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Capturing the opportunity of AI while keeping an eye on sustainability with STaaS

Hitachi Vantara

April 19, 2024

The ever-growing tide of data, fueled by analytics and AI, places a significant strain on data center resources and increases energy consumption. With more stakeholder scrutiny and evolving regulations, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and U.S. regulations on the horizon, organizations are taking notice now more than ever before. As a result, organizations are prioritizing sustainability in their IT strategies.

According to Gartner® “Seventy-five percent of organizations will have implemented a data center infrastructure sustainability program driven by cost optimization and stakeholder pressures by 2027, up from less than 5% in 2022”**. This focus on eco-conscious IT aligns with broader corporate responsibility initiatives. According to IDC, a significant portion (26%) of IT decision-makers now base purchasing decisions on a vendor's commitment to sustainability.

This is where Storage as a Service (STaaS) emerges as a powerful tool for sustainable data management because it helps with energy-conscious IT planning. The move to modernize your data center can result in real sustainability benefits. And with STaaS, these benefits do not create added costs, quite the opposite. OPEX purchasing, lower total cost of ownership and the ability to tie costs to actual use to avoid over-provisioning translate into business efficiencies and cost savings. Add to this that STaaS is fully managed means organizations are better able to realize their data center transformation goals even with existing skills and resource gaps.

The sustainability advantages of STaaS extend beyond cost savings:

  1. Reduced Energy Consumption. Features such as hybrid array reduce data center resource consumption by including multiple storage tiers within the same storage rack footprint. Organizations can use STaaS to leverage co-located data centers with state-of-the-art energy efficiencies to add capacity.
  2. Streamlined Data Management: Optimized data processing tools such as deduplication and compression can minimize storage requirements, reducing the amount of storage space and resources needed. With third-party management keeping an eye on utilization through automated workflow execution and performance, organizations can operate more efficiently.
  3. Better Planning. The ability to add more storage only when needed helps organizations avoid over-allocation and over-provisioning—both costly and resource-wasteful.
  4. E-Waste Reduction: Managed hardware maintenance and equipment disposal means that hardware life gets extended, and hardware is repurposed to the highest degree possible.

Hitachi Vantara’s StaaS offering, part of the EverFlex portfolio, provides a comprehensive solution for sustainable digital transformation. By supporting hybrid environments with on-premises and at co-located as well as cloud management, STaaS empowers organizations to optimize resource utilization, reduce energy consumption, and achieve their business goals – all while demonstrating a commitment to environmental responsibility.

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