University of York migrates data to EcoDataCenter, Sweden as part of green IT push

The University of York is set to migrate its high-performance computing (HPC) workloads to EcoDataCenter in an effort to reach net-zero.

With the University of York using its HPC capabilities for climate research, it decided it was time to shift its IT infrastructure to a greener colo site in support of its ambition to reach its net-zero goals.

Richard Fuller, assistant director at the University of York, said: “Given the university’s strong commitment to net-zero and the fact that our high-performance computing facility will be used for climate research, we were happy to find a partner with a clear focus on environmental sustainability and the capability and maturity to deliver.”

The determining factor in this move was to give the university access to sustainable infrastructure for high-energy-consuming IT, such as AI, machine learning, and high-performance computing (HPC). The university was looking at its next iteration of HPC and struggled to find a colocation facility that could meet its requirements locally, thus turning to the Nordics.

According to the University of York, this move has reduced its emissions from data by around 98 per cent.

EcoDataCenter and the University of York will also work together to raise knowledge about the increased sustainability requirements for HPC.

Dr. Emma Barnes, head of research IT at the University of York, concluded: “Sustainable research IT is a key principle of the University of York. In addition to optimizing the performance of both hardware and software, we need to look at the environmental impact of our work. We have to ask ourselves how we can contribute to positive change by making our supercomputing part of the ‘Green HPC’ movement.”