An organisation's operational costs are shifting from technology to power, including additional energy requirements. Every piece of equipment that goes into a data center pulls power and produces heat, which might result in the data center either running out of cooling capacity or space. Additionally, current data center designs limit the ability to use new efficient technologies such as server consolidation. Organisations are facing stiff challenges in terms of powering and cooling the data center and the real issue today is to bring down the lifecycle cost of the data centre.
The Indian Perspective:
In India, the need for intelligent energy solutions is more acute than many other nations. According to Jyoti Satyanathan, vice president, Systems, STG, IBM India and South Asia, "Our country is already facing an energy crisis. According to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), at the current annual generation capacity of 1,30,000 MW, we face a shortage of nearly 9% with peak load deficits being higher at 10-11% and it will only get worse. It is important that Indian organisations start taking this problem seriously and make the appropriate investments so that their energy spends can keep pace with their growth."To help organisations overcome this challenge, companies like Sun, IBM, HP, and AMD are coming up with energy efficient technologies and solutions. CEOs and CIOs are now taking keen interest in green compliance and green consortium.
Virtualisation Reduces Energy Consumption:
Many data center layouts and operational procedures are not designed to support high-density technologies, which increase technology failure due to thermal events. The green data centre offerings can help conserve energy and cut a typical data center cost by half. Virtualisation is also considered to be a major step towards reducing the energy consumption of data centres.
Says Durgadutt Nendungadi, director, Marketing and Alliances, Technology Solutions Group, HP India, "Virtualisation can save up to 70% of energy required to run the data centre. Apart from virtualisation, the CIOs need to assess the areas where they can reduce the power consumption. In some cases, opening or closing up of a floor can solve their problem."
Vendors Introducing Energy Efficient Solutions:
Vendors have responded to the demands for more computing power by making faster processors in the form of high-density servers that can fit in smaller spaces. Excited by the prospect early on, it wasn't long before businesses discovered that their data centers were not equipped to handle the flow of additional heat.
To counter this, vendors have come up with various energy saving techniques. IBM launched Project Big Green in June this year to increase the ability of consumers and enterprises to discover, produce, manage and use energy in a more cost-effective, efficient and environmentally sustainable way. IBM is also working with several bodies to popularise the concept of green computing around the globe.
Currently, data center owners that are considering energy efficiency investments have to check multiple sources to determine which financial incentives might be available to help them improve energy efficiency in their operations.
Responding to the need, IBM will soon launch an open, Web-enabled clearing house for energy efficiency incentives. Satyanathan informs, "The Energy Efficiency Incentive Finder will serve as a central website for details about energy efficiency incentives and programmes that are available from local utility companies, governments, and other participating agencies anywhere in the world.”
Going Forward:
HP has also come up with energy efficient solutions like HP Dynamic Smart Cooling, c-Class blade servers and green storage technologies. "We are just trying to bridge the gap between the data center requirements of technology and creating awareness about these technologies through our solutions and helping the enterprises maintain compliance standards," reflects Nendungadi.
Chipmaker VIA Technologies has also come up with the world's first environment friendly carbon free personal computer systems based around its new low-drain C7-D processor.
By: Angelo Mathews
Source: http://biztech2.in.com
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