EXECUTIVE INSIGHT
Q . NETAPP ’ S RESEARCH SHOWS THAT 41 % OF DATA IN THE UK IS UNUSED OR UNWANTED . WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS ?
» “ It all boils down to cost because that data has to be stored somewhere . Over the last decade , we ’ ve seen infrastructure costs , particularly storage , steadily decline , while the cost of people has steadily increased . Many companies have simply solved the problem by buying more infrastructure rather than addressing the underlying issues . But the reality is that they ’ re building increasingly expensive environments to maintain , and the people needed to support them are becoming more costly .
“ Looking at some of the large organisations I ’ ve worked with , their IT budgets have nearly doubled in the last ten years . This is largely because they ’ ve continued to invest in more infrastructure and more people to manage it , rather than addressing the root causes of data growth and management inefficiencies .”
Q . WHAT ARE THE ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS OF THIS DATA WASTE ?
» “ The statistics are quite stark . By 2030 , it ’ s expected that 8 % of the world ’ s electricity will be consumed by the IT industry . That ’ s a terrifying figure . Many organisations are looking for technologies with lower power consumption and are upgrading to more efficient solutions , but few are changing the fundamental way they design and deploy their architecture . That ’ s where a big opportunity lies .
“ For NetApp , this is a significant differentiator . We approach this by asking how we can use the three components of core data centre technology , software , and hyperscalers to achieve the best balance between cost and sustainability . This is why we ’ re seeing more customers engaging in these conversations . They want to buy less storage , but they ’ re generating more and more data .”
Q . CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT NETAPP ’ S OFFERINGS TO HELP BUSINESSES MANAGE THESE CHALLENGES ?
» “ I ’ d break it down into three main areas , but overall , we ’ re providing
24 September 2024