Cadence Delves Into the Data Centre Evolution

AI is dependent on data centres due to the high-performance computing they provide for training and deploying models. 

However, these data centres consume vast amounts of electricity, both for processing and for cooling the equipment, meaning the environmental impact is immense. 

As AI continues to have a transformative impact across several industries, organisations must adopt energy-efficient data centre designs and the use of renewable energy sources to mitigate this strain on energy infrastructure and the environment.

In light of this, computer software company Cadence has released its ‘Data Center Evolution: The Innovation Imperative’ report, exploring the evolution of data centres and the differences we need to make to unlock further success.

The report compiles insights from 400 IT, facility and business leaders worldwide to outline a roadmap for decision-makers to follow.

The UK’s AI Energy Council

These findings come after leaders from the technology and energy industries met on 8 April for the debut meeting of the UK’s new AI Energy Council.

The meeting explored how the government can deliver economic growth by combining its commitment to improving AI and computing infrastructure with its clean energy superpower mission. 

With technology at the heart of the UK’s Plan for Change, the Council will delve into the energy demands of AI to ensure the country can improve sustainability and energy efficiency in data centres and AI infrastructure. 

Energy representatives from EDF, NESO, Ofgem, National Grid and Scottish Power joined tech giants like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and ARM to share their insights and expertise. 

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle, explains: “The work of the AI Energy Council will ensure we aren’t just powering our AI needs to deliver new waves of opportunity in all parts of the country, but can do so in a way which is responsible and sustainable. 

“This requires a broad range of expertise from industry and regulators as we fire up the UK’s economic engine to make it fit for the age of AI - meaning we can deliver the growth which is the beating heart of our Plan for Change.”

The need for innovation

Innovation has become vital in data centres due to the significant rise in data generation, growing demands from AI applications, increasing regulatory requirements and the push for sustainability and energy efficiency. 

However, many data centres fail to embrace new technologies due to complexity, cost and a lack of internal expertise. 

According to Cadence, 86% of respondents acknowledged that failing to innovate will have serious or moderate consequences, with the main concerns being falling behind competitors (37%), financial losses (30%) and inability to meet AI demands (27%).

Six in 10 respondents said they have become more confident over the past 12 months in their ability to utilise innovative technologies. 

Across data centres in South America, this figure rises to 68%. 

Aitor Zabalegui, Senior Principal Application Engineer at Cadence, explains: “Past adoption trends can also shed light on why those working with facilities in South America have become markedly more confident in their innovation capabilities over the past year. Consider the fact that some parts of the world skipped straight to wireless technology, rather than going through the infrastructure that paved the way for it, such as power lines. 

“In the same way, certain regions have been able to jump straight into certain data center innovations, rather than going through all the innovative steps. This is because they have seen others navigate these over the past few years to reach a desirable end goal and been able to take on these learnings and quickly jump to the more advanced stages of adoption.”

Roadblocks to innovation

Cadence points to several innovation drivers organisations are utilising:

• AI (73%)
• Renewable energy sources (63%)
• High-density servers (59%)
• Digital twins (42%)
• Liquid cooling (45%)
• Water heat reuse (40%)

However, many organisations remain against improving tier facilities and approaches, with 29% stating they have no plans to use digital twins and 26% stating their resistance to liquid cooling. 

Cadence explores the innovation obstacles data centre decision-makers face, with the high cost of implementing new technologies arising as the largest (42%).

A shortage of skilled staff capable of deploying and managing these technologies is also a large barrier for 35% of respondents. 

Around a third (33%) of respondents believe uncertainty over the return on investment was the largest obstacle and 30% pointed to the lack of clarity and certainty over future technologies as the main reason for their resistance to innovation. 

Just over a quarter (28%) of those working in EMEA data centres believed the lack of an innovation champion within their organisation is a problem, with this number dropping to 13% in facilities in South America. 

Mark Fenton, Product Engineering Director at Cadence, states: “Certain regions may view ‘innovation champions’ as less critical because they’re already leveraging the advancements and lessons pioneered elsewhere to make informed decisions and adopt proven solutions. This approach minimizes risk and accelerates their own innovation efforts without the need for a ‘champion’.

Environmental impact and sustainability

Cadence points to sustainability as key to data centre transformation. 

Despite 80% of decision-makers expressing concern around the environmental impact of their data centres (and 32% saying they are very concerned) unsustainable practices persist.

Namely, 60% are still relying on overprovisioning due to fears of outages.

The use of renewable and green energy remains prominent among data centres wanting to enhance their sustainability efforts, with 63% already using renewable energy and a further 19% planning to adopt it. 

Just over eight in 10 (84%) of respondents are confident in their organisation’s ability to integrate renewable energy. But, 9% remain against the use of renewable energy, often due to perceived unreliability and local energy grid limitations. 

Waste heat reuse arises as a key catalyst for sustainable progress, with 40% already utilising this technique and 26% planning to do this in the next 12 months. 

Dave King, Product Engineering Architect at Cadence, explains: “The emphasis on this is unsurprising as the importance of energy efficiency is paramount: “Every site operates within a fixed power budget. By improving infrastructure efficiency – in other words, enabling greater processing capability without increasing power consumption – more energy can be allocated to compute tasks. This allows the data centre to deliver improved performance and value, creating a competitive advantage. Greater efficiency also means improved sustainability, which is increasingly important given environmental concerns and regulatory pressures.”

The UK Government is building more infrastructure to ensure more homegrown clean power is connected to the grid. This will mean data centres can connect to the grid and the grid connection queue is cleared.

Speaking ahead of the inaugural AI Energy Council, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, states: “We are making the UK a clean energy superpower, building the homegrown energy this country needs to protect consumers and businesses, and drive economic growth, as part of our Plan for Change.

“AI can play an important role in building a new era of clean electricity for our country and as we unlock AI’s potential, this Council will help secure a sustainable scale up to benefit businesses and communities across the UK.”

Cadence’s report encourages organisations to focus on innovations that meet their individual operational needs.

Decision-makers must integrate collaboration, data, sustainability and infrastructure investment to unlock success in the data centre evolution.

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