IT infrastructure and GreenOps.
How do you run your IT infrastructure more sustainably? And how do you measure this?
There are 2 elements to this: how you host your infrastructure and how you run and manage it.
IT infrastructure.
Using the cloud helps reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency compared with typical on-prem deployments. To give you an idea, independent research on behalf of AWS found that running business applications on AWS can reduce associated energy usage by nearly 80% and carbon emissions by up to 96% (compared with on-prem data centres).
Why are energy usage and emissions so much lower when you use public cloud?
It’s about sustainability economies of scale. For example, hyperscalers:
- Use server systems with cutting-edge power optimisation, above and beyond what most manufacturers can get from on-prem data centres
- Achieve higher IT asset utilisation because they can dynamically allocate resources and capacity across multiple customers
- Design data centres to optimise cooling and power distribution, which increases energy efficiency
- Are increasingly using renewable energy – for instance, AWS and Microsoft Azure are on a path to 100% renewable use by 2025
Therefore, you can achieve measurable CO2 savings simply by using public cloud instead of on-prem data centres.
80%
Reduction in energy usage through public cloud vs typical on-prem deployments.
GreenOps.
Hyperscalers are responsible for the sustainability of the cloud. You’re responsible for your sustainability in the cloud.
And that means running your IT in an energy-efficient way. Enter: GreenOps.
How do you understand your cloud carbon footprint?
In our decades of experience helping manufacturing and automotive companies run carbon-conscious cloud estates, we’ve learned a key lesson: you can’t reduce emissions if you don’t have the right data.
Tooling and expertise give you the right data
- Nordcloud Klarity, our popular cloud management tool, gives an estimated monthly carbon footprint for all AWS applications and workloads
- When carried out by cloud-native experts, Well-Architected Reviews include an assessment of design, operations, architecture and software from a sustainability best-practice perspective
How do you make measurable reductions in your cloud carbon footprint?
This is about using data and best practices to drive change – and to embed a sustainable approach to operations into business-as-usual. For example:
- Nordcloud Klarity provides savings recommendations that quantify the level of emission reduction you can achieve by using the cloud more efficiently
- Alerts and personalised dashboards within Nordcloud Klarity prompt people to act on the recommendations, so you’re using automation to build in accountability and make GreenOps part of the day-to-day
- A cloud-native approach to managing your cloud environments and applications helps you adhere to sustainability best practices and maintain a focus on continual carbon reduction
