Unlocking Environmental Sustainability and Savings through Data Center Transformation

Overview

Challenge

Reduce Hitachi Vantara’s data center footprint while continuing to uphold modern standards for reliability and sustainability.

Solution

Use Hitachi hardware and in-house analysis to optimize energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions and improve operational efficiency and security.

Outcome

Significant reduction in power use and a highly reliable, secure environment.

Challenge

Today’s data centers walk a tightrope between ever-growing demands and the need for operational efficiency. On the server side, challenges include optimizing power usage while ensuring reliability, security and performance for demanding workloads. Data storage systems must be able to accommodate exponential growth while keeping energy consumption and cooling requirements in check. Finding the right balance between performance, density and resource utilization is an ongoing struggle.

In a move towards a greener, future-proof internal IT infrastructure, Hitachi Vantara recently undertook a strategic data center refresh at its Denver co-location facility. Targeting efficiency and sustainability in 2024 and beyond, this initiative aimed to reduce costs, minimize carbon emissions and ensure smooth operation for critical internal applications. The core focus was optimizing performance of the data center which primarily serves the company's internal Oracle ERP system, by replacing existing storage and computing resources with Hitachi Vantara’s most modern, high-performance solutions.

With a goal of achieving carbon neutrality across its operating sites by 2030 – the Denver data center will set an example for the future.

Solution

Hitachi Vantara’s global internal lead for core infrastructure services, Madhu Shalini Subramaniyan, spearheaded the data center optimization team. They prioritized efficiency by analyzing current and projected power consumption, pinpointed opportunities for consolidation and identified areas requiring dedicated systems to ensure optimal data protection and security. Finally, the team optimized the physical layout within the data center cage, strategically arranging cabinets, racks and servers for improved airflow and heat management.

This yielded a plan for a more powerful and trouble-free operation, with measurable gains in efficiency. Including a reduced storage hardware footprint from 30 racks of Hitachi VSP G1000 and Hitachi HUS AMS systems to two racks of Hitachi VSP 5600s. They also downsized server infrastructure from 145 Hitachi CB2500 and CB500 Blade Chassis servers to 86 Hitachi DS 120/220s.

Physical changes to the datacenter cage layout, coupled with the new infrastructure, enabled them to reduce the total data center footprint by 59%, from 180 cabinets to just 74.

Some resources were moved to public cloud, while other apps were kept on-premises. “We have a 100% data availability guarantee so we need complete control over the data flow,” explains Hitachi Vantara CIO Joe Morris. “That means ensuring reliable compute power as well as zero downtime. So we felt it necessary to keep critical applications such as our ERP system on-premises.”

The project extended beyond hardware modernization as the team determined how to refresh and streamline the entire network. “We didn’t just replace old computers and storage equipment,” Subramaniyan adds. “We optimized the network with an eye on efficiency, reducing troubleshooting complexity, decreasing design complexity and environmental sustainability.”

For example, when an analysis showed maintaining the center’s existing firewall capacity would cost nearly $1M, the team modernized and consolidated two firewalls, bringing the total down to around $250,000.

Outcome

Moving operations to the VSP 5600 storage system will yield a much more efficient operation, with the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 96%, reduce power reduction by up to 89%, and reduce data center space by as much as 93%. Similarly, adopting DS 120/220 servers can yield a 40% power reduction, 40% space and footprint reduction, and 22% savings in virtualization licenses.  

Hitachi Vantara’s own successful internal data center modernization is now a showcase for their global customer base, many facing similar challenges. For example, Hitachi Vantara’s storage arrays prioritize reliability, efficiency and security, with a 4:1 compression ratio that effectively quadruples storage capacity, reducing data center footprint and costs. Additionally, data-at-rest encryption safeguards sensitive information, meeting compliance requirements for financial services and other regulated industries. This focus on maximizing storage utilization and robust security empowers businesses to manage growing data demands with confidence.

The initiative also set an example for environmental sustainability, at a time when many companies are being scrutinized for wasteful IT and energy resource use. As part of the project, Morris and his team reduced the data center’s carbon footprint, repurposed electronic components, and disposed of 50,000 pounds of e-waste in an environmentally conscious manner.

“When you consider our power utilization, infrastructure needs and support requirements, our overall cost savings are about 50%,” Morris concludes. “And it doesn’t stop there. We have embarked on a continuous improvement cycle. As we move closer to our goal of being carbon neutral by 2030 in our operations, we are carrying the torch forward for the future.”