McLaren Applied Technologies, part of the same group as the McLaren Formula 1 team, has partnered with data centre provider IO to develop more energy efficient data centres.
Data centres are currently thought to consume around two per cent of the world's electricity, a figure that is expected to rise in the coming years.
The partnership will draw on McLaren's experience in building Formula 1 cars to, among other things, boost the energy efficiency of cooling and use analytics to monitor patterns of data usage in order to reduce overall energy consumption.
"Data centres are integral to all our lives. However, as the amount of information we collect, process and store continues to grow, the demand for energy will also increase," said Dr Geoff McGrath, managing director of McLaren Applied Technologies, speaking about the announcement of the deal at the Innovation Forum in Singapore.
"Our partnership with IO will enable us to utilise our unique expertise in performance management, simulation and high performance design to make a real difference to this global energy challenge.
"IO is already the world leader in the development of cutting edge data centre technology and systems. However, they have challenged themselves and McLaren to think differently and to identify ways to improve efficiency, to cut energy usage and reduce emissions," he added.
Kevin Malik, IO CIO and GM of IO Labs, also welcomed the partnership with McLaren and what it could mean for the future of data centres.
"Anyone who has seen a Formula 1 race knows that McLaren is unrivaled when it comes to integrating outstanding software with the hardware built to receive it," he said.
"We are extremely excited about this partnership and its potential to yield substantial advances in the telemetry, visibility, and analytics of IO data centre technology.
"Our companies speak the same language and the insights gained from this collaboration will be invaluable to the data centre space," Malik added.
