BorsodChem Goes Green: Promoting Sustainability in the Plastic and Chemical Industry with an Eco-friendly Data Center
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BorsodChem, one of the leading plastic raw material and inorganic chemical producers in Europe, supplies a range of high-quality products to downstream industries, particularly those working in the construction, automotive, furniture, and clothing sectors. The company's goal is to become an isocyanate market leader in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), developing new and profitable market opportunities across the region. And in the coming years, technological development and innovation will be decisive factors in BorsodChem's success, with the company looking to expand its production capacity and invest in new plant developments, increasing efficiency while also addressing environmental concerns.
Over the years, BorsodChem products and solutions have been instrumental in improving thousands of people's lives. Its products are widely used in everyday items: for example, sports equipment, shoes, handbags, luggage, and upholstery. And as social, technological, and customer demands all continue to evolve at an increasing pace, the chemical industry's end-products are growing increasingly diverse.
This is why the company is constantly looking for better processes, products, and partnerships, which is also a key part of its mission to minimize its environmental impact. BorsodChem believes that the intelligent use of technology in every process is the only way to both improve operational efficiency and reduce energy consumption. Indeed, BorsodChem has embedded sustainability across its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure, especially its data center.
Worldwide, it's estimated that data centers consume approximately 3% of the global electricity supply and contribute around 0.3% to overall carbon emissions. Painting a broader picture, ICT accounts for more than 2% of global emissions. However, ICT is also a powerful enabling technology that can help other sectors to become more energy efficient.
Energy and emission reductions are huge challenges, across all sectors, of course. Setting an example, BorsodChem recently decided to invest in building one of the most energy-efficient and environmentally friendly data centers in the world. The company constructed the ultra-green data center to manage its business expansion and rapid data growth, prioritizing security, efficient cooling, and ultra-reliable transmission. The company wanted to achieve maximum Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) while reducing Operational Expenditure (OPEX), by adopting efficient power supply and cooling systems.
Of course, advanced data center technologies and best design practices also help boost productivity through automation. They also allow closer control of the supply chain and promote the better use of data and analytics, to more closely manage manufacturing processes. A modern data center also provides near-limitless possibilities to automate routine manufacturing functions and analyze data, to improve operations and support services.
As an industry promoter and practitioner of energy-saving technology, Huawei has years of experience constructing green data centers, rapidly rolling out best-in-class solutions. It also has the largest share of the global modular data center market, making Huawei a natural choice for BorsodChem.
With its new solution, BorsodChem planned to improve operational reliability and cost-effectiveness, as well as ensure stable growth over the data center's entire lifespan. The company needed the data center to support fast and simple deployment, be flexible in terms of on-demand expansion, slash energy use, and lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Together with its partner, Intelligent Power Solutions, Huawei delivered a FusionModule2000 smart data center solution, which uses a modular design that's easy to expand as future needs arise. It also supports sustainable development, with flexible capacity expansion possible for a range of subsystems, from power supply to cooling and Information Technology (IT) cabinets.
"From the beginning, we were excited about our first Huawei modular data center deployment," said Peter Perjesi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hungarian partner Intelligent Power Solutions. "Huawei FusionModule2000 is a next-generation, smart modular data center, integrating power, cooling, rack, cabling, and management systems. We were amazed at the newest Huawei solutions and cutting-edge technologies during the installation, such as Huawei's iPower, iCooling, and iManager systems. We have never seen such a high-quality design for an all-in-one solution. From the very beginning until the end of the project, we received exceptional support from Huawei."
A modular design and standard architecture equate to fast installation and on-demand deployment. Through Huawei's partner, local engineers only needed to carry out simple on-site installation, since the solution was prefabricated in the factory: it was quickly brought online and ready to use.
"To build up the European data center for the company's group global strategy and support its growing business, BorsodChem began constructing a new data center. Huawei, together with Intelligent Power Solutions, provided us with a best-in-class, state-of-the-art green smart modular data center. The modular data center's construction period was substantially shortened, ensuring uninterrupted manufacturing at our plants. By simplifying the data center's operation, we will also drive down operational expenses in the future. Huawei FusionModule2000 exceeded our expectations, and we look forward to continuing the close collaboration with Huawei in the future," said Pintér Ernő, Deputy IT Director at BorsodChem.
Additionally, Huawei supplied advanced energy-efficient subsystems, including the modular UPS5000 Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and FusionCol5000-A, to ensure stable operations. With module hibernation technology, UPS5000 better matches a data center's actual service scenarios, helping save on electricity fees and improving data center power supply efficiency by more than 2%, compared with traditional solutions. Meanwhile, FusionCol5000-A offers precise and efficient energy management — achieved through a unique algorithm — and intelligent Operations and Maintenance (O&M), ensuring the efficiency and reliability of a data center, and simplifying its operations. The in-row air conditioners combine local cooling and aisle containment, improving PUE by over 0.4.
Energy efficiency and a reduced impact on the environment remain a core focus for any new green data center. Huawei's solution is environmentally friendly and, as such, helps BorsodChem achieve its lowest possible carbon footprint. It is a mutually beneficial solution for the environment at large and the company, optimizing existing infrastructure and helping to safeguard the planet at the same time. With its new data center, BorsodChem's electricity consumption has been reduced, as the facility simply consumes less power. This, in turn, means lower overheads and greater savings, essentially increasing the competitiveness of the business.
In addition, committing to green principles is one of the most critical factors driving brand loyalty today. Adopting new strategies that advance sustainability goals helps meet the ever-higher expectations of stakeholders and places BorsodChem in a position of strength, ready to meet the enormous challenges of a tightening regulatory environment and increased focus on sustainability.
While going green has become a business necessity, it's a strategy that brings plenty of benefits with it, too. With its new, future-facing data center, BorsodChem will cement its position as a leading European plastic raw material and chemical manufacturer. It is now better positioned than ever before to make smarter investments, improve the quality of its products and technologies, and flexibly respond to customer needs — fast.
