power perspectives and it analysis

8/7/2019 Power Perspectives and IT Analysis

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ResearchIT

Switch N to Eaton.Featuring research from

Power Perspectivesand IT Analysis


2/16reseachit2

Eaton is a registered trademark o Eaton Corporation. 2010 Eaton Corporation. 11683_0610

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ESS technology enables large, three-phase uninterruptible power

systems (UPSs) to operate at the highest efciency in the industry

99%even at low load levels down to 10%; dramatically reducing

energy consumption, environmental impact and power costs.

Your electric savings will pay or the UPS in 3-5 years!

Take your position on power management to

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Power through increased energy consumption.


3/16reseachit 3

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Powering Through the EconomyQ&A with Lennart Jonsson, Vice President & CTO

Electrical Sector, Eaton Corporation

Todays lean, more tightly-

regulated economy and the

ever-increasing importance o

IT have many organizations

caught in a bind. On one hand,

reliable access to power is

vital to keeping data centers

operational, and the costs

associated with loss o power

can be devastating. On the

other hand, IT departments are

being asked to get more done

with less money even as energy

rates continue to rise.

Lennart Jonsson, vice president

and chie technology ocer,

Electrical sector, at Eaton

Corporation believes that any

organization can get past this

predicament by tapping into a

dierent kind o powerthe

power o returns on smart,

strategic investments. He

recently shared his thoughts on

that topic with us.

Q: Whats a good startingpoint or companies look-ing to power through theeconomy?A: Creating organizational

alignment between your IT

and acilities departments

is an excellent rst step. At

most companies, IT reports

their predecessors that they

can quickly pay or themselves.

In the 1990s, the average UPS

was generally about 85 to

90 percent ecient. Todays

models routinely achieve 90

to 94 percent eciency, and

UPSs equipped with Energy

Saver System deliver up to 99

percent eciency. For most

companies, that can quicklytranslate into considerable

savings. For instance, a UPS

that delivers 400 kW at 82

percent eciency requires an

average o 4.3 million kW hours

per year. A newer, 95 percent

ecient, UPS reduces that

to only 3.7 million kW hours

annually. Thats a reduction o

more than 600,000 kW hours,

which can easily save tens or

even hundreds o thousands o

dollars a year.

Q: Whats the best long-termstrategy or ensuring powerefciency?A: Use modular power system

design principles. No business

ever wants to get caught with

less power than it needs, but

arming yoursel with excess

capacity just in case pointlessly

drives up capital outlays while

lowering overall eciency.

Taking a modular approach

to power system design, in

which you deploy only the

capacity you need in the short

term and gradually plug inadditional resources as your

business grows, allows you

to keep pace with expanding

needs economically, rather

than pay heavily in advance or

capacity you may never even

require. Plus, deploying multiple

modular components instead o

a single big one also increases

redundancy, which leads to

better reliability.

Q: Theres a lot o talk aboutgreen IT these days. Howcan that help?A: A typical data center

consumes 10 to 30 times more

energy per square oot than the

average oce building. All o

that power usage harms both

the environment and corporate

balance sheets. Fortunately,

there are lots o ways to reduceboth your carbon ootprint and

your energy spending through

the use o environmentally-

responsible IT practices.

For example, most data centers

are lled with underutilized

but energy-hungry servers.

Virtualization technology

enables organizations to convert

underused physical servers

into virtual devices and then

consolidate them on shared

host machines. The end results

are greater hardware utilizationand signicant energy savings.

You can also add hot and cold

aisles to your data center.

Every server takes in cool air

through one vent and expels

hot air through another. Simply

positioning servers such that

only hot air exhausts or cool

air intakes ace each other in

a given aisle can generate a

continuous air fow in your data

center that lowers operating

temperatures and reduces the

burden on cooling systems.

Relatively simple practices like

these can make a big impact

on operational spending. In

act, coupling ideas like those

above with deployment o more

ecient power and cooling

technologies can enable a

midsize data center with 1,500

servers to save millions o dollars

while dramatically shrinking its

contribution to global warming.

up to the CIO while acilities

reports into the COO or vice

president o corporate real

estate. Unortunately, that

divided organizational structure

can produce conficting goals

around technology, energy

spend and sustainability. For

example, while IT buys server

equipment, acilities oten pays

the energy bill. As a result,

power eciency is sometimes

a bigger priority or acilities

managers than it is or their IT

counterparts.

