Have you heard of CO2 neutral data protection?
Data centers consume vast amounts of electricity for servers, cooling, and infrastructure, with most receiving their power from traditional sources such as nuclear, coal or gas. This is not just old-fashioned; it also emits a huge amount of CO2 which causes climate change. That is why Cristie Data are making the future of data protection carbon neutral. This time we sat down with Cristie Data CTO Christof Gedig to learn more about our partnership with windCORES and what CO2 neutral data protection means.
Q: Christof, what exactly is CO2 neutral data protection?
A: CO2 neutral data protection is the provision of data backup, archive and cyber resilience technologies which are powered from a renewable energy source such as wind or solar that does not emit harmful CO2 into the environment.
Q: How are Cristie Data providing CO2 neutral data protection?
A: Through our partnership with windCORES we have implemented data center solutions directly within the base of wind turbines. We offer a variety of CO2 neutral backup and archive solutions in conjunction with our technology partners which can also include the latest cyber resilience technologies depending on the security goals and risk profiles of our customers. These solutions can also utilize tape storage technology located within the windmill, as we discussed previously, tape is itself a very energy efficient solution for data backup and protection.
Q: Do customers have to purchase their own equipment to take advantage of our CO2 neutral solutions?
A: Customers can take advantage of our CO2 neutral data protection solutions immediately without any upfront costs or the need to purchase equipment. Through the Criste READY program we can deliver fully customised solutions with a “pay-per-use” model. Customers of the READY program simply pay for what they use in terms of data protection services. The READY program combines the latest data protection technologies with Cristie support and professional services into a simple monthly OPEX based solution. We are of course flexible, if a customer for whatever reason wishes to consider colocation of their own equipment in the windfarm, we can discuss options for that also.
Q: Does Cristie CO2 neutral data protection come with additional benefits?
A: Yes, there are several additional benefits:
- Physical security: Due to the remote location of our windfarm data centers, any unwanted visitors would find it very difficult to go unnoticed. Physical security for our data center facilities is therefore very high.
- Structural integrity and protection against natural disasters: Our windfarm data center facilities are housed within the base of wind turbine towers designed for high structural integrity, also due to their elevated location, the chance of disruption through natural disasters such as a storm causing flooding would be extremely unlikely.
- Data sovereignty: Our windfarm data centers are in Germany so our customers can be assured that their data can remain geographically secure if data sovereignty is important.
- Connectivity: Each windfarm data center is connected to a redundant 400 Gbit/s Internet backbone into Frankfurt.
- Resilient S3 Cloud Service: Customers can protect their S3 based data with solutions such as S3 data backup and archive direct to tape within the windmill.
- Cyber Recovery: Our windfarm hosting solution can serve as a cyber recovery location in the event of a cyberattack. These same technologies can be implemented by us on customer premises if desired.
- Cloud Service Data Protection: Many businesses mistakenly believe their SaaS data (like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace) is automatically backed up. This leaves them vulnerable to accidental deletion, cyberattacks, and other data loss events. Cristie Data can provide protection for customer’s SaaS data with backup hosted in the windmill. We offer comprehensive backup solutions for Microsoft 365, Salesforce®, Dynamics 365, Azure Active Directory, Virtual Machines, Google Workspace, and more. SaaS providers primarily guarantee service uptime, not your data’s safety. Cristie Data bridges this gap, ensuring that critical cloud data is always recoverable.
Q: Does Cristie CO2 neutral data protection help the windfarm to improve the efficiency of its operations?
A: That is a very good question, and the answer is yes it does. If you ever happen to see a windfarm turbine motionless on a windy day it could be stopped for maintenance, however, occasionally the grid may produce more electricity than needed (from various sources, not just wind). In this case, some wind turbines may be stopped temporarily to balance supply and demand. With our data protection solutions hosted directly within the turbine there is always a demand for power, therefore the turbines can continue to produce renewable energy when they might otherwise have been required to stop to balance grid demand.
Q: Thanks Christof, Cristie CO2 neutral data protection sounds like a very innovative solution and the future direction for data center sustainability, where can customers go for further information?
A: We have several resources on our website covering both our data protection and cyber resilience solutions plus details of our windfarm hosting in partnership with windCORES, below are a selection of links to further information.
Benefits of Cristie windfarm data centers.
Details of the Cristie READY program “pay-per-use” model for data protection and cyber resilience solutions.
An overview of Cristie’s Backup & Archive solutions.
Cybersecurity solutions from Cristie.
Details of the Cristie READY program “pay-per-use” model for data protection and cyber resilience solutions.
An overview of Cristie’s Backup & Archive solutions.
Cybersecurity solutions from Cristie.
