Business

Huawei shows that next-gen data centres are sustainable and smart

Published

3 years ago

June 9, 2022

Tech company, Huawei, has said that with the continuous development of fields such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and Big Data, data centres will only grow in scale and importance.

This is even as there is growing pressure on data centres to use less electricity and operate more sustainably, especially as economies in Africa and other regions look to decarbonise.

Critically, they will have to do so without compromising on performance or drastically increasing their physical footprints.

Huawei said this while revealing its definition of the Next-Generation Data Center Facility, and unveiling its new PowerPOD 3.0 data centre power supply system.

The new rollouts, not only reaffirms Huawei’s commitment to building low-carbon, smart data centres, it also underscores the fact that the next generation of data centres will be sustainable, simplified, autonomous driving, and reliable.

“At Huawei, we are ready and willing to do to contribute to green development in Africa,” Jason Xia Hesheng, President of Huawei Digital Power Southern Africa said during the launch.

“We have a proud tradition of ensuring that all our technologies are sustainable while pushing the boundaries of innovation.
It will allow customers to pursue some of the most transformative technologies such as 5G and AI while protecting the planet.”

The PowerPOD 3.0 enables data centres to do all of these things. It reduces the footprint of data centres by 40%, cuts their energy consumption by 70%, shortens the delivery period from 2 months to 2 weeks, and lowers the service level agreement (SLA) fault rate by 38%.

Africa in particular stands to benefit from systems such as the PowerPOD 3.0. Energy in particular presents a major challenge in Africa. Data centres consume anywhere between 2%-3% of the world’s power annually. This adds an additional strain on African countries’ grids.

Additionally, the average annual Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of data centres in Africa is 1.8, meaning that they aren’t as efficient as they could be. Something like the PowerPOD 3.0 could go a long way to bringing that score closer to the ideal of 1.0.

In addition, the system’s ability to bring down O&M costs could also prove significant, given that the initial construction of data centre accounts for just a third of its costs, with the other two-thirds coming from O&M.

With Africa set to have more than 600-million internet users and 360 million intelligent end-users by 2025, it will be critical that it not just use systems such as PowerPOD 3.0 to make its existing data centres more efficient, but also as a way of embracing the next generation of data centres, characterized by Sustainability, Simplification, Autonomous Driving and Reliability.

As Africa looks to balance population growth, urbanisation, and the desire to move forward on smart city initiatives with commitments to decarbonise, these kinds of next-generation data centres will be crucial. As the “heart” of the data centre, the power supply system should integrate and innovate all devices in the power supply chain.

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Business

Democracy Day: Fiscal Discipline Key To Nigeria’s Sustainable Devt – Auditor-General

Published

6 days ago

June 12, 2025

The Gleamer

…Urges National Assembly to Pass Audit Bill 2022

Joseph Bisi

As Nigerians commemorated a historic milestone in their collective pursuit of a more socio-economically robust nation, the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF), Shaakaa Kanyitor Chira, has implored the nation’s leaders and citizenry to intensify their efforts in championing the cause of fiscal discipline and accountability within the public finance system. In a brief conversation with journalists to mark the 2025 ‘Democracy Day’ on Thursday, the AuGF commended President Bola Tinubu’s administration for its ongoing fiscal and tax reform initiatives, describing these measures as essential for enhancing the nation’s revenue generation and budgetary expenditures. Chira explained that transforming the potential benefits of these reforms into tangible gains for the citizenry required more transparent fiscal mechanisms for the monitoring and evaluation of government expenditures, including the auditing processes and the timely appraisal of the Audit report by his Office, free from political interferences. He said: “Today’s Democracy Day is worthy of celebration, given the political history of the country and the prospects for sustainable development. Over the past few years, we have witnessed a series of reform initiatives by both past and present administrations aimed at improving the nation’s fiscal system, particularly under President Bola Tinubu, based on the current Tax Reforms and Fiscal Policy Bills that are being finalized by the National Assembly. “Let me emphasize that these measures are not merely desirable for Nigeria’s sustainable development; the enactment of the four pivotal bills will significantly contribute to stabilizing the financial system while also promoting transparency in public finance and prudent governance at all levels of government throughout the country. “It is imperative to underscore, however, that the role of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAuGF) in achieving these laudable objectives may be impeded if the Audit Bill currently before the National Assembly is not enacted into law. “The passage of the Bill, which seeks to augment the AuGF’s role in ensuring accountability, transparency and value for money in government expenditure while empowering the AuGF with administrative and financial autonomy, is crucial for enhancing transparency and accountability within Nigeria’s public finance system that aligns with International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAIs). “Therefore, I seize this opportunity to appeal to our lawmakers in the National Assembly to prioritize the passage of the Audit Bill as a strategic legislative initiative to achieve the commendable goals of the Tax Reforms and Fiscal Policy Bills they are presently finalizing,” the AuGF added.Experts are of the view that the Auditor-General’s call for the passage of the Audit Bill 2022 aligns with the OAuGF Strategic Plan 2024-2028, which encapsulates the objectives of the Office being the Supreme Audit Institution(SAI) of Nigeria, aimed at enhancing public sector governance and accountability. The four principal objectives of the Strategic Plan include Goal 1: Focusing on the enhanced independence and mandate of the OAuGF; Goal 2: to mitigate mismanagement of public funds through more robust follow-up on audit recommendations; Goal 3: to ensure improved financial reporting within the public sector; and Goal 4: to establish the OAuGF as a model institution not only in Nigeria but on a global scale.

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