Hitachi Vantara Aligns Tech With Sustainability Goals

Hitachi Vantara, the storage and hybrid cloud infrastructure arm of Hitachi, has released its second annual sustainability report.

This document outlines the company’s ongoing efforts to embed sustainability into its technology portfolio, particularly in data centre infrastructure.

As global electricity demand from data centres continues to grow, the report demonstrates how the company’s innovations reduce consumption, boost efficiency and support customers' environmental goals.

Data centres under pressure to balance power with performance

Data centre operations are coming under increasing scrutiny as energy use rises sharply.

The US Department of Energy reports that data centres accounted for 4% of US electricity use in the past year.

With AI workloads and data-heavy services expanding, this could rise to 12% by 2028.

Hitachi Vantara sees this as a moment to lead in delivering sustainable technology solutions that can address both operational and environmental demands.

One of the company’s core technology achievements is the ENERGY STAR certification for the Virtual Storage Platform One Block (VSP One Block).

This certification, which recognises top performance in energy efficiency, places VSP One Block in the highest tier under the ENERGY STAR NVSS Disk Online 4 category.

Materials innovation also features in the company’s efforts.

Around 40% of the plastic used in the bezels for VSP One Block and File storage models now comes from post-consumer recycled plastics.

Hitachi Vantara plans to increase this to 50% by FY2030. The roadmap includes using more recycled content in drive canisters and introducing biomass-based components.

Sheila Rohra, CEO of Hitachi Vantara, says: "We’re proud of the progress we’ve made since our inaugural Sustainability Report, but we know the journey doesn’t end there.

“Our focus remains on highlighting how sustainability, particularly in the data centre, can be both a key driver of innovation and a business differentiator – from reducing carbon emissions to helping businesses achieve energy savings, enhance operational efficiency and meet their broader sustainability goals.”

Solar power, carbon goals and energy reduction in the data centre

Operationally, the company is applying renewable energy strategies at its own facilities.

Its Netherlands-based distribution centre now generates 30% of its electricity on-site through solar. The rest is supplied via Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), which ensure the site runs fully on renewable energy.

In FY2024, Hitachi Vantara used 78,211 megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy, of which 90% was grid electricity.

Of this, 35% came from renewable sources including wind and solar.

An overhaul at its Denver data centre cut energy use in half and improved its power usage effectiveness (PUE) from 1.6 to 1.3, indicating more efficient energy use per unit of IT workload.

The company remains committed to achieving carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which cover direct operations and purchased energy, by FY2030.

A wider goal is in place for full value chain carbon neutrality by FY2050.

Customer wins show tech and sustainability can align

Beyond internal operations, Hitachi Vantara also showcases how its technology supports sustainability for its clients.

The report includes case studies from three very different industries where data centre infrastructure upgrades produced environmental benefits.

La Molisana, a pasta manufacturer in Italy, deployed VSP One Block and achieved a 30% reduction in energy use alongside a 2.5x improvement in response times.

“Sustainability was an important factor in our selection of VSP One Block,” says Maurizio Maio, CIO at La Molisana. “Although the energy consumption of our data centre is relatively low compared to our manufacturing operations, we are keen to implement eco-friendly IT solutions. The energy-efficient VSP One Block aligns perfectly with our vision.”

In India, Malayala Manorama, a media organisation, reduced its rack space by 66% and cut its power and cooling bills by 70% using the same infrastructure platform.

Meanwhile, Estonian telecoms provider Elisa Eesti tripled its energy efficiency and reduced its carbon footprint after modernising with Hitachi Vantara’s storage solutions.

Looking ahead, the company has introduced a Sustainability Guarantee for the FY2025 version of VSP One.

This allows organisations to track energy usage and maintain operations within a fixed power consumption cap, adding another layer of predictability and accountability for IT teams managing sustainability metrics.

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