Digital Realty expands AI-Powered Energy Efficiency Platform to Asia Pacific

Digital Realty has expanded its Apollo in-house artificial intelligence (AI) platform, to Asia Pacific. This strategic move aims to enhance energy efficiency across the company’s global portfolio.

Digital Realty built its Apollo AI platform leveraging facility-level data to support data-driven decision-making, enabling the business to make energy efficiency improvements across its portfolio. The initial Apollo pilot commenced in late 2019 with two European sites, and it is now deployed to 16 sites across six countries in Europe. Digital Realty plans to double Apollo’s footprint by the end of 2024. Notably, this expansion marks the platform’s debut in Asia Pacific, with one site in Melbourne and one site in Singapore.

“We’re delighted to expand the usage of our Apollo AI platform to the Asia Pacific region,” said Digital Realty Chief Technology Officer Chris Sharp. “We’re dedicated to continually improving the energy efficiency of our data centers in order to reach our global science-based emission reduction targets. Apollo helps us to achieve these goals while also supporting our customers’ sustainable growth and scalability targets.”

The AI platform has already demonstrated its effectiveness, identifying approximately 18 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of expected and realized energy savings across the 16 sites, the equivalent energy usage of approximately 1,600+ U.S. households over the course of a year[1]. Apollo’s ability to autonomously detect anomalies such as clogged filters and leaky valves, and to suggest optimisations to operational settings without human intervention, enhances the effectiveness of Digital Realty’s site managers and engineers.

Apollo uses machine learning to provide a comprehensive dashboard that lists optimisation opportunities at each facility, prioritised by potential megawatt-hour savings. The platform’s self-learning capabilities aggregate findings, which are then audited and applied to newly onboarded facilities. This ensures that every new site contributes value to the platform, benefiting the entire portfolio.

Digital Realty’s expansion of the Apollo AI platform to the Asia Pacific region underscores its dedication to leveraging technology to drive sustainable growth and operational excellence, in addition to aligning with future energy efficiency targets. Digital Realty’s focus on energy efficiency and continuous improvement remains at the forefront of the data center industry, delivering value to customers and contributing to a greener future.