CarbonDecisions. The green data centre. Why becoming a green data centre makes good business sense

Transcription

1 CarbonDecisions The green data centre Why becoming a green data centre makes good business sense

2 Contents What is a green data centre? Why being a green data centre makes good business sense 5 steps to becoming a green data centre Outlook Industry trends Energy trends How CarbonDecisions can help

3 What is a green data centre? A green data centre is one in which the mechanical, lighting, electrical and computer systems are designed for maximum energy efficiency and minimum environmental impact. IT accounts for two per cent of all global carbon emissions, placing it on a par with the aviation sector - Gartner

4 Why being a green data centre makes good business sense 1. Source of competitive advantage Businesses are looking to reduce their operational risk by outsourcing their data centre to a dependable, scalable, cost effective service provider. Many Irish and international businesses are also looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. To meet this need leading data center service providers are offering green data centre services. 2. Effective cost management tool. Data centres are high energy consumers and as energy prices become more volatile energy management will become the key profitability driver. 85 per cent of IT professionals believe environmental factors to be important in planning IT operations, but only a quarter have written green criteria into their company's purchasing processes. Forrester Data centre energy consumption has doubled over the past five years and is expected to double again in the next five - DataCenter

5 5 step plan to becoming a green data centre 1. Understand Get the facts about your data centre s energy usage 2. Design Plan, build and upgrade to become an energy efficient data centre 3. Optimise Load balance the server rooms Rebalance the rooms after new installations 4. Virtualise Implement both server and storage virtualisation 5. Measure, manage & report Integrate the facilities and IT management systems Implement energy efficiency continuous improvement programmes Manage Virtualise Understand data centre Design Optimise

6 1. Understand your data centre s energy use Power input Battery PDU IT hardware power supply Primary switchgear Backup generator UPS Chillers Cooling towers Pumps Cooling units Misc UPS powered Cooling unit fans UPS powered critical pumps Hardware compute load Fans etc

7 2. Design an energy efficient data centre Use raised floor cooling Seal the room, remove the people Use sensible cooling Hot side - cold side aisle configuration Model the cooling flow (CFD) to minimise hotspots Load balance the cooling units and run them to their highest efficiency Match the cooling technologies to the server types Scalable modular data centre Optimised airflow assessment for cabling

8 3. Optimise your data centre for energy efficiency Use energy managment software to dynamically balance cooling with the energy demands of the servers Rebalance the room when new servers are installed or removed Regularly check for hot spots Seal the floor tiles Minimise the number of people in the server rooms Data centre energy usage Server energy usage IT load Power and cooling CPU Power supply, memory, fans etc.

9 4. Server & storage consolidation and virtualisation Consolidation By consolidating servers, businesses will see significant reduction in the number of physical servers managed Virtualisation With server virtualisation, multiple applications are consolidated on one physical server Total Cost of Ownership: Lower management costs Lower hardware and software costs Lower power and cooling consumption/costs Typical server loads In use 80% Idle 20% Resource usage rate Idle Through 2010 IT infrastructure consolidation will remain the focus of IT infrastructure and operations cost reduction initiatives. Gartner Windows servers typically run at only 8 to 12 percent of their full capacity, and UNIX servers at only 25 to 30 percent - Forrester Research

10 5. Measure, manage and report Integrate the facilities and IT management systems Server and data centre energy usage become IT management metrics Continuous monitoring and management of the key energy efficiency metrics. Implement energy efficiency continuous improvement programmes Regularly report the carbon footprint to the data centre s clients as part of the regular governance process. % of total data center electricity use Cooling systems Electrical and building systems Chiller/ cooling tower Humidifier Computer Power Uninterruptible room airconditioner Distribution power unit supply (UPS) Switch/ gen Lighting Information technology

11 Outlook Industry trends Increased levels of outsourcing Smaller hotter servers will lead to hotter data centres Liquid cooling integrated into servers Energy requirements for data centres will continue to increase Energy trends The extension of carbon emission reduction targets (EU ETS) to the broader industry in 2012 Energy prices will continue to increase and become more volatile EU and Irish carbon taxes to become standard and applied to all industries (including data centres)

12 How Carbon Decisions can help you We can provide you with independent advice on: Benchmarking your data centre Validating the carbon footprint of your green data centre We can work with you to implement a webtool to calculate the carbon footprint saving your existing and new clients will make in moving to the green data centre We can advise you in the development of the business case to implement a green data centre.