Intel’s IT Chief Technology Officer Shesha Krishnapura sat down for a Q&A with Data Center Dynamic’s Kisandka Moses to discuss Intel’s cost-efficient data center strategy and how it’s designed to balance improvement in quality of service (QoS), lowest unit cost and resource utilization efficiency.
Q: It is widely reported that Intel’s data center strategy, which began almost ten years ago, has resulted in up to $2.8bn in savings. Can you pinpoint any one project which contributed the most to a record reduction in cost?
A: When we published our paper last year, the savings totaled $2.8 billion from a period between 2010 to the end of 2018. We have now updated our data through the end of 2019 and can report that we have achieved a cost savings of $3.8 billion. This stems from our efforts to turn an old Intel fabrication plant into a hyperscale data center as opposed to adopting cloud.
However, looking at any one project would not provide an accurate calculation. You need to also look at facility efficiencies versus the projects conducted in other areas.
If you look at Intel, having our own energy efficient data center versus the use of a co-located or externally leased data center, it costs only 54% to operate our datacenter when compared to the same amount of capacity in other options.
This figure is based on a total cost of facility operating cost measurement, which includes the capital depreciation costs, electricity, water and maintenance bills.
