Virgin Media 02 has made data centre cooling energy savings worth more than £1 million per year due to its partnership with EkkoSense.
This represents an average 15 per cent saving in data centre cooling energy, with EkkoSense’s software helping to secure savings equivalent to 760 tonnes of carbon dioxide using location-based Scope 2 accounting.
Virgin Media O2 engaged EkkoSense to give its operations teams a real-time view of thermal, power and capacity performance across 20 key UK data centre sites. EkkoSense uses a light-touch AI-enabled software-driven approach that enables organisations to optimise their data centre performance while achieving quantifiable sustainability results.
Virgin Media O2 is working to reduce its energy usage across its operations by using technology and innovation to become more energy efficient and sources renewable energy to minimise its environmental impact. It’s a key element of its sustainability strategy, the Better Connections Plan, where Virgin Media O2 is also working to achieve net zero carbon emissions across Scopes 1,2 and 3 by the end of 2040.
Adrian Lazenby, head of technical site engineering and delivery at Virgin Media O2, said, “Virgin Media O2 is committed to reducing its impact on the planet by cutting carbon emissions and rolling out energy saving measures across the business.
“In partnership with EkkoSense, we’ve optimised our data centres so they operate efficiently, using real-time data so we can make airflow and cooling improvements, resulting in significant cooling energy savings.”
The EkkoSense solution uses low-cost IoT sensors to provide the SaaS platform with valuable data and, using machine learning, provides AI analytics, gaming-class 3D visualisation and digital twin capabilities. The technology is backed by embedded advisory support including EkkoSense’s PhD-level thermal and engineering experts and sector expertise.
“With our software collecting thousands of data points every five minutes – adding to the millions of data points already collected, we’re able to continually refine the effectiveness of our machine learning algorithms for Virgin Media O2,” said Dean Boyle, EkkoSense’s CEO. “Having access to this level of real-time insight means that Virgin Media O2’s operations team are able to track how their data centres are performing from a cooling, power and capacity perspective. They are also able to identify further energy optimisation opportunities in terms of cooling energy usage and overall savings.”
EkkoSoft Critical enables data centre operations teams and co-location providers to remove thermal and power risk, minimise cooling energy usage and costs, and support corporate ESG and sustainability programmes through quantifiable carbon savings.