Hugo Sereni, an infrastructure engineer at Soitec, shares his experiences and initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of IT infrastructures. With five years of experience at Soitec, he is responsible for managing systems, from servers to storage, databases, and monitoring. In this interview, Hugo explains how his team tackles the challenges of Green IT while ensuring operational efficiency.
Managing infrastructures at Soitec
For five years, Hugo has been managing IT infrastructures at Soitec. “I manage all systems, from servers hosted on-site or in the cloud, whether they run on Windows or Linux, as well as everything related to databases, storage, and monitoring,” he explains. His job is to ensure the smooth operation of servers and equipment while optimizing their use to reduce their environmental impact.
Reducing carbon footprint: a crucial issue
Hugo recognizes that Green IT became a central issue. “We have a duty to address it, particularly through the lens of energy consumption and carbon footprint issues.” One of the major challenges identified is the difference between the environmental impact of manufacturing equipment and that of its use. “The first challenge is to keep equipment as long as possible, whether it’s phones, laptops, or even servers.”
Optimizing IT resources
One key initiative of the IT team at Soitec has been to extend the lifespan of equipment and optimize resource utilization. “We have implemented automated processes to shut down development and testing environments during periods when they are not in use, such as at night and on weekends.” This initiative not only reduces energy consumption but also limits costs associated with cloud usage. Hugo explains, “This improves our carbon footprint by reducing energy consumption.”
Challenges encountered
The main obstacles to implementing these initiatives are initially human. “We need to establish a culture of energy saving,” says Hugo. Turning off machines outside of business hours is not always well received, especially if it slows down work processes. Additionally, the technical complexity of systems also plays a role. “Some critical environments require restart times that can impact production. So it’s a delicate balance to find between efficiency and sustainability.”
Towards more sustainable infrastructure management
Hugo is convinced that the future of IT infrastructures will involve optimized resource management. “We are moving towards a sharing of resources through virtualized or containerized environments, which allow for better management of energy needs while ensuring the security and performance of systems.” This approach, already underway, is one of the main areas on which Soitec is working to improve its IT carbon footprint.
A vision for the future
Looking to the future, Hugo anticipates a tightening of legal constraints on carbon footprints. “In five to ten years, I think companies will have to make trade-offs not only on traditional criteria such as cost or time, but also on the carbon footprint of their projects.” This anticipation is already pushing his team to better measure and understand the environmental impact of each decision made, whether it’s purchasing new equipment or using resources.
In conclusion, Hugo believes that IT infrastructure management at Soitec is evolving towards more sustainable practices. Through concrete initiatives and strategic thinking, the team is managing to reduce its carbon footprint while maintaining operational efficiency.
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Hugo Sereni, an infrastructure engineer at Soitec, shares his experiences and initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of IT infrastructures. With five years of experience at Soitec, he is responsible for managing systems, from servers to storage, databases, and monitoring. In this interview, Hugo explains how his team tackles the challenges of Green IT while ensuring operational efficiency.
Managing infrastructures at Soitec
For five years, Hugo has been managing IT infrastructures at Soitec. “I manage all systems, from servers hosted on-site or in the cloud, whether they run on Windows or Linux, as well as everything related to databases, storage, and monitoring,” he explains. His job is to ensure the smooth operation of servers and equipment while optimizing their use to reduce their environmental impact.
Reducing carbon footprint: a crucial issue
Hugo recognizes that Green IT became a central issue. “We have a duty to address it, particularly through the lens of energy consumption and carbon footprint issues.” One of the major challenges identified is the difference between the environmental impact of manufacturing equipment and that of its use. “The first challenge is to keep equipment as long as possible, whether it’s phones, laptops, or even servers.”
Optimizing IT resources
One key initiative of the IT team at Soitec has been to extend the lifespan of equipment and optimize resource utilization. “We have implemented automated processes to shut down development and testing environments during periods when they are not in use, such as at night and on weekends.” This initiative not only reduces energy consumption but also limits costs associated with cloud usage. Hugo explains, “This improves our carbon footprint by reducing energy consumption.”
Challenges encountered
The main obstacles to implementing these initiatives are initially human. “We need to establish a culture of energy saving,” says Hugo. Turning off machines outside of business hours is not always well received, especially if it slows down work processes. Additionally, the technical complexity of systems also plays a role. “Some critical environments require restart times that can impact production. So it’s a delicate balance to find between efficiency and sustainability.”
Towards more sustainable infrastructure management
Hugo is convinced that the future of IT infrastructures will involve optimized resource management. “We are moving towards a sharing of resources through virtualized or containerized environments, which allow for better management of energy needs while ensuring the security and performance of systems.” This approach, already underway, is one of the main areas on which Soitec is working to improve its IT carbon footprint.
A vision for the future
Looking to the future, Hugo anticipates a tightening of legal constraints on carbon footprints. “In five to ten years, I think companies will have to make trade-offs not only on traditional criteria such as cost or time, but also on the carbon footprint of their projects.” This anticipation is already pushing his team to better measure and understand the environmental impact of each decision made, whether it’s purchasing new equipment or using resources.
In conclusion, Hugo believes that IT infrastructure management at Soitec is evolving towards more sustainable practices. Through concrete initiatives and strategic thinking, the team is managing to reduce its carbon footprint while maintaining operational efficiency.
