IDC White Paper Shows How A Hybrid Multicloud Infrastructure Cut Space Energy and Carbon in the Datacenter

A new IDC White Paper, sponsored by Nutanix, Hybrid Multicloud Deployment Choices Can Increase ROI Via Sustainability Benefits¹, shows how infrastructure choices reduced rack space by up to 80% for one organization, cut carbon emissions by 200 metric tons per year for another, and shrunk energy consumption by 60%-80% for both organizations that were interviewed. These outcomes aren't solely sustainability victories - they also translate to cutting overhead and operational costs that can be reallocated to meet other business needs..

The demand for datacenter space and power to support the necessary infrastructure has never been higher² thanks to cloud computing, AI, and Internet of Things (IOT), all of which call for intensive data storage and processing. This comes with environmental consequences, which span from land and resources used for construction, to water for cooling, and extend to the supply chains that manufacture the hardware and chips to store and process the world's data. Another significant consequence is the massive carbon footprint caused by the energy required to run datacenters.

IDC predicts that "By 2026, 60% of enterprises will implement sustainable AI frameworks, leveraging data-driven decisions to scale AI operations across datacenter locations while meeting decarbonization goals.¹"

Enterprises are seeking ways to balance AI-driven innovation and data growth with meeting sustainability goals. As indicated in the 2025 Enterprise Cloud Index³, over 80% of organizations have already implemented a GenAI Strategy - but not without challenges or concerns. AI and GenAI deployments are worrisome to enterprises, as almost a quarter (23.4%) of IDC's FERS Wave 7 respondents feel that "Concerns about sustainability/energy cost/emissions running AI infrastructure" is significantly limiting further development of custom AI apps in their organization.⁴

Energy and space savings while cutting carbon

The timely IDC study was a result of in-depth interviews of two Nutanix customers who leveraged Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) to address challenges associated with application and infrastructure modernization. Significant space and power consumption reductions were shared by a media and publishing company.