Management Magazine

SERVERS FOR THE PLANET

Kauricone, an Auckland-based technology company, has announced a breakthrough in energy efficient computer servers. Addressing the problem of excess energy consumption by servers used in business for applications and Internet of Things, and especially data centres, a statement from Kauricone says it has curated a range of servers that use significantly less energy.

The company says the compact servers have a smaller physical footprint and emit less heat, leading to reduced space, power, and cooling costs.

As well as reducing energy demand, the new servers use less rare earth elements in the manufacturing process and have a longer life span, allowing the company to offer a longer warranty and a cradle-to-cradle take-back scheme at end of life.

It says the servers are fast, reliable, easy to run, and easy to program using Kauricone’s new high level programming language.

One feature of Kauricone’s servers is the absence of a fancy case and Kauricone’s founder Mike Milne says the business is striving to do more with less.

“Building efficient technology, while reducing our impact onthe planet has never been more important, and this requires usto challenge convention. Kauricone will continue to drive new technology, and strive for a 100 percent circular business model. Servers returned at end of life will be redeployed rather than sent to landfill.”

Focusing on data centres, Milne notes that they contribute tothree percent of global carbon emissions. This is contributed to by social media, where posts, pictures and videos are stored somewhere in a data centre. The servers that make the whole system work require large amounts of power to run and keep cool, all of which is contributing to a rapid increase in electricity consumption.

With regard to the manufacturing process, Milne says that the manufacture of tech hardware is diminishing global reserves of rare earth elements at an alarming rate. To add to this problem, only 38 percent of tech hardware is recycled, and the rest goes back to landfill. He says the servers have a physical footprint “a fraction the size of a traditional server, yet powerful enough to run any business.”

He adds: “Unconventional – yes, but better for people, the planet, and business.”