Interact, a newly launched machine-learning tool that optimises energy efficiency for servers, has won Silver for ‘IT Project of the Year’ losing out to Atlassian, and Bronze for ‘Start-Up of the Year’ at the IT World Awards.

The start-up featured amongst well-known winners including IBM, RedSeal, and Google. The prestigious IT World Awards recognise the latest products, solutions and services that are raising the bar in the industry, and are usually hosted in person in San Francisco.

Interact was launched in December 2020 by Techbuyer Group, a global sustainable IT solutions provider, following a two-year Knowledge Transfer Project (KTP) between Techbuyer and the University of East London. This generated ground-breaking research recently published in the IEEE Transactions for Sustainable Computing.

The verified, peer-reviewed results revealed for the first time that refurbished machines provide the same performance as new machines, and that the latest generations of servers are not always the best choice when it comes to energy efficiency.

Interact’s first software tool generates concrete, vendor-neutral recommendations for data centre IT hardware professionals, enabling them to analyse their current hardware and optimise the costs, energy reduction, and carbon savings in line with their specific requirements.

Rich Kenny, Director of Strategy at Interact, who won Gold GLOBEE for ‘CTO of the Year’ this year, states: “We are really excited to see Interact winning Silver and Bronze at the IT World Awards. Despite only being around for six months, we have already made it up there with big names including IBM and Luminance. This a testament to the hard work of all our team members and partners, and the effectiveness of our first software tool.”

Interact is the brand name of a smart software solution which carries out component and rack level analysis of data centre IT hardware using over 400 pre-configured server records and 1400 preconfigured CPU records. It then calculates the optimum number and configuration of replacement servers and generates a clear report on best solutions for cost and for energy efficiency over time. 

By demonstrating the benefits of refurbished and remanufactured servers, Interact hastens the arrival of the circular economy in enterprise data centres, optimises energy, calculates Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE), and reduces supply chain emissions.

Get in touch with the Interact team here to discuss how to optimise your data centre, or to organise an interview with Rich Kenny, Director of Strategy.

Find out more about the awards - click here