Changing your organizational

structure such that both the

IT and acilities departments

report up to the same

executive helps align everyone

around common goals, metrics

and objectives. That can drive

greater eciencies by ensuring

that IT and acilities managers

are equally motivated to

improve perormance and

lower power bills.

Q: Whats the quickest wayto save money on power?A: Invest in new Uninterruptible

Power Supplies! That might

not seem like the most intuitive

action when money is tight, but

the latest power systems are

so much more ecient than


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ResearchIT

Q: What steps is Eatontaking to help organizationspower their way throughthese turbulent times?

A: Most importantly, o course,we continue to develop

leading-edge technologies

that equip organizations to

use power more eciently,

eectively and saely. But were

also setting new standards

or operational eciency and

environmental stewardship in

our own business practices.

For example, Eaton is currently

completing two state-o-the-

art data centers that are

designed rom the ground up

to take maximum advantage

o the strategies weve

been discussing. They use

only the latest and mostecient power quality and

distribution systems and

employ modular power system

design principles, as well as a

variety o technologies aimed

at conserving power and

shrinking our impact on the

environment.

More broadly, Eaton is

dedicated to making

sustainability an integral part

o everything we do. Thats

why we like to call Eaton the

business thats sustainableby design. You can see that in

our Green Lea products. All o

our products and solutions are

designed to meet or exceed

government environmental

standards, but products and

solutions that bear our Green

Lea designation go well beyond

normal standards to provide

exceptional environmental

benet. Its just one small

part o our commitment to

helping customers implementsustainable materials and

practices so they can realize

environmental benets and

nancial savings.

Source: Eaton

ResearchIT


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Eaton is a registered trademark of Eaton Corporation. 2010 Eaton Corporation. 11633_0610

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Customer Voice: A real-world application through

an in-depth customer case study

Data Center Interactive: A hands-on forum with

crossword puzzles, polls, contests, giveaways and

much more

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chance to win a Gateway

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Newer Power and Cooling Technologies

Are Making Inroads in the Data Center, butMore Can Be DoneThis research uses the electronic polling results rom the 2009 Gartner Data Center Conerence to examine some o the newer

power and cooling technologies used in todays data centers. Inrastructure and operations (I&O) management can benet rom

knowing what other data centers are doing with newer power and cooling technologies.

Key Findings Onlyhalftherespondents

data centers depend

on computer room air

conditioning (CRAC)

units alone to cool their

equipment.

Almostone-third(29%)of

the respondents say they

have plans to start using

ree cooling solutions

during the next two years.

Whilemostrespondents

data centers use

batteries as the backup

power source or their

uninterruptible power

supply (UPS), a growing

number(11%)ofrespondents are looking at

battery alternatives.

Recommendations Whendesigninganew

data center or upgrade,

always include in-row and

in-rack cooling as a cooling

solution option.

Toallowforliquidcooling

fexibility, install drains,

leak detectors and dams

that would allow or liquids

to be placed anywhere inthe room, as needs arise

and provide plenums or

overhead hangers that will

support the installation o

pipes later on, allowing

you to delay committing

to specic pipe sizes and

types.

Usefreecoolinginyour

data center to improve the

eciency o your cooling

solution and to lower your

power demands i your

location will allow enoughhours/days o sucient

temperatures.

Whenlookingtoreplaceor

add UPS systems, expand

your options by considering

the benets oered by

alternatives to battery

backup power systems.

ANALYSISThis research examines the

results o polling questions

covering power in the data

center issues asked at theGartner Data Center Conerence

held in Las Vegas, 1 to 4

December 2009. More than

1,500 data center proessionals,

Gartner analysts and industry

experts discussed a host o

issues and challenges. As part

o the conerence, electronic

polling devices were made

available during sessions, with

selected questions inserted in

each presentation. Although we

recognize that the respondents

may not necessarily represent

a statistically signicantdistribution, we believe the

results o these polls will

be o interest to our clients.

