The next big step for Danfoss’ digital transformation will be the building of new data centers, which are needed for a strong IT infrastructure to support the growth of the company. Danfoss will build its data centers with its own energy-efficient technologies as an inspiration for how to minimize the impact of increasing volumes of data on the climate. Currently, around 10% of the world's electricity is used on IT.

With an uptime of 99.999999999999⁶%, the most important thing is ensured: access to data and services 24/7. Danfoss will also get a taste of its own medicine by building new, energy-efficient data centers near the company’s headquarters. The facilities will house large and response-critical data volumes, which Danfoss produces in its new smart IT platforms as part of the company’s digital transformation.

“We are building a new, energy-efficient and cost-efficient home for our data and applications. At the same time, we are continuing our journey toward cloud services. The big challenge for the industry is to use the best from these two worlds: the data center’s potential to service the smart and highly specialized factory applications, and the “cloud's” constantly growing number of services and possibilities for scaling up and down. We are convinced that our hybrid solution, with a combination of data centers and a cloud, is the answer to how we can provide strong innovation and optimal efficiency in our end-to-end IT solutions,” said Sune Tornbo Baastrup, senior vice president and chief information officer, Danfoss.

The data centers are built as modules that will allow Danfoss to expand the centers as the need for data increases. Danfoss is the world leader when it comes to developing energy-efficient technologies, and the company’s data centers will be an example of how technology can be used to reduce energy consumption in these types of facilities.

Energy used for cooling can be halved

It is possible to save a large amount of the power that data centers use for cooling servers. Danfoss specializes in cooling technology and solutions that can save more than 50% of the energy that data centers use for cooling. Danfoss also has the technology for making use of the data centers’ excess heat and channeling it to the existing district heating grids, benefiting consumers — and the climate.

Danfoss and Hewlett Packard Enterprise have worked together for more than three decades, and the establishment of the data centers is a logical next step in the parties’ cooperation.

“Denmark has a high profile in the field of sustainable energy, and it has attracted data centers from global technology companies. Denmark is already the world leader when it comes to keeping the environmental consequences of cooling at an absolute minimum. We are very enthusiastic about our cooperation with Danfoss because we can see a dramatically increasing global potential for a climate-friendly data infrastructure,” says Carsten Regner Nielsen, managing director of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in Denmark.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise estimates that, globally, 10% of all electricity is used on the IT ecosystem, and that the continued increase of data volumes makes reducing the climate effects of digitization a high priority.

Danfoss is dedicated to the UN Global Compact and wants to make a difference through the company’s focus on and development of technologies that can contribute to resolving the challenges that the world now faces. One of the goals Danfoss is working toward is Principle 7 of the UN Global Compact for Sustainable Energy. Danish electricity consumption is expected to increase by approximately 24% by 2025. With data centers accounting for around half of that increase, energy-efficient technologies could make a dramatic difference.