Posted by Crystal Nichols on Wed, Feb 24, 2010 @ 07:04 AM
Keeping data center costs down is an important priority, especially during tough economic times. One of the areas that's ripe for savings is the area of energy management. Some of the biggest names in IT are working on getting data center costs down in the area of energy demands.
Take, for example, the supercomputing program at Notre Dame. The folks in South Bend are working today with Cisco to come up with a new way to manage energy that will significantly reduce energy consumption. This work is leading to new patents on technology and concepts.
Effective energy management can produce significant cost savings to a data center environment, especially if you know where to start. While progress is still being made, there are things you can do today.
One area to look at is cooling. You need to be able to determine the right temperature for your data center. This will vary based on your particular components and hardware, but even a degree or two difference can make a significant impact on your energy expenditures.
Some of the most innovative energy management ideas related to cooling have to do with breaking free of expensive air conditioning units. While it's not likely that you can support a data center using only outside air during August, in many places across the country and across the world there are several months out of the year that outside air provides a perfect alternative to air conditioning. Air handling systems that incorporate cool outside air can save significant amounts of money.
Energy management software solutions can help, as well. These applications are becoming more and more sophisticated, and able to push power to exactly where it's needed when it's needed. Yes, there is a capital expenditure to get the system into place, but once it's up and running it will reduce your ongoing energy expenditures in a significant way. Cisco's EnergyWise is an example of this kind of solution, and more and more organizations are turning to energy management software as a quick and easy fix.
Virtualization is often bantered about as a way to save money on energy costs. This is true, to some degree, but it's important to look at the larger picture. Taking an inventory of your hardware and applications and retiring inefficient equipment in favor of new equipment or even virtualization can create significant energy cost savings, as well as savings in the areas of ongoing maintenance and support.
Ultimately, you need to take a holistic approach to the issue of energy management. Look at your data center's energy consumption from all angles, and decide where you can get the most benefit for the least cost.
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Posted by Crystal Nichols on Mon, Feb 01, 2010 @ 07:40 AM
Companies aren’t just going green for the sake of the planet, the fact of the matter is that many green initiatives actually save companies money. Conserving energy in a data center or IT server room, for example, will not only help the environment, it will also help with operating costs.
Still, many IT directors, managers and CIOs are at a loss of how exactly they can go about decreasing IT energy spending. Fortunately, there are some easy steps you can take to get started cutting the energy costs of your IT department.
#1: Consolidation
Data center consolidation or server consolidation will save you serious amounts of capital in terms of equipment costs. In addition, fewer pieces of hardware will require less electricity. Consolidation makes good business sense.
The trick is, however, to make sure that consolidation makes good organizational sense. If consolidation reduces service levels to the point where they impact production, the money you’re saving on energy spending is going to be immediately lost several times over. A thorough consolidation study should be able to identify areas where consolidation is possible and where it will have minimal performace and production impact.
#2: Service Providers
Most IT departments would benefit from offloading one or more IT tasks to a service provider. Whether it’s a specialized application that can be run in a SaaS mode, or whether it’s another scenario, outsourcing part of the IT function sometimes makes good business sense.
Using a service provider has the advantage over an in-house solution in that you don’t have to lay out capital expenditures for equipment, and you don’t have to provide support or maintenance. Additionally, using a service provider insures that you’ve got a true expert in the field supporting your IT function, and you don’t have to worry about training in-house personnel that are already probably spread too thin.
Service provider utilization also reduces your energy spending. If the servers and/or other infrastructure are off site, you don’t have to power them. The costs for their power are wrapped up in your service agreement.
#3: Efficient Cooling Systems
One of the most expensive components, in terms of energy spending in IT, is the cost of cooling your technology. A data center can have significant cooling requirements, and therefore create a serious power draw.
There have been amazing advances in the area of cooling systems in recent years. For example, one data center for a Fortune 500 company uses a fan intake system that draws air in from the outside, through the data center and back out. As temps rise in the data center, the fans kick in and provide the kind of cooling the systems need. In that particular case study, the new cooling system has decreased overall cooling energy costs by six percent, which is a significant savings in terms of dollars.
Ultimately, decreasing your IT energy spending requires some solid research and examination of your current situation, creative thinking and thoughtful implementations.
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