Outages are good places to reboot?

Pratima H

BANGALORE, INDIA: As cliche as the line may sound - with great power, sure comes great responsibility. When applied in a data centre or IT department or a bus transit spot specifically, this responsibility takes many dimensions – costs, energy, scalability and a lot more.

ABB India, a power and automation company, is making some very notable advances in the use of flash-charging stations, industrial robots, smart grids, micro-grids and other avant garde technologies.

We got the chance to chat with Dr Giandomenico Testi, CTO, ABB India Ltd on his India visit last week and discovered why or why not it is too early for India or an IT function to fiddle with super-capacitors, robotics and industrial sensors; and where in passing, he also shared gleanings from the Delta incident. Excerpts.

What, in your view, are some really impactful changes that the industry is going through and what makes them relevant for ABB?

Let’s look at data centres to start with. Our lives, whether directly or indirectly, have become so dependent on them. You think anything – banking, shopping, travel – and it connects to a data centre somewhere. We at ABB, are not like Google, Microsoft or Telcos here but we have the tech infrastructure for this promising line of business. Data centres operate on power and we mean mega watts there. Our portfolio connects with high-level switch gear, connecting with networks and handling peak loads. In general, we can reduce costs and extend performance. We are also working on microgrid concepts to take care of needs that will arise down the road – like back-up and renewable sources of power, coupled with energy storage of power. Most data centres face heat-loss issues. On one side, optimisation of servers is a requirement and on the other, there is need for ample cooling. Power plays a vital role here besides its significance in areas like connectivity, storage etc. Hence the focus on future-proof bets strategies like renewables etc.

Also, as we move ahead little pieces which may look tiny now will become important. Like distribution, switches and other factors that make a server run. The industry is in a continuous struggle for reducing energy consumption but that can be empowered only with better planning and automation.

How much can automation help?

System monitoring and other automation areas make a lot of impact in availability of power and managing heat transfer. It is a subject of continuous development and IoT (Internet of Things) platforms also help here.

Dr Giandomenico Testi

Speaking of availability, Delta Airlines recently struggled through a similar issue thanks to a switch-glitch in a server hairballing into a major business outage. Any observations?

We discussed the issue in an event about data centres here and there is a good chance to learn about getting better prepared and about risk-readiness.. Data centres are classified in tiers so what comes to my mind right now are three reckonings based on the episode. First, the risk can be huge and one has to consider cybersecurity in a new light as we move forward on technology. Second, the more these systems become pervasive in our lives, the less we can take them for granted. An airline cannot treat such an area as a spare source. Redundancy requirements are critical for planning about data centres. Redundancy should be proportionate to the criticality of function or operations. Third, one can also think of cloud which can provide a good level of redundancy and one that is independent of any physical location. However, that is a high-level architectural consideration.

ABB has been making lots of headlines in the use of super-capacitors in some smart cities‘ transport initiatives. What’s your assessment of the concept and how soon can IT gain from it?

Quick chargers that address infrastructure problems in a green way are quite attractive and they align well with micro-grids and next-generation of connectors. They would have very little to do with data centres and IT as of now, though. They are gradually becoming more and more powerful and compact from an energy storage perspective. So their scope can be complimentary. If we are thinking of use in a western country where outage happens for a few minutes then you need energy-intensive back-up systems. That’s where super-capacitors can fulfill the job. But in a country like India, where power interruptions differ in time duration, then they may not align too well. However, they can have a good use for areas like monitoring, control or high-voltage data centres.

Can industries here embrace robotics?

A robot can work side by side and that’s how high-quality robots can become colleagues. Indian market is very much ready for that kind of offering that we already provide. Many of our development pieces come out of the India centre itself and much of the software work for some substantial technologies happens here. The market readiness is ripe for robotics and IIoT (Industrial IoT) barring some cases of resistance, but that is a scenario everywhere.

How does India fare on data centre and energy parts of the market? Specially on renewables?

With a target of 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022, India turns out to be one of the most attractive markets in the world to leverage this trend for the growth of datacentres. When you look at the efficient functioning of datacentres, reliable and uninterrupted supply of power is a key prerequisite. Look at how an average data center uses thirty times more energy per square foot than office buildings. There is also that need for more computational power which is often resolved by adding servers.

Now, inevitably, what happens is that rack space is maxed out and data center managers have to come up new ways for capacity expansion and value optimisation from every square foot. In fact, renewable energy is now a strong consideration point for many data-center operators because it packs the potential for lower-cost energy and provides an alternative to the grid in areas where reliability is an issue.

I am happy to say that as much as 50 per cent of India’s renewable energy passes through ABB equipment. Our expertise spans across connection, integration of renewables to power distribution and protection besides management systems, taking the efficiency of Indian datacenters to the next level.

Where do micro-grids fit in and what makes the timing right?

When the volatility of renewable energy triggers problems, microgrids technology can offer an approach that balances multiple resources such as the grid, diesel generation, and renewables. This is happening mainly in remote communities or industrial facilities where grid-delivered power is particularly expensive or unreliable. What Microgrid technology does is give a new option of leveraging localized sources of energy with distributed generation and consumption. This makes sense in many energy-dark regions and the Indian government is exploring renewable energy powered micro and mini-grids to enhance access to electricity there.

I feel that data centers will increasingly embrace the concept as this technology evolves to further simplify microgrid management. For instance, ABB has set up India’s first urban multi-source microgrid pilot to power its global customer connect event in New Delhi, last year.