An Internet of Things and data-driven approach to data centers

Abstract

Data centers are a fundamental part of modern society, as they ensure that today's ICT services are available and responsive. The current trends show that data centers are increasing in size, which corresponds with an increase in their already significant energy footprint. As governments around the globe struggle to achieve their desired sustainability goals, the need for efficient and sustainable data centers is urgent. The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm plays an important role in increasing the efficiency and sustainability of buildings. The smart home and office domains demonstrate the successful application of IoT in order to achieve energy savings through continuous monitoring and optimization of the building environment. Extending these techniques to the data center domain promises to bring the smartness previously seen in homes and offices to the data center. However, there are challenges that need to be overcome before the concept of a smart and optimized data center becomes a reality. In this thesis, a number of these challenges are addressed from a data-driven and IoT point of view.