Mountain View, Calif.-based Pure Storage yesterday launched a new service level agreement (SLA) for its Evergreen//One offering, which it described as the “only energy efficiency guarantee in the enterprise storage-as-a-service (STaaS) market.”
According to a release, it guarantees energy efficiency for organizations of all sizes by enabling them to measure the maximum number of actual Watts per tebibyte (TiB). If the guaranteed Watts/TiB is not met, the customer can request “service credits and Pure Storage will execute remediation actions, including densification or consolidation, at no additional cost.”
The release went on to say that the enterprise storage industry has “long been burdened by substantial energy usage, high costs, short technology refresh cycles, forklift upgrades, unplanned downtime, and overall data storage complexity.
“Global enterprises, however, are on a path to embrace flexible, consumption-based operating models and modern services that both drive stronger value and efficiencies, and contribute to the overall reduction of environmental impact over time.”
A recent IT Sustainability Impact Survey conducted by Pure Storage revealed that 86 per cent of sustainability program directors indicated they cannot reach their sustainability goals without significantly reducing their technology infrastructure’s energy usage.
Based on a survey of 1,000 sustainability program directors located in the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany, findings showed that:
- Half of sustainability managers are behind on sustainability goals: Most sustainability managers – 78 per cent – say their company’s leadership is treating sustainability initiatives as a priority, with the majority planning to meet sustainability goals within three to seven years (56 per cent). However, only about half (51 per cent) of those surveyed say they are on track with their goals.
- Technology plays a critical, growing role in driving sustainability initiatives: An overwhelming 86 per cent of sustainability program managers agree that companies cannot reach their sustainability goals without significantly reducing their technology infrastructure’s energy usage. This problem will grow more dire, as 81 per cent predict the impact of technology infrastructure on a company’s carbon footprint will increase in the next 12 months.
- Misalignment of IT and sustainability teams in purchasing decisions: Even as tech’s carbon footprint grows, 59 per cent of respondents say vendors’ sustainability is likely to be overlooked during the vendor selection process. This could be allayed by getting sustainability managers’ input earlier, but nearly two-in-three (64 per cent) say they only become involved after the technology purchasing process has already begun.
- IT team support of company sustainability initiatives is dire: More than any other function (i.e. finance, leadership, operations), IT was identified as not taking the necessary steps to support their company’s sustainability goals (34 per cent). Only about half (51 per cent) say their IT team is taking proper considerations about sustainability when making decisions about technology purchases.
Scott Sinclair, practice director, infrastructure, cloud and DevOps with research firm Enterprise Strategy Group, said, “Sustainability has become a key pillar of IT strategies today, with an emphasis on reducing power and space to drive operational efficiencies and ultimately reach long-term ESG goals.
“By introducing an energy efficiency SLA into its storage-as-a-service offering, Evergreen//One, Pure Storage is providing an added and crucial layer of transparency for data storage, delivering a guaranteed measurement of actual Watts per TiB that will support a sustainable IT infrastructure.”