working together to climb the AI Everest, there always is the need for strategic changes in the data center design and capabilities to adjust to market and technological transformations. At the center of this reality are widespread, ongoing digital transformations. CoreSite covers this issue in the recently released State of the Data Center Report based on surveys of IT decision makers who share perspectives on their IT infrastructure must-haves and how colocation can play a critical role in facilitating AI and driving the change of IT from a cost center to a value driver.
CoreSite is enabling that shift for IT decision-makers across industries. As Anthony pointed out, “Digital transformation isn’t an end state. It’s an ongoing journey, and it’s important to have the right partners to guide you through those big changes."
I like to say that the ability to transform rapidly is all about scale and, more important, scaling smartly. Keep in mind that digital transformation in an AI-driven world is a process. So, it is important to define and recognize achieving near-term milestones and, in turn, how they contribute to attaining that larger, long-term success. Just keep moving forward.
Together with CoreSite, enterprises can summit AI Everest. When you get there, though, what do you see on the other side? No matter what, Schneider and CoreSite will help you navigate the next steps.
About Bobby Rogers
Bobby is the Vice President Sales of Strategic Accounts for Schneider Electric’s Data Center Solutions Team. His team is responsible for consulting with Cloud Service Providers, Commercial/Government end users and agencies for their data center physical infrastructure needs. Bobby joined Schneider in 2009, leading Enterprise Sales Teams. Prior to joining Schneider Electric, Bobby served as Vice President of US Sales for OKI, a wholly owned subsidiary of OKI Electric, Tokyo, Japan. Bobby has spent the last 20 years concentrating on sales management with enterprise customers in the technology sector.
This Schneider Electric Innovation Talk is Available On Demand
Learn even more about the challenges of AI and how Schneider and CoreSite can help you bring AI into your business. Topics covered in the Empowering AI With Sustainable Data Center Operations discussion include:
- Adapting designs for higher workloads
- Power density and cooling
- The need for scalability
- Speed to market and supply chain issues
- How data centers can enable AI adoption and drive new services
Please contact CoreSite to discuss your AI initiatives (and all kinds of other digital business aspirations) today!