The pace of development in digital infrastructure is very fast. Infrastructure design and construction must be carefully planned and considered to be more sustainable.

The balance between running businesses that are enduring, profitable, serve all stakeholders – including customers and employees – while remaining sustainable, and running the business in a way that is expected, is a key emphasis for leaders.

In this interview, Global Client Director, Data Centres & Telco at Aurecon, Simon McFadden discusses the impact of data collection and sustainability. In addition to more data moving to the cloud, there is tension between the impact on carbon intensity and the large amount of data being generated. Each time a piece of data is collected, it has to be stored and replicated, there is an incurred debt.

Decisions need to be made about what happens if the information changes before collecting it. It is about being selective about the data collected and being decisive.

The cost of data is not free. In addition to the dollar amount, there is also a time cost, which ultimately translates to a monetary cost.

 

Key Takeaways:

  • Data-based decisions have a time and dollar cost associated with them, so we should be aware of that when we make them.
  • The biggest challenge is the pace – more and more data are generated and infrastructure is needed to support it and also keep it redundant. Due to its 24/7 availability, it requires a lot of time and focus. As far as cloud providers and colocation providers are concerned, there is a lot of competition for capacity.
  • Instead of prioritising your schedule, you should schedule your priorities. With that finite amount of time, knowing the targets to become carbon neutral first and carbon free thereafter can help us to determine how to spend it.
Contributors
Shane Hill Principal Research Analyst at ADAPT
Shane manages ADAPT’s research agenda and is responsible for driving survey evolution.​ He has over 20 years of experience in technology delivery... More

Shane manages ADAPT’s research agenda and is responsible for driving survey evolution.​

He has over 20 years of experience in technology delivery and market intelligence roles. This includes over six years serving technology and services providers at Gartner.​

Shane has deep knowledge of the UK and Australian markets, across financial services, government, professional services and energy/utilities sectors.​

As an IT services expert, he is equipped to advise organisations as they commoditise technology foundations to then differentiate through world-class experiences.​

Shane builds on this expertise to advise on practical ESG, data & AI, and the application modernisation strategies required to realise those aims.​

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Simon McFadden Global Client Director, Data Centres & Telco at Aurecon
With over 20 years’ experience in Australia and Europe in the delivery of major telecommunications and utilities infrastructure projects, in engineering, commercial,... More

With over 20 years’ experience in Australia and Europe in the delivery of major telecommunications and utilities infrastructure projects, in engineering, commercial, sales, and business development roles, I am now working with clients in the data centre and telecommunications sector as Aurecon’s Client Director, Data & Telco.

Some highlights: creating a joint venture to develop an 800MW gas fired power plant in northern Poland (initial equity of 25m euro); acquiring land for a 800MW power plant in the UK (12m GBP) via an option; acquiring tower portfolios for Crown Castle in Australia; leading a team to forecast UK electricity prices for a 1bn euro business case; and leading growth of 75% in annual rent in BA’s site sharing business.

My skills are in commercial management, sales, negotiation, acquisitions, leading teams, project management and business development.

Current clients include Telstra, Amazon, Vodafone NZ, Spark NZ, Singtel Optus, NEXTDC, Equinix.

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