FlexPod: Where great power comes with great data center sustainability

As the philosopher Marshal McLuhan said, “There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.”

And as a crew, we need to address recent natural disasters. We’ll need some time to compute the economic and human toll of the January 2025 Southern California wildfires. On the other end of the spectrum, in the Eastern Hemisphere, winter vacation towns in Northern India recently recorded a rare, early, and heavy snowfall, trapping thousands of tourists on roads for many days. The near-simultaneous occurrence of such diametrically opposite natural disasters is a(nother) reminder that climate change is real, and it’s serious. And a vast majority of scientists agree that it’s caused by us—humans.

According to the International Energy Agency, data centers are responsible for approximately 2% to 4% of the energy consumption in major economies, with projections indicating that it could rise significantly as digital services expand. Because the world isn’t sufficiently generating green energy yet, this energy consumption results in the emission of millions of tons of greenhouse gases each year. And the operation of data centers generates significant heat and noise, which in turn requires cooling systems that further increase the energy use and environmental impact and that generate additional heat and noise themselves.

The claim that cloud computing is inherently green is a myth. Taking a data center to the cloud can appear to be more eco-friendly than it actually is. Ultimately, “the cloud,” at its core, is merely huge server farms, comprising hundreds of data centers running millions of servers that are owned, operated, and maintained by some hyperscalers on their physical premises. It’s just that the “out of sight” aspect is also often “out of mind.” Ignoring the Scope 3 emissions behind “the cloud” is an example of externalization of responsibility.

But going back to the Stone Age won’t solve our problem, either. We need the modern world to sustain the 8 billion human beings who exist and the few billion more who will be born soon. Therefore, we need to make our existing way of living compatible with preserving the Earth for future generations. We have significantly affected the environment during the past two or three centuries, and we can’t undo the effects overnight. Our sustainability initiatives need to gradually intensify. Therefore, our sustainability efforts must chase a moving target, not a static goal.

FlexPod enhances data center sustainability. The FlexPod^® converged infrastructure is a solution that was jointly developed by Cisco and NetApp, and it’s designed to optimize your data center efficiency and scalability. FlexPod integrates Cisco networking and computing technologies with NetApp^® storage solutions into a single, flexible architecture. This prevalidated, standardized platform simplifies deployment, management, and scaling of your IT resources, enhancing performance while reducing your operational costs and energy consumption.

Following is an overview of some of the sustainability aspects of FlexPod. For an in-depth look at the efficiencies and innovation in this platform, check out the recently published white paper that details the sustainability value of FlexPod.

FlexPod offers full-stack sustainability by integrating innovative technologies and design principles across compute, storage, and networking components to help your organization reduce its environmental impact and to enhance efficiency. The FlexPod architecture uses the midplane-free design of the Cisco UCS X-Series, which simplifies physical connections and reduces the need for extensive infrastructure. The UCS X-Series also supports innovations like liquid cooling and energy-efficient CPUs, reducing your power consumption and cooling requirements.

At the same time, NetApp^® AFF storage systems provide high storage density and efficiency. The use of SSDs reduces your power consumption and physical space requirements. Technologies like deduplication, compression, and thin provisioning further enhance your storage efficiency, reducing your overall environmental footprint.

FlexPod also uses a converged fabric approach, which consolidates networking, storage, and management traffic into a single network. This approach reduces the number of switches, adapters, ports, and cables that you need, leading to lower power consumption and fewer resources used. By consolidating workloads on high-density, energy-efficient hardware, FlexPod also minimizes the number of physical servers and storage devices that you need. This consolidation reduces energy consumption, heat generation, and space requirements, contributing to a more sustainable data center.

FlexPod components come with built-in features and optional settings that are also designed to enhance sustainability. For instance, NetApp ONTAP^® data management software enables fine-tuning of temperature-sensitive storage parameters and automatic tiering of cold data, optimizing your energy usage and reducing your environmental impact.

Sustainability for life. Both Cisco and NetApp are committed to sustainability beyond just energy efficiency. With the Cisco Takeback and Reuse Program, nearly 100% of returned products are reused or recycled. And NetApp’s packaging and product lifecycle management practices aim to reduce waste and to promote recycling.

Financial sustainability. The modular and adaptable design of FlexPod enables seamless upgrades and the integration of future technologies, without the need for disruptive changes. This feature maintains long-term sustainability by extending hardware lifespans and by reducing the need for frequent replacements. It also enables you to cost-effectively make your data center more sustainable.

Sustainability as a moving target. FlexPod depends on tools like Cisco Intersight and the NetApp BlueXP^™ control plane to provide real-time visibility into energy consumption, power usage, and environmental metrics. The BlueXP sustainability dashboard gives you intelligent insights into your power use, energy consumption, storage optimization, and more. It generates a top-line sustainability score that evolves over time, so your organization can track your progress and implement recommended actions to enhance sustainability. With these platforms, your administrators can continually monitor your sustainability parameters and obtain actionable intelligence to make informed decisions to improve your data center’s efficiency.

Start working toward greater data center sustainability today:

• For more information, you can contact me directly.
• Join Cisco Live in San Diego, June 8–12, 2025, and the NetApp INSIGHT^® conference in Las Vegas, October 13–15, 2025. You can interact face-to-face with our sustainability experts and learn more about how to make your data center more sustainable.