Energy-Efficient Enterprise Storage: Evaluating the Sustainability of Emerging Storage Technologies

Abstract

Energy consumption in enterprise storage systems is becoming a significant operational concern as data volumes and environmental regulations grow. This paper assesses the energy efficiency of next-generation storage technologies, including QLC NAND SSDs, tape-based archival systems, and storage-class memory (SCM). It models power usage effectiveness (PUE) across various deployment scenarios, from edge data centers to hyperscale cloud platforms. The research offers recommendations for designing greener storage architectures while maintaining enterprise-grade performance and reliability.