Power Assure CTO Recommends 10 Tips for Improving Data Center Energy Efficiency
(firmenpresse) - SANTA CLARA, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/13/12 -- Data centers are designed for reliability, usually at the expense of efficiency. Such waste increases capital and operational expenditures, and can result in finite resources being exhausted, thereby creating a situation where relentless growth threatens to outgrow the data center.
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Clemens Pfeiffer, CTO of ., a data center infrastructure and energy management solutions provider, outlines 10 steps IT and facility managers can take to improve efficiency without compromising reliability. These include:
1.
In a typical data center only about half of the power available is
actually used by the IT equipment, with the rest going mostly to
cooling. Much of that power can be reclaimed by eliminating cooling
inefficiencies, upgrading the cooling system to allow for variable
cooling and/or making greater use of outside air. Additional efficiency
can be achieved by right-sizing the UPS and power distribution
equipment.
2.
Poor server utilization is one of the biggest sources of waste in most
data centers. Virtualizing the servers can increase overall utilization
from around 10% (typical of dedicated servers) to between 20% and 30%
and over 50% with more dynamic management systems. Successful
consolidation and virtualization initiatives can also reclaim a
considerable amount of rack space and stranded power.
3.
A best practice today is to adopt a hot/cold aisle configuration and
increase the cold aisle inlet temperatures to 80.6 degrees F (27 degrees
C) as recommended by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and
Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). But hot/cold aisle configurations
can create hot spots that waste power and cause outages. Balancing the
equipment, and then calibrating and continuously monitoring the cold
aisle temperature maximizes cooling efficiency and minimizes problems.
4.
Even the best virtualized and recently refreshed server configurations
waste power during periods of low application demand. Total server power
consumption can be reduced by up to 50% by matching online capacity to
actual load in real-time. Runbooks can be used to automate the steps
involved in power-capping and/or de-/re-activating servers, whether on a
predetermined schedule or in response to unanticipated events.
5.
The lack of complete correlation between facility and IT emergency
procedures can unnecessarily cause and/or extend application outages.
Fully correlating and automating these procedures minimizes the impact
outages have, and also reduces the UPS/generator load during an outage,
thereby extending the availability of power.
6.
Older equipment often uses power inefficiently, and newer servers with a
high idle/peak swing (above 50%) can overload circuits more frequently
when incorrectly allocated and aggregated. Using the PAR4 methodology
specified in the Underwriters Laboratories UL2640 standard to determine
actual power consumption makes it possible to maximize server capacity
while eliminating the risk of overloading circuits under peak
utilization.
7.
While the use of an automatic transfer switch between the grid and the
generator is a common configuration, an AC (Alternate Current) or DC
(Direct Current) distribution bus is far more efficient and just as
effective during a power outage. The bus configuration seamlessly
integrates all sources of power, including any on-site fuel cells and
solar/wind energy, and enables generator maintenance cycles to be put to
good use.
8.
Many organizations operate redundant data centers to satisfy business
continuity needs, but very few take full advantage of this powerful
configuration. Having multiple, strategically-located data centers
enables loads to be shifted to where power is currently the most stable
and the least expensive. Because power is invariably most abundant and
least expensive at night, such a "follow the moon" strategy can result
in considerable savings.
9.
Maximizing data center efficiency (which also helps minimize capital and
operational expenditures) will require an unprecedented level of
cooperation between IT and facility managers. At a minimum, all aspects
of monitoring and managing the data center infrastructure should become
both consistent and pervasive across the IT and facilities
organizations. Achieving the best results requires a holistic view of
power consumption, environmental conditions and resource utilization
together with utility grid and weather conditions. Such transparency can
help delay new data center construction and expensive equipment
purchases and should be on the must have list for every CFO.
10.
Electricity is expensive, and data centers will continue to consume an
ever-increasing amount of it. The AC or DC distribution bus
configuration (see Tip #7) better prepares the organization to reap
financial rewards by participating in the Smart Grid's ancillary energy
markets and demand response events, or through distributed generation
via net metering with a microgrid powered by sources of renewable
energy.
"Data centers waste a substantial amount of energy because they are deployed and configured for peak capacity, performance and reliability, usually at the expense of efficiency," said Pfeiffer. "Such waste unnecessarily increases capital and operational expenditures, and can result in finite resources (particularly power and space) being exhausted, thereby creating a situation where the organization might outgrow its data center. But there are steps IT managers can take, however, to improve overall data center efficiency, sometimes dramatically, without adversely impacting on capacity, performance or reliability."
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Power Assure is a leading developer of Data Center Infrastructure and Energy Management software for large enterprises, government agencies, and managed service providers. Power Assure's solutions provide visibility, intelligence, analytics and automation to help CIOs, IT directors, and facilities managers optimize capacity, service levels, and power consumption within and across data centers. Headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, the company is privately held with funding from ABB Technology Ventures, Dominion Energy Technologies, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Good Energies, Point Judith Capital, as well as a grant from the Department of Energy. Power Assure partners include ABB, Cisco, Dell, IBM, In-Q-Tel, Raritan, UL and VMware.
Power Assure is a registered trademark of Power Assure, Inc. Decathlon is a trademark of ABB Inc. All product names and references remain the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Beth Winkowski
Power Assure
Phone: 978-649-7189
Email:
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Datum: 13.09.2012 - 16:00 Uhr
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