After three years of R&D, DataQube Global Ltd, developer of the world’s first standalone edge data centre module, deployed the first modular data centre in Cambridge that reduces CO2 emissions by 56%, in June 2021. “Today, the Internet already consumes 10% of the world’s electricity, and if we don’t change the way data centres are built, this figure could rise to 50% by 2030,” explains Philippe Rechsteiner, CFO of DataQube. “The solution developed by DataQube makes it possible to halve the power consumption of data centres, which is enormous. Without this major innovation, it will be almost impossible to reverse the current trend.”
In addition to greatly minimising energy consumption, DataQube can deliver its data centres in six months compared to eighteen for its competitors. ” Apart from ultra-fast delivery, upstream manufacturing also halves the cost of manufacturing a data centre. This low-cost solution enables the advent of local digital consumption through data centres deployed as close as possible to the end-user. By drastically reducing data transport, which alone accounts for a third of the electricity consumed by the Internet, DataQube promotes short circuits in digital consumption, which is another important factor in making the Internet more ecologically sound.
Like bricks that can be freely assembled, the DataQube modules can take any shape and be installed inside existing buildings. By focusing on the recycling of abandoned urban infrastructures, DataQube avoids the construction of a concrete shell and eliminates another major source of CO2, labour, and pollution. DataQube’s optimal PUE advantages facilitate its easy deployment in a wide range of internal and external locations at the edge of the network, where the installation of traditional infrastructures is neither feasible nor financially viable.
This radically innovative approach is designed to respond to the exponential growth in data generated by the increasing number of users and, above all, the digitalisation of the economy: dematerialisation, machine-to-machine, Deep Learning, artificial intelligence, quantum computers, etc.
Thanks to an initial investment of €26 million from RGREEN INVEST’s INFRAGREEN IV fund, dedicated to financing the energy transition and adaptation to climate change, DataQube will be able to accelerate the marketing of its modules. For RGREEN INVEST, which has already invested more than €800 million in green infrastructure and renewable energy, this is the first investment in the energy-efficient data centre sector.
“We are delighted to have the support of an investor with a proven track record in green infrastructure and technology,” said David Keegan, CEO of DataQube. “Our goal is to provide the data centre industry with a solution that has a significantly reduced environmental footprint. To date, the measures taken have been woefully inadequate and the overall energy consumption of the Internet continues to increase by 5-7% per year. The only way to have a real impact is to use this new generation of data centres developed by DataQube.”
DataQube has chosen to develop in Luxembourg to provide a solution to large companies, data centre operators or telecom providers who wish to deploy computing power at the foot of their antennas to generate high value-added services. DataQube emerges as the solution for deploying local data centres that are not only virtuous but also profitable.
