NetApp & Aston Martin F1 Explore Sustainability & Data Waste
By 2030, it is believed that the human race will have created a Yottabyte (one, with 24 zeros) of data. This is equivalent to each person on Earth carrying 500 iPhones, according to a new documentary which reveals that by 2025 we will generate an estimated 175 zettabytes (one with 21 zeros) annually, which will take an enormous amount of energy to power.
NetApp’s partnership with the Aston Martin Formula One team is centre stage in an episode of a new series of The Futurist. In The Sustainable Future, an episodic documentary series focusing on emerging technology, the focus is on the environmental footprint of data.
It addresses the urgent need for a more sustainable approach to data storage and reveals how the Aston Martin F1 team is tackling it, alongside NetApp.
Managing data growth and sustainability in the era of advanced technologies
As one of the leading organisations in hybrid multi-cloud, NetApp eases this complexity by delivering high performance all-flash and cloud storage that enable customers to build modern data lakes and accelerate AI. Users can trace multiple AI model versions in production back to their training data to ensure they are using AI responsibly and storage is integrated with MLOps platforms so data scientists experience easier consumption and increased productivity.
Growing demand for technologies like AI, virtualisation, IoT and cloud computing are fueling an explosion in the quantity and the types of data being generated.
“The digital world is founded on data and lots of it. Analytics, machine learning and now, AI, all require access to vast volumes of data. But at the same time, compute and storage consume a considerable amount of power,” shares Aston Martin Formula One Team CIO Clare Lansley. “That’s why teaming up with world-class partners like NetApp is proving a key enabler to achieving our sustainability goals and giving us greater control over our data.”
Data's role from energy consumer to sustainability enabler
Data can provide insights for an organisation that can help it become more energy efficient, or identify emission hotspots to prioritise. In this way, the problem of data can be turned into a solution.
Providing an analysis of the type of data being stored can help businesses make informed decisions about which data is important to retain and how it can be managed efficiently. With NetApp’s intelligent data infrastructure in place, Aston Martin F1 team has the capability to optimise the energy costs of data storage.
It can also leverage insights that improve performance on race day and keep it on course to reach its sustainability goals.
“It has been an educational experience to discover the sheer scale of the challenge when it comes to sustainable data storage and the urgency of a solution,” says Ian Khan, host of The Futurist. “NetApp is empowering businesses to use data as the asset it is, while at the same time supporting the equally pressing need to reduce carbon footprints.”
The increasing volume of single-use data is adding to this issue, as an unfathomable 68% of stored data is never used again after being created, yet it continues to consume energy.
Examples of single use data inside businesses range from spreadsheets, word documents and recorded telephone conversations.
Matt Watts, Chief Technology Evangelist at NetApp, says businesses must take data storage more responsibly.
“The environmental impact of data storage must be higher on any organisation’s sustainability agenda and I’m proud to have participated in the Sustainable Future to raise awareness about this critical issue,” he says. “The role of intelligent data infrastructure cannot be overstated in the overall sustainability transition and NetApp is ready to support every business with this journey as we progress towards critical sustainability goals.”
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