The demands on data centre infrastructure are skyrocketing. Today’s businesses need to balance their need for advanced performance, storage and networking capabilities with solutions that are efficient and sustainable to ensure the future of our planet.

Regardless of whether companies are aiming to save every possible scrap of energy to maximise operational effectiveness or to help to address the growing concerns about the environmental impact that energy generation is having on the planet, power efficiency in data centres has risen to the top of the agenda.

With this in mind, PowerEdge servers from Dell Technologies have reduced their energy intensity (EI) by a staggering 83% over the past eight years. The company believes that protecting and improving the planet together with its customers, suppliers and communities is one of its biggest responsibilities.

Dell is adamant that it will meet the needs of today’s modern enterprises without compromising the ability to meet the needs of future generations to come. The company is driving a sustainable future forward through technology.

From the ground up, starting at initial concept and ending at eventual recycling, sustainability has been considered at every life-cycle phase of Dell’s product offering from PowerEdge servers, monitors and its popular Latitude laptop range.

Embracing circularity

To do this, Dell is leaving the current “take-make-waste” extractive industrial model behind in favour of a circular design approach that eliminates waste from the equation.

The company is championing circularity, which sees products, services or resources being renewed or regenerated, instead of just wasted. In any circular economy, once a product or resource has been used, it is recycled, composted or re-used in a way that enables it to go back into a new life cycle or supply chain.

In essence, circularity is a closed-loop usage model, as opposed to one that produces discarded waste, and Dell considers this emerging model of sustainability at every stage of the PowerEdge server life cycle.

Along with its partners like Pinnacle, Dell has adopted three strategic approaches:

Firstly, accelerating the circular economy and cutting down waste and pollution by reusing products and materials to reach its goal of becoming a circular business.
Protecting the planet by reducing the environmental impact of its solutions across the value chain – including working with partners who also have a strong environmental action plan in place.
Backing the people who build Dell’s products, as well as maintaining ethical practices, respect and dignity.

Meeting digital demands

Dell’s PowerEdge server portfolio was also designed to further innovation and help meet today’s digital transformation demands via a secure infrastructure that supports diverse workloads as well as business objectives.

These servers deliver adaptive compute, with purpose-built systems and software that has been optimised for the latest technology advancements across processor, memory, networking, storage and acceleration.

Furthermore, the servers feature a range of innovations to meet every organisation’s unique business needs. Companies no longer have to apply a one-size-fits-all approach to their infrastructure, which helps them innovate, adapt and grow.

In addition, Dell’s PowerEdge servers help to address the complexity brought by today’s modern applications and workplaces by offering end-to-end solutions that work together seamlessly. Dell describes the PowerEdge range as the engine that fuels innovation across its entire solution portfolio.

PowerEdge servers provide the foundation for agile, reliable, future-ready server infrastructure with a wide range of innovations that boost performance.

Addressing the pace of change

Today’s rapid pace of change means that organisations in every sector need to be able to keep up with evolving demands to remain ahead of the curve. Dell PowerEdge servers powered by Intel Xeon processors were built to allow businesses to add new technologies with no disruption.

For instance, organisations can quicken the implementation of complex, data-centric workloads with more rapid development, testing and deployment to hybrid cloud infrastructure, and integrate a range of processes into one system.

As workloads grow in complexity, CPU-hungry networking, security and storage workloads can slow processor performance. Dell PowerEdge servers support Intel SmartNICs, which offload these functions, freeing up cores to accelerate key workloads, improving performance and agility.

Moreover, to help companies adapt to the digital era, Dell PowerEdge servers offer high performance for a highly diverse set of applications from the edge to the cloud to the core.

The Dell PowerEdge xs line of servers, for example, provide configurations that facilitate extreme scale for virtualisation and cloud, as well as Al inferencing and analytics workloads.

Other energy enhancements

Dell Technologies’ PowerEdge servers feature a modular design approach. This disaggregated server design facilitates simplified separation, disposal and recycling of each component to lower e-waste and enhance sustainability.

The tech giant also helps companies lower their carbon footprint through the optimisation of production, distribution and end-of-life management, as well as making them more agile and efficient.

In terms of energy consumption control, Dell’s OpenManage Enterprise Manager tool enables entities to monitor the energy efficiency status of their servers, to promote greater overall performance.

Dell is also committed to compliance with environmental rules, and on top of supporting important ECO labels and design standards, the company has committed itself to a goal of net-zero by 2050.

Find out how we can help you build a more sustainable business with Dell PowerEdge servers. Contact [email protected] or [email protected] for more information.

About Pinnacle
Built on the foundation of entrepreneurial spirit, Pinnacle is South Africa’s leading ICT distribution company. We offer a broad range of world-class technology products seamlessly delivered across an expansive footprint. Everything we do is underpinned by our technical expertise, drive and determination – we call it delivering the exceptional.

For more information about Pinnacle, visit our website at www.pinnacle.co.za or contact our offices on +27-11-265-3000. You can also follow Pinnacle on Twitter or join us on Facebook and on LinkedIn.