Nick Ewing

Nick Ewing, Managing Director of EfficiencyIT, entered the data centre industry after a series of career changes. 

It all began with securing catering qualifications, then venturing into coding before settling on sales in the late 1990s. 

Nick’s introduction to data centres came through working with APC by Schneider Electric in the early 2000s, where he observed the relationship between IT equipment and power protection.

He founded EfficiencyIT in 2016 with business partners Graham Dymond and Ross Warnock. 

The initial aim was to challenge the status quo of what was achievable in data centres and critical IT.

“We wanted to do something different. We could see how the industry was changing, including people’s perception of resellers and what they do and how they deliver was changing. We wanted to be at the forefront of that change,” says Nick Ewing, Managing Director of EfficiencyIT.

In 2017, the business moved into modular and prefabricated facilities. “We kind of fell into building prefabricated facilities quite early on ,” he says. “That shift became one of our defining areas of growth.”

EfficiencyIT now specialises in designing and supporting critical environments and critical communications that can be deployed rapidly. 

From the outset, the modular approach enabled it to meet those demands with units that could be built, shipped, powered and connected in weeks rather than months.

The Royal Warrant and sustainability leadership

This year, EfficiencyIT was granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment by King Charles III — recognition of its long-term collaboration with the Royal Household. 

“It was a tremendous moment for us to receive a Royal Warrant of Appointment by His Majesty the King,” Nick reflects. “Having worked with the Royal Household for many years, that was a pretty incredible day in my house and with my colleagues.”

Receiving the warrant, he says, brought both pride and scrutiny. “The criteria is quite strict, so you have to be serious about sustainability. It’s not just a buzzword for the King, he’s long-championed environmental issues. Although the requirements for being a Royal Warrant holder are rigorous, the responsibility for being the grantee of the company is a huge privilege.”

The recognition, Nick adds, reinforces the company’s environmental commitments. 

“It’s encouraged us on our sustainability journey, because sometimes you just need to do a little bit more. We’re a company called EfficiencyIT. Ultimately, if we didn’t care about efficiency, then there would be a bit of a mix-up of our brand’s image and values.

“It means trust. It means security, it means sensitivity, it means commitment, it means that we do what we say we do. So we put our money where our mouth is when it comes to our sustainability efforts.”

Nick’s description of walking into a Royal Household site captures the personal dimension. “Every time I walk into one of the buildings, I just kind of fill up with pride, because I know that what we’re doing is supporting one of the most famous establishments in the world.”

Rapid deployment and scaling to meet AI demand

The speed and flexibility of prefabricated systems have become vital as AI drives data and compute intensity beyond current infrastructure limits. “Prefabricated facilities are on the rise and demand will only increase because of the need for speed to market. HPC, AI and GPUaaS are all driving this,” Nick says.

Nick highlights the economics driving this scale-up. “If you were to look at building a megawatt of compute, it might cost you £5m to £10m (US$6.6m to US$13.3m) to build the infrastructure to support it. 

“But that megawatt of compute could then be worth tens if not hundreds of millions of pounds. 

“Obviously, the quicker you are operating that investment, the quicker you are monetising it. And that’s why speed to market is so important.”