Polling results rom previous

conerences have tracked very

close to observed and reported

results.

The presentation A Look

at Data Center Power and

Cooling Technologies Present

and Future was based on

the Hype Cycle or Data

Center Power and CoolingTechnologies, 2009. We have

compiled Q&A relevant to the

use o some o the newer

power and cooling technologies

in the data center, along with

some general observations and

analysis o the polling results.

O the more than 200 attendees

at the session, approximately

150 responded to the polling

questions.

Most data centers have only

used room cooling with CRAC

units placed around the edgeo the computer room, with an

underfoor air plenum. As data

centers install higher-density

servers, there is a need to move

the cooling source closer to

the servers to increase cooling

eciency. Air movement is

a power challenge or data

centers, as the power required

to increase cooling through

increased air velocity ollows a

cube law.

The biggest cause o cooling

ineciency in a data center isinecient air paths. Short air

paths are more ecient than

long air paths that allow mixing

o inlet and outlet air. Thereore,

in a modern data center, the

shortened air paths oered by

in-row and in-rack cooling can

make a signicant dierence

in energy consumption, and

allow more compute capacity

to be installed in the same

power envelope. In-row cooling

provides cooling or extra cooling

directly to the cold aisle o a

row o servers. Cooling unitsmay be interspersed within the

row o servers, or an overhead

cooling unit may be installed

directly over the cold aisle. In-

rack cooling moves the cooling

closer to the server by providing

a cooling unit per rack to cool air

fowing in rom the cold aisle,

using a rear-door cooling unit

to cool air fowing out o the

server rack, or by a complete

sel-contained rack with internal

cooling and airfow. These direct

cooling systems can provide

supplemental cooling supportto room cooling, or provide the

total cooling solution with or

without a raised foor.

We asked: What computer

room cooling solutions have you

adopted in your data centers?

See Figure 1 or the responses.

The results show that the higher

density servers, along with

their requirement or greater

levels o cooling, are changing

the design o data centers.

Only hal the respondentsdata centers depend on CRAC

units alone. Forty-two percent

o the respondents are using

in-row cooling solutions, with or

without other types o cooling,

and15%havemadeuseof

in-rack cooling solutions, with or

without other types o cooling

solutions.


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ResearchIT

During our one-on-one sessions

at conerences and inquiries

during the year theres been

a dramatic increase in the

questions about in-row and

in-rack cooling. Data center

management was reluctant to

move liquid cooling closer to

the servers. CRAC units using

chilled water rom the building

cooling plant were not perceived

as liquid cooling, as they were

on the periphery o the machineroom. This attitude is changing,

because o the increased cooling

needs, and the improved liquid

cooling technology and sensors

that have reduced the risk o

leaks.

Free cooling is another

technology associated with

cooling eciency. It is not ree

o charge, but can reduce the

cost o cooling signicantly.

Data center ree cooling reduces

the chiller burden, partially or

totally, to cool a data center byusing the temperature o outside

air or other naturally occurring

cooling capability. Free cooling

is not a new concept. The use

o a cooling water tower is an

example o using outside air to

help cool water that is used in

cooling large buildings and data

centers.

Two types o economizers are

being used today:

Air-side economizers use

outside air directly when

that temperature is lower

than the temperature o

air needed to cool the data

center. For best results,

the air must be ltered

and have its humidity

adjusted (i necessary).

Also, hot air expelled rom

the data center may be

needed to help regulate the

temperature o the outsideair entering the data center

to prevent the temperature

rom dropping too low.

Water-side economizers

use outside air to help cool

the liquid (water, glycol)

piped into the data center

to be used by cooling

equipment. With water-side

economizers, there is no

need or ltration or extra

humidity controls, because

the outside air is not being

introduced into the datacenter. Some data centers

are experimenting with

innovative approaches based

on avorable locations, such

as deep-lake water cooling

and ocean-water cooling.

We then asked: Do you make

use o ree cooling in your data

center? See Figure 2 or the

responses.

Two-thirds o the respondents

do not use air-side or water-side

economizers to help cool the

data center. The polling results

show this will change during

the 2010/2011 time rame.

