The company JSC "Informacinės sistemos ir technologijos", which is based in the city of Šiauliai, manages the "Bacloud" brand and has renewed its data center last year by significantly expanding its area, and now it is moving on the fast pace into the use of renewable energy sources. According to the company's commerce executive Andrius Petkus, it is expected to complete the project within five years, which will allow the data center to use electricity only from renewable sources.
Recent years have been quite intense for the company - has invested more than 0.5 million euros last year and the company approximately doubled its data center premises where dedicated servers are kept. At the moment, depending on the size and technology, they can host an additional 1500 to 2000 physical servers, and in total there can be hosted about 4000 servers. What is more, all network nodes and infrastructure have been also completely renewed, reaching up to 100Gbps bandwidth.
"We didn't stop there and set the goal - to generate 100% of the energy used by the data center by ourselves from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. At the moment, detailed analysis and preparatory project works are on the way. We intend to invest our own funds and also hope to use EU support, as the implementation of the project will require significant investments", - notes A. Petkus.
He points out that data centers consume about 1% of the world's energy, so it is really important to prioritize green energy, reduce electricity consumption, save resources and move towards renewable energy.
"There is a clear trend around the world that more and more electricity will be produced from renewable sources, in that way to save nature and resources. We are well aware that if we are already big consumers of resources, then we must seek ways to use them economically and sustainably. Energy-efficient servers serve this purpose, as well as various cloud technology-based solutions and etc.", - says the interviewer.
Global trends
International studies show that intensive use of energy and seeking to compensate for an impact on the environment, remains a major challenge for the world's data centers, however, experts state that organizations in this sector are moving rapidly towards more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly activity. In the technology sector specializing consultations company "TechTarget" in its review outlines: that although energy consumption in data centers and cloud computing companies is constantly growing, yet, companies are seeking to balance this need by investing in green technologies.
Data centers in the European Union and internet operators, including giants such as "AWS", "Google" and "Equinix", 2021 confirmed an extremely ambitious goal - to become a neutral industry of climate change by 2030. This goal is linked to the European Green Deal strategy, and 25 EU-based operators have joined the initiative with 17 other industry associations.
What is more, the initiative names the most important steps toward the neutral activity of the climate change - it is the regular assessment of operational efficiency and pollution emissions, the use of 100% renewable energy sources, the involvement in a circular economy by repairing and recycling servers, as well as the use of excess heat.
The logo illustrates the sustainable activity
A. Petkus confirms that the focus on green energy and sustainable development is growing more and more, and will only increase in the future. "Bacloud" has already made some important changes in this direction - for example, the data center cooling system is based on outdoor air cooling that depends on weather conditions. Such applied cooling method does not use standard air conditioners, which emit rather big pollution emissions. Due to this "free cooling" technology - "Bacloud" is already a more environmentally friendly data center.
The sustainable activity goal is reflected in "Bacloud" business strategy and visual solutions - socially responsible customers pay attention to the green company logo and associate it with sustainability.
"It is obvious that a green logo does not mean that a company is doing a sustainable activity, but this color is associated with social responsibility and sustainability. We simply had a good idea and choosing such a logo was a good start. But the most important - is to act in accordance with the principles of sustainable development, especially in our segment, which is energy-intensive. Our actions are the foundation of our company’s reputation", - explains A. Petkus, one of the executives of "Bacloud".
In order to be more environmentally friendly, the company does not limit itself to the technological solutions related to the direct activity and involves the employees in environmental initiatives. Just recently, the team members of the company planted trees in the forest in the district of Šiauliai, encouraged by other initiatives to live in a cleaner and greener environment.
The brand - turned 10 this year
The "Bacloud" brand, which is known to foreign and Lithuanian customers - turned 10 this year. About 80% of company services are exported, most customers are located in Western Europe and Scandinavia, some of them - in the United States and Asia.
A. Petkus, the commerce executive of the company located in Šiauliai, notes that the internet - is global, so regardless of whether the data center is located in a country near you or even in the same city - the excellent optical network infrastructure in Europe ensures the required speed. There are also significant advantages in the city of Šiauliai, says "Bacloud's" commerce executive - great infrastructure, and in addition to this, there are the Šiauliai State University of Applied Science and VU Šiauliai Academy, which prepare the necessary specialists.
"Bacloud" not only provides hosting, cloud computing services and operates the data center, but it also offers continuous maintenance of IT systems for companies in the region of North Lithuania.