Issue 18, October/November
FOCUS AWARDS
“A typical application has major implications in terms of cost, reliability and efficiency, and we have systems attempting to do that. We are trying to do the same thing in terms of power — finding a way to provision power as and when it is needed.”
HAPPY AT HP
This objective of designing a data center for the application is in part why Gross now works for HP (see our box on EYP MCF, Page 52). Though it is first and foremost an IT company, Gross says HP recognizes that you cannot segregate the data center from the rest of the IT space.
In the evolution of IT, the data center opens a significant number of opportunities. The significant revenue opportunity is the ability to integrate new solutions and make server, racks and cabinets intimately connected to the rest of the data center. By buying EYP, it gave HP a system integration capability and a more substantial role in the data center space.
FLEXIBLE DATA CENTER Today, Gross’s main focus is Flex DC. If you
look at the space, at one extreme you have the traditional bricks and mortar, and at the other you have a POD, the containerized data center. There is a big gap between them and that is the target market for Flex DC, he says.
The majority of data centers are not 2MW (even at the low end) and it is prohibitive to spend $25m per megawatt. That’s why users go wholesale
“Flex DC is a compromise, but not a bad compromise. It still has all the attributes of a traditional data center. You can run anything in the space (it is IT vendor-neutral), but it has most of the benefits of the POD, such as energy efficiency, lower cost , speed to market and modularity,” Gross says.
“In this world, cost is the main driver. Performance is important but we have got to the point in the evolution of the data center where cost escalation, especially in comparison to the cost of IT hardware, is
not sustainable. The majority of data centers are not 2MW (even at the low end) and it is prohibitive to spend $25m per megawatt. That’s why users go wholesale.”
“But the answer is Flex DC, which we’ve started deploying,’ Gross says. It delivers the ability to build in prefab blocks, the cooling blocks, the power modules, etc, in buildings that are all prefabricated.
“We shift labour from site to factory. We redact from construction to supply chain management. By building standardized blocks, there is predictability in the product. Users get line of site and a reduction in delivery from two years down to six months.”
All these things are addressed. This is not building a big warehouse with lots of UPSs and chillers. This is a real 21st century data center with the ability to easily readjust to changes in load and IT equipment.
Gross believes that flexibility is the foundation of modern data center operation. He continues to push the envelope.
DatacentreLeadersAwards2011 Recognising excellence in facility design and operation
NEW AWARD CATEGORY
MOST EXTREME DATA CENTRE DEPLOYMENT AWARD 2011
www.datacenterdynamics.com/awards
www.datacenterdynamics.com
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