Three unlocks 12.5% data centre cooling energy reduction

Three UK, the mobile network with the largest 5G spectrum in the UK and recognised by Ookla as having the UK’s fastest 5G network, has deployed EkkoSense’s EkkoSoft Critical data centre optimisation software to secure a 12.5% cooling energy reduction in just ten weeks across its legacy sites.

Using the AI-enabled SaaS visualisation and analytics software ensures the rapid thermal optimisation of Three’s four UK legacy facilities. EkkoSoft Critical’s real-time operational visibility helps Three’s data centre operations team to identify exactly where specific cooling optimisation actions are needed. This has already resulted in initial cooling energy savings of 200 kW against a 196 kW projection, while also helping the Three data centre team to meet a corporate demand for 5% total energy saving across its legacy sites.

Three is committed to building a better connected world to enable a more sustainable and inclusive future. This includes taking action on climate change and involves measuring carbon emissions and setting a carbon reduction strategy to reduce them. Critical data centre facilities are an important part of this initiative, and Three is working consistently to optimise energy performance and reduce footprint.

“Following initial discussions with our partner CBRE we identified that improved cooling efficiency was one of the most effective ways to help optimise our data centre energy performance and secure environmental improvements. As a result, we selected EkkoSense, the data centre performance optimisation specialists, to help us on this project,” explained Three’s Data Centre Operations and Service Readiness Manager, Shamim Mohamed. “The EkkoSense team conducted an initial survey that suggested we could initially unlock a combined 196 kW saving – equating to an annual energy saving of 1,716,960 kWh.

“We set a 10-week timeframe for the project, and were pleased that EkkoSense was able to deliver the initial optimisation phase in just six weeks,” added Shamim. “With the EkkoSoft Critical software fully deployed, the thermal optimisation project performed ahead of our initial expectations, with the data centre cooling savings alone enabling us to meet our corporate energy savings targets for our legacy sites. This has enabled us to target annual energy savings of around £233,000 - meaning we’ve also been able to target an overall project ROI of under 12 months. Taking advantage of the powerful Cooling Advisor AI-driven embedded advisory tool within EkkoSoft Critical will also help ensure we keep our cooling optimisation on track going forward.”

“It’s great that Three has been able to achieve its initial cooling energy savings targets with EkkoSense, however we’re now keen to see how the data centre operations team takes advantage of EkkoSoft Critical’s optimisation capabilities going forward,” added EkkoSense’s CEO Dean Boyle. ”Our software’s ability to provide much more granular insight into cooling and thermal performance will give the Three data centre team much more control over how the company manages its four legacy sites over the next three years.”

EkkoSense’s powerful machine learning and AI-powered optimisation technology works by analysing thousands of temperature and cooling points in real-time across Three’s legacy data centre sites to identify where levels of cooling can be tweaked. The software also increases the level of thermal insight available to operations team, helping to uncover areas of thermal risk that were not being picked up by BMS systems.