If businesses move their datacentres to northern regions of
Europe they could reduce their costs and carbon emissions in one
fell swoop.
Scotland and Scandanavia offer cooler temperatures, which
reduces cooling costs. And renewable energy sources such as wind
farms and hydroelectric power are freely available.
Lockerbie Data Centres has
submitted planning permission for an £800m datacentre
development in South West Scotland. The project will create 1,000
jobs if completed. It could be the start of a trend.
Cooling consumes about 40% of the total energy used in a
datacentre, according to Gartner. But Gartner analyst Rakesh Kumar
says it is the availability of renewable energy that could be a
major incentive for businesses to locate in these areas, rather
than lower temperatures.
"The biggest overall cost of a datacentre is the hardware and
software costs. Energy is only about 10%," he says. "The cool air
will only be relevant if you can use the outside air."
"The availability of renewable energy could be a bigger factor
because businesses want to reduce their carbon footprints."
Suppliers looking to establish datacentres will find it easier
to get planning permission if they can submit plans that include
reusable energy, he says.
Datacentres account for 5% of total world energy consumption,
according to Robert Morgan, director at Hamilton Bailey, which
advises outsourcing service providers.
He says energy consumption will increase as cloud computing
takes off and demand for datacentres increases. "Everything
delivered over the internet as a service is in datacentres."
IT outsourcing think-tank the Outsourcing Hub Initiative
Scotland is promoting Scotland as
centre for outsourcing. It wants outsourcing services included
in the Scottish government's investment plans.
Andrew Rigby, partner at law firm Brodies in Edinburgh, who set
up the think-tank, predicts Scotland could earn billions of pounds
through outsourcing IT services.
"The renewable energy available is a major advantage in Scotland
with wind, wave and hydro power sources being developed."
Demand for datacentres within the UK will increase as the Indian
service providers move into the cloud, Rigby says. "According to
the Indian BPO providers, 20% of services from Indian suppliers
will be delivered onshore."
Datacentres will inevitable become bigger as IT services move to
the cloud. The need for businesses to cut their energy consumption
to reduce costs and meet their carbon reduction goals could see the
next round of datacentres built in Northern Europe.