Almostone-third(29%)ofthe

respondents have plans to start

using ree cooling solutions

during the next two years. Major

actors that will impact the use

o ree cooling are:

Locationofthedatacenter

(hours/days available or ree

cooling)

Temperatureatwhichthe

data center is run

Improvementsinthe

economizer technology

There has been a noticeable

uptick in inquires about ree

coolingsolutions;butthe39%

o respondent who said they

have no plans to use ree cooling

is higher than we expected,

given the improvements in

the technology allowing many

organizations to get some

value rom ree cooling in most

locations.

Next, we looked at a major part

o the power path: the UPS. The

modern UPS:

Providesdatacenterswith

emergency backup power

Figure 1. Computer Room Cooling Solutions Used in the Data Center

Source: Gartner (March 2010)

to keep IT equipment

running through short power

disruptions.

Bridgesthetimeneededto

start backup generators or

longer power disruptions.

Allowstimeforcontrolled

shutdown i no generators

are available.

The UPS has also taken

over the role o providing

conditioned power and isolating

building power rom noise and

waveorm distortion caused by

the equipment. In older UPS

systems, energy eciency

curves ell o dramatically at low

loads. Because o this, as well as

the growing interest in green IT,many data centers are looking to

buy new, high-eciency UPS to

replace older ones.

The newer class o UPS uses

a fywheel or ultracapacitor or

its backup power, rather than

batteries:

Flywheel technology

has been around or

decades, and is based on

the acceleration o a rotor,

or fywheel, to a very high

speed, thereby maintainingenergy in the system as

kinetic energy. The primary

power source jump-starts

the fywheel spinning. This

builds kinetic energy based

on the mass o the fywheel

and the speed at which it

rotates.

Ultracapacitors use

nanomaterials to store

static charge on either side

o a vast surace area o

insulating material. The

voltages are low, but thecharge density is high. The

technology continues to

evolve, and ultracapacitors

will continue to enter new

markets (such as UPS), as

capacity increases and costs

decrease.

Some o the reasons people

are looking to replace batteries

are that batteries take more

space, need to be replaced

every two to ve years, are not

2

3

4

6

6

12

12

19

34

45

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

On-site wind turbines

Fuel cells

On-site solar

Combined heat and power (CHP)

Absorption/Adsorption chillers

In-chassis cooling

Thermal storage

CFD analysis

Power management s oftware

None of the new technologies

Percentage of Respondents


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use liquids, rather than air, to

transer heat rom the processor

and other components to an

external cooling system. The

benets are:

Signicantlyreducedairow,

reducing energy costs and

noise

Smallerheatsinks,reducing

weight and cost and

increasing reliability

Higherprocessoroperating

power, enabling higher

perormance in the same

orm actor

Absorption/adsorption chillers

use a dierent mechanism

than normal chillers (drivenby electric compressors), and

are powered by heat rom

gas burners or other sources.

Absorption/adsorption chillers

have complex thermodynamics

and working fuid paths, but

relatively ew moving parts.

Thereore, acquisition costs are

higher, but maintenance costs

are lower. Overall eciency and

carbon ootprints are comparable

to gas-derived electric power

cooling systems. Expect to see

a growing use o these in CHP

systems.

Combined heat and power

(CHP) aka cogeneration. CHP

is an ecient, clean and reliable

approach to generating power

and thermal energy rom a single

uel source. A CHP system

uses uel such as natural gas

to produce heat and electricity

simultaneously. The electricity

can be used or running a data

center, and the heat can be

used or water or space heating

or cooling the data center and

elsewhere. Technically, CHPis a viable technology or data

Figure 4. Which o the ollowing power and cooling technologies do you currently use?

Source: Gartner (March 2010)

2

3

4

6

6

12

12

19

34

45

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50


Fuel cells

On-site solar

Combined heat and power (CHP)

Absorption/Adsorption chillers

In-chassis cooling

Thermal storage

CFD analysis

Power management s oftware

None of the new technologies


centers. Depending on local

electricity costs, utility bill

rebates and tax incentives, it

may be economically viable

today.

On-site solar solar cells are

mature as an on-site power

source. There are challenges

with using on-site solar:

ITisa24-houroperation,

and solar cells only provide

power during daylight hours.

Thereore, the acility still

needs ull power eeds.

Solarcellsdeliveronlyabout

11 watts per square oot

under optimal conditions.

This low number is

incompatible with modern

data center power density.

While viable, it will take

a unique situation and

business case or use with

an individual data center.

Fuel cells most common

orms o uel cells take hydrogen

and oxygen, which, when

combined in a uel cell, produce

electricity, heat and water.

Data centers are reasonable

contenders or uel cell operation

because o their 24/7 operationand opportunity to use waste

heat or cooling systems.


intermittent electricity generated

by wind orces on spinning

turbines that generate up to 2.5

megawatts o power per turbine.

This provides the kind o capacity

required or data centers.

Thereore, adding wind turbines

to a rural data center is an

occasionally proposed solution

to data center power issues.

However, the power output is

variable, and other challenges

include maintenance costs, the

impact on migratory birds and

noise pollution.

While many o these

technologies are just maturing

or data center use, data center

management should explore

theiruse.Thefactthat45%or those polled have not used

any o the above technologies,

including power management

sotware and CFD analysis,

shows that there are still many

things that can be done to

improve data center power and

cooling.

Source: Gartner RAS Core

Research Note G00174480, John

R. Phelps, 3 March 2010

ResearchIT


10/16reseachit10 Eaton and ePDU are registered trademarks of Eaton Corporation. 2010 Eaton Corporation. 11657_0610

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Our monitored and switched ePDUs offer:

Remotepowermonitoringofbothvoltageandcurrent

State-of-the-artsoftware,allowingtheusertoaggregate

informationfrommultipleePDUsinonelocation

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Environmentalmonitoringfortemperatureandhumidity

Multiplecongurationsforindividualon/off/rebootcontrolofupto36receptacles

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11/16reseachit 1

Power for the Data Center Is More Than a

Facilities Department ConcernThis research uses electronic polling data rom the 2009 Gartner Data Center Conerence (DCC) to examine the changing powerenvironment in the data center. We look at the age o data centers, unding or data center power, the measurement and monitoring

o data center power, and the growing use o distributed power or the data center.

ANALYSISGartners use o electronic polling

in major conerences began

with the 2001 Gartner DCC

and has grown since then. This

research will examine the results

o polling questions on data

center power asked at the U.S.

DCC, held in Las Vegas rom 1

December to 4 December 2009.

At this conerence, more than

1,500 data center proessionals,

Gartner analysts and industry

experts discussed a host o

issues and challenges. As part

o the conerence, electronic-

polling devices were made

available at track sessions, with

selected questions inserted in

each presentation. Although we

recognize that the respondents

do not represent a statistically

signicant distribution, we

believe the results o these

polls will be o interest to our

clients, and, in the past, polling

results rom the conerence have

tracked close to observed and

reported results.

We have compiled the results

o the questions relevant to

power or the data center, along

with general observations andanalysis o the results. There

were more than 200 attendees

at The Impact o Green on

the Data Center and A Look

at Data Center Power and

Cooling Technologies Present

and Future sessions, with

more than 150 responding to

the polling questions in each

session.

A major concern acing many

I&O managers is the age o their

data centers. Many older data

Figure 1. When was your current data center built?

ResearchIT

Source: Gartner (February 2010)

centers are showing limitations

in space and their power and

cooling inrastructure. In a third

track session, Getting Your Data

Center in Shape or Green IT

Evaluation, we asked attendees

the age o their primary data

center (see Figure 1).

The results show that mostdata centers were built beore

the current higher-density

rack systems were a concern.

One-third o the data centers

are more than 20 years old, and

50%aremorethan16years

old. As another data point, a

separate kiosk survey conducted

at the conerence, which was

open to all attendees at the

conerence, indicated that, or

70%oftheaudience,theoldest

data center was more than

Key Findings One-thirdofrespondents

data centers in the U.S. are

more than 20 years old, and

50%aremorethan16years

old.

Formorethan70%of

poll respondents, budget

responsibility or the data

center power bill resides in

the acilities budget, but this

is starting to change.

Fewerthan50%ofthe

respondents measure

the power utilization

eciency (PUE)/data center

inrastructure eciency

(DCiE) o their data centers.

Almostone-thirdofthe

respondents are sourcing

some o their data center

power rom locallygenerated power sources.

Recommendations Datacenterandfacilities

managers must work closely

when designing new data

centers or data center

upgrades to ensure that

the highest levels o power

and cooling eciencies are

achieved.

Datacentermanagers

should plan on having the

cost o power included inuture budgets, i its not

already there.

EvenifPUEandDCiE

metrics arent perect, you

should begin to measure

your data center power

eciency to get a eel or

how much improvement

potential you have, because

you cant manage what you

dont measure.

32

17

9

13

16

13

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Older than 20 Years

1620 years ago

1115 years ago

610 years ago

35 years ago

During the past two years


32

17

9

13

16

13

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Older than 20 Years

1620 years ago

1115 years ago

610 years ago

35 years ago

During the past two years



12/16reseachit12

ResearchIT

seven years old. This is in line

with the data shown in Figure

1. Also, last years conerence

resultsindicatedthat80%of

the respondents oldest data

centers were more than seven

years old. The economic climate

in 2009 caused many data center

building projects to be deerred

or canceled, worsening the

problem.

The age o most data centers

indicates that, during the next

ew years, companies may be

building new data centers or

renovating older data centers,

because o the increase in

higher-density servers. I youre

running out o space, power or

cooling capacity, things can be

done to avoid the need to build a

new data center. However, i you

need to build a new data center,

because o the new demands

on power and cooling capacity

brought on by newer server,

storage, and communication

equipment, data center

management must work closely

with the data acilities group

to ensure that the data center

design provides ecient power

and cooling capacity.

Inthepast,morethan80%

o the IT departments werentresponsible or the power bill or

the data center. In most cases,

IT management was unaware

o the magnitude o the cost

o power and its impact on the

data center. This, coupled with

not seeing the looming power

and cooling issues brought on

by new high-density racks and

the impact o blades, meant they

had not been as concerned with

ecient power and cooling in

the data center. Having access

to (or responsibility or) the bill

would have highlighted theissue sooner, but not solved it.

Although this lack o data center

responsibility or the power bill

appears to be changing, or most

companies, it is still a acilities

concern. We asked where the bill

or power resides (see Figure 2).

These results conrm what we

had been seeing during inquiries

and are similar to the results

compiled rom the kiosk survey

budget responsibility or the

data center power bill has not

been the responsibility o the

data center. With the increase

in power use, the rising cost o

power and the growing concern

or greenhouse gas (GHG)

emissions, we are starting to

see a shit toward data center

management becoming more

responsible or the cost and

eciency o power usage in the

data center. The numbers show

that slightly more than one-th

o the respondents show the

data center power budget has

recentlyshifted(6%)orwillsoon

shift(15%)tothedatacenter

budget. With the data center

power cost moving rom acilities

to the data center budget, we

expect to see greater emphasis

on data center design or power

and cooling eciencies. This will

also give I&O managers more

leverage in the design issues,

because theyll be paying the

bills. Dont underestimate how

dicult this shit in budget

responsibility may be or how

dramatic the eects could be.

Next, we looked at how data

centers measure their power

eciency. The standard used

or data center power eciency

measurement in most data

centers is based on the work

o the Green Grid with its PUE

and its reciprocal DCiE. These

metrics measure the proportion

o power consumed by the

IT load (some have called this

productive work, but much o

it is nonproductive) versus total

power used, which includes

whats used or non-IT load,

such as cooling, or lost in

power distribution. We asked i

companies measured the PUE/

DCiE o their data centers, and, i

they measured it, what was the

PUE/DCiE value they recorded

(see Figure 3).

The results show that ewer than

50%ofrespondentsmeasure

the PUE/DCiE o their data

centers(44%).Twenty-seven

percent o the respondents who

measure it dont know what the

ratings are, which would indicate

that, in their case, the results are

not widely distributed. Although

the PUE/DCiE metrics are not

perect measures o eciency

(there is no component o

actual workload processed

by the measured equipment),

they can provide valuable

inormation about the potential

or improvement and a way to

see the results o eciency

actions taken by the data

center. It is important to have a

power eciency measurement

process in place because you

cant manage what you dont

measure.

Whether you measure PUE/

DCiE or something else, such

as consumption trends you

need to measure it on a regularly

scheduled basis. Also, the more

oten you measure, the better

you can manage consumption. In

the session Getting Your Data

Center in Shape or Green IT

Evaluation, we asked how oten

the respondents measured and

trended the energy consumption

o their data center (see Figure 4)

The above results show that

25%oftherespondentsdo

not measure basic energy

consumption, much less PUE/

DCiE. O course, with the

results shown in Figure 2 that

the budget responsibility or

power is more invested with the

acilities department, this isnt

surprising. What is surprising is

the low requency with which

measurements are taken. The

largest,at39%,isdonemonthly

Figure 2. In which budget does the cost or data center power reside?


3

4

8

6

15

64

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Don't Know

Other

Always IT budget

Just moved to IT budget

Facilities, but moving to IT

Facilities budget



13/16reseachit 13

ResearchIT

withonly17%takenatleast

daily. With the growing emphasis

on power eciency and newer

technologies that are providing

monitoring points at the device

level, we are starting to see

power management sotware

that will enable workload shiting

to better control power usage

when the workload slackens.

With this technology and

sotware, expect to see the

requency o measurement

change dramatically. Expect

to see power management

dashboards available that

continuously monitor power

usage down to the device level.

The next question examines a

growing trend increased use

o distributed power generation

or data centers. Here, we asked

about the source o power or

major data centers (see Figure 5).

Based on discussions with

clients during the past two

years versus the poll results,

the results show there is

growing use o distributed

(or locally generated) power

fordatacenters.Only63%

o respondents use power

sourced rom the utility power

gridonly.Just5%reportusing

just locally generated power,and26%oftherespondents

use a combination o grid and

distributed power. The use o

locally generated power stems

rom several reasons. First,

some data center management

is becoming more concerned

about the availability o power

rom the standpoint o capacity

and rom the standpoint o 24-

hour availability. We have also

talked with some companies

that have data centers in high

power-cost areas, and have seen

multiple benets rom the use olocal combined heat and power

(CHP) systems. Also some data

centers are beginning to use

local, renewable energy sources,

such as solar, wind, geothermal

and tidal-generated power (see

Figure 6).

Figure 3. Do you measure PUE/DCiE or your data center?


Figure 4. How oten do you measure and trend energy consumption o the data center?


56

12

1

10

9

7

5

0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Do not measure

PUE/DCiE

Measure, but don't know what it is

PUE >2.5

DCiE


14/16reseachit14

Figure 5. What is the source o power or your major data centers?


Figure 6. Do you have an initiative to use renewable energy or the data center?


We have seen growing

concern about green IT and

environmental issues, as

evidenced by the increased

number o corporate social

responsibility (CSR) policies we

have seen that have sections

on environmental sustainability.

Our nal polling question

concerned corporate initiatives to

use renewable energy sources

or data center power, either

through locally generated power

or programs to work with local

utilities to drive renewable

energy production.

Fity-two percent o respondents

have no renewable energy

initiatives(45%)ordontknow

iftheyhaveoneinplace(7%).

Althoughonly21%have

renewable energy initiatives in

place,27%oftherespondents

are actively looking at creating

such initiatives. O those with

initiatives,21%areworking

towardsourcingmorethan50%

o their data center power rom

renewable sources.

The results o these electronic

polls show that power or the

data center is moving into areas

that are well outside the normal

acilities area. In the uture, I&O

management will be taking agreater role in areas aecting

decisions about power or the

data center.

Gartner RAS Core Research Note

G00173986, John R. Phelps,

5 February 2010

6

5

5

21

63

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Don't know

Only locally generated

power

Locally generated

augmented by grid

Grid augmented by locally

generated

Use power grid only


7

8

1

1

4

7

27

45

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Don't know

Yes use 50% or m ore

Yes us e at least 40%




No but looking into

No


ResearchIT


15/16reseachit 15

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