The Green Data Center: More Than Social Responsibility

Optimizing I TMay 2007
The green data center.
More than social responsibility: a foundation for growth, economic gain and operating stabilityThe green data center.Page 2
IntroductionContents After years of being viewed by many as a concern for a relative few, environmen-tal issues are now front-page news around the world. Faced with increasingly 2 Introduction urgent warnings about the consequences of the projected rise in both energy 4 Challenges facing CIOs demands and greenhouse gas emissions, governments and businesses alike are 7 Transitioning to a green now focusing more attention than ever on the need to improve energy efficiency.data center10 Whose job is it? For most CEOs, whose sights are firmly fixed on business growth and expansion, 10 Reducing cooling requirements energy consumption and environmental concerns can take on a whole new 11 Increasing facilities meaning when they begin to impede the company's ability to grow. Corporate system efficiency data centers are well known as significant power users. If the company's data 13 Reducing power consumption center cannot accommodate new servers or storage because of power availability with innovative technologies or infrastructure constraints, bringing new capabilities online can become a 17 Do you have a game plan? major challenge in terms of both time and money.18 Conclusion For CIOs, that translates into finding ways to expand the capacity of data oper-ations to meet the growth requirements of the business. A growing number of CIOs are realizing that environmental concern and business success can go hand in hand-and that a green, or environmentally friendly, data center may actually be one of the best ways to both accommodate growth and make a positive impact on their business's bottom line.The green data center.Page 
With energy costs rising and information technology (IT) equipment stressing Highlights the power and cooling infrastructure-which, in turn, threatens operating resiliency-many see an economic and operational crisis looming. CIOs today are being challenged to rethink their data center strategies, adding energy efficiency to a list of critical operating parameters that already includes ser-viceability, reliability and performance. A green initiative can help a company regain power and cooling capacity, recapture resiliency and help meet busi-ness needs-while, at the same time, dramatically reducing energy costs and the total cost of ownership. To further reward companies for energy-conscious behavior, many local utility and state energy funds are offering economic incentives or rebates for measures that reduce energy consumption.
While creating a green data center Transitioning to a green data center and optimizing operating efficiency can can be a complex undertaking, there be a complex undertaking. There are multiple components to factor into the are many solutions and techniques equation-and best results can often be achieved by integrating improvements available to support the transition. from multiple fronts. The good news is that there are many solutions and techniques available to support such a transition. Furthermore, the process can occur in a step-wise manner, reducing risks and helping to realize benefits along the way. Going green is becoming more than an altruistic aspiration to save the planet. It's now clear that going green is a necessity that companies will need to embrace-sooner rather than later-to survive economically.The green data center.Page 
Challenges facing CIOsHighlights Responding to customer demand for better performance at lower prices, the information technology industry has delivered faster servers, lower-cost storage High-density rack-mounted servers and more flexible networking equipment. While these new components can can increase hot spots and tax cool- often deliver ever-greater performance per unit of power, they can also be ing systems, making it difficult for increasingly power hungry. In addition, the evolution of high-density, rack-aging data centers to keep up with mounted servers has typically increased heat density, creating hot spots and today's demands. taxing cooling systems. The excessive heat can also threaten operating stability, resiliency and staff productivity.
Many of the data centers housing this "hot" new technology are now 10 to 15 years old. As a result, their critical infrastructure equipment is likely to b... [download for more]