energy efficiency FACILITIES I
t’s right to say that there is more intelligence in the data centre as operators attempt to reduce human error and increase efficiency by adopting new solutions, approaches and standards. Building Management Systems (BMS), Energy Usage Monitoring (PUE), ASHRAE T9, Eco mode UPS and scalable cooling are just a few of the systems and solutions that aim to improve performance and reduce costs.
However intelligence needs to be carefully selected in order to really add value or introduce greater efficiencies. With so many tools providing either stand alone or enterprise wide data, there is a very real danger of information overload and even the possibility of conflicting information. Data centre managers need to use information that provides reliable and essential data that can help to streamline the monitoring process and reduce the time and error associated with the maintenance of complex systems. More and more data is now provided on a screen, instead of reams of paper, but it is worth remembering that the initial raw data is still collected using the same analogue methods that were used 20 years ago and that information is only worth having if it is trusted. A more sophisticated presentation style does not necessarily result in better decisions about how to improve performance, increase efficiency or cut costs in the data centre itself.
Looking ahead, real improvements in performance and efficiency are likely to come, in the short term, from those responsible for engineering new technological solutions for the data centre. Analysing and collecting data about heat output from a server, for example, cannot ultimately help to reduce the cooling and power costs associated with it. A real solution is to improve server utilisation and then to turn off those servers which are not needed, or, perhaps look to create operational efficiencies in another way, such as temperature control management. Spiralling energy costs have been clearly driving the agenda for reduced levels of power consumption and the data centre industry remains under pressure to ensure that it delivers back the best efficiencies for every ‘power pound’ spent. What has continued to cause issues however is that there is still a clear division amongst IT professionals with regards to how issues of energy consumption in the data centre should be addressed – from replacing older technologies to adding more hardware to simply monitoring existing infrastructures.
Whilst sound advice isn’t always forthcoming from consultants advising on intelligence tools or energy requirements, perhaps worse still is that the advice given can often be inaccurate, or is simply ignored. In the past Sentrum has interviewed UK CIOs and director- level IT professionals about ambient data centre temperatures to discover that none knew that even a small increase of one degree centigrade in the data centre could have a substantial impact on energy management and reduce costs. At the time, 12% of IT managers also admitted that they did not know how much of an increase in temperature would be needed to make their data centres more energy efficient and more economic to operate. Most (66%) thought it would be more than one degree - the average figure cited was in fact three degrees centigrade.
Electricity only needs to be provided ‘on demand’ for systems that are designed to provide ‘just in time’ computer power. Going forward, this will require a much closer link between data centre designers, builders, rack and server engineers but it’s also a strong starting
point that makes good business sense, and is also quickly measured in terms of return of investment. Bringing these disparate skill sets together will not only get the best out of the latest technologies available today but it will also help to ensure that the design or specification, and build, of a data centre is ‘right first time’.
Deciding upon the design for your data centre isn’t a factor that should be easily overlooked either. When questioning how far into the future current data centre facilities will last, Sentrum found that 78% of senior IT managers and executive officers were of the opinion that existing data centre facilities would no longer meet business needs at some time during the next five years, whilst 38% expected to outgrow facilities sometime in the next three. Given the financial constraints also imposed on many IT departments it was of little surprise to find that 71% of respondents added that top of their list of incentives for them to move facilities would be for a better deal on managing costs.
Of the senior decision makers questioned (65% of CIOs and/or director-level respondents) most would change their data centre operator if better energy efficiencies could be achieved. Those who already outsourced seemed quite ready to switch again from one data centre operator to another if efficiencies could be improved and energy costs reduced. PUE is without doubt a priority in today’s buying market when it comes to identifying a new data centre partner. If not doing so already, companies should absolutely be including specific targets on PUE in RFP’s. One debate, in outsourced data centre facilities, still to be settled however is the difference in opinion regarding who takes responsibility for achieving the desired PUE targets as recent research showed that 35% cited ‘their company’ and 35% cited ‘the data centre operator’. Just under a third (29%) suggested that it was in fact something to share responsibility for.
It is of course very encouraging to learn that companies want to gain a better understanding of their data centre design and take more control of the specification. Any specialist consultancy requested should be thought through logically with only the most cost effective of business investments being made. That said, third party advice is still commonly rejected, which begs the question that perhaps the consultants in question are either not doing their homework or that they are not gaining the trust and understanding of their client. If this lack of trust continues to be apparent many businesses will simply fail to reap any potential savings.
There still remains a gaping disconnect between consultants and their customers and any abject failure to communicate technical issues and cost implications effectively needs to be addressed immediately. Ultimately, if customers are not being told what they need to know, from the outset of a project, they are just being forced in to making less informed decisions that will ultimately lead to longer term issues. As companies lock down their future growth strategies, good consultancy partners, and their experience, knowledge and sound advice, will only become even more business critical.
Perhaps the demand for more intelligence at the design stage about initial power requirements, versus the need to understand what the ultimate load will be in the future, could also help to ensure that there is sufficient scalability built in for growth when it is needed. This logical approach to ‘what is really needed’ is more likely to optimise performance and to contain costs, than simply monitoring alone.
May 2012 I
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