Schneider Electric: Sustainability key for data center operators

It is becoming increasingly difficult for data center operators to meet sustainability goals and address their carbon footprint.

However, according to Harvard Business Review, 99% of large company CEOs agree that sustainability forms a vital part of their business' future success.

These were sentiments shared by Mourad Younes, Schneider Electric's cloud and service provider segment leader for the Middle East and Africa (MEA), shared these sentiments in an interview with Connecting Africa on the sidelines of Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town, South Africa.

"Sustainability in the data center environment will prove a significant consideration moving forward, especially given how much power such operations demand," he said.

The company showcased its prefabricated modular and micro data centers, which are designed for scalable and sustainable operations at Africa Tech Festival last month.

Schneider Electric believes sustainability in the data center environment should be a significant consideration. (Source: Image by benzoix on Freepik).

"Datacenter operators around the world are increasingly recognizing the importance of sustainability," Younes added.

"Schneider Electric is at the forefront of this transformation, offering solutions that enable datacenters to operate energy efficiently whilst meeting organizations' net zero goals," he continued.

Addressing delegates at the event, Younes emphasized the importance of prioritizing sustainability and said that Africa has a significant role to play in the world's efforts to establish sustainable data centers of the future.

"Schneider Electric strongly believes the combination of electrification and digitization forms the perfect equation for establishing sustainability," he added.

Data center boom in Africa

The call for sustainability in data center operations comes at a time when Africa has been seeing an uptick in the number of data centers built across the region.

Earlier this month, pan-African operator Airtel Africa launched its data center business, Nxtra by Airtel, on the continent.

Last month, Raxio Data Centres announced the official launch of its newest facility in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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Earlier in November 2023, west African connectivity and data center solutions provider MainOne also launched an expanded open access, carrier-neutral data center in Côte d'Ivoire.

In October 2023, Liquid Intelligent Technologies teamed up with carrier-neutral data center services provider, Wingu.Africa, to launch a second Azure hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) stack in Tanzania.

*Top image from left to right: Sasha Endemann, Evolution PR consultant; Mourad Younes, Schneider Electric MEA cloud and service provider segment leader; and Faith Waithaka, Schneider Electric East Africa cloud and service provider segment sales lead. (Source: Schneider Electric).

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa