Want a few more suggestions on cutting your IT power bill? Think about these:

1) Server Virtualization. In most small to medium businesses, servers are only utilized between 5 and 20% of their available computing power. While IT has to be reliable, it is often easy to gain some efficiency, while maintaining reliability and security, by using virtualization.

What is server virtualization? A simple definition is: Virtualization is a method of running multiple independent virtual operating systems on a single physical computer. It is a way of maximizing physical resources to maximize the investment in hardware.

If you’re able to use less servers you’ll save not only the cost of the hardware itself, but also on the power that was used by the extra servers, as well as the cost to cool the computer room. Less servers, less heat, less demand on the air conditioning, less power needed.

2) Check the temperature of your Data Center. In 2008 the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) changed their guidelines for temperature ranges in Data Centers. The maximum allowed temperature actually went up 3.6 degrees from 77°F to 80.6°F.

There is no reason to have your Data Center freezing cold (unless you’re also using it to store meat), but you want to make sure components don’t over heat. Take a look at the 2008 ASHRAE Environmental Guidelines for Datacom Equipment and compare it to the temperature in your equipment room. Perhaps you can bump that thermostat up a little and save some green.

3) Put your office computers to sleep. If possible, consider having everyone power down there PC’s when they go home. If that is not practical, configure each desktop to go in “standby” mode after 15 (or so) minutes of inactivity. Desktop PC’s can use 200 watts or more of power in full operation, but that number can shrink to 3 watts when switched to standby. Don’t forget those monitors.

Larry Nazworth

True costs of IT

When we think about the cost of typical office technology, we often look at just the bottom line, in other words the price tag. We neglect to think about the amount of money that it cost to operate and service the machines.

Small servers usually draw 250+ watts of power. Now, that doesn’t sound like much, especially if you compare it to the hair dryer that you have at home which can draw 1500 watts. But, what would happen if you left that hair dryer on all day? It would quickly produce enough heat to raise the temperature of the room considerably.

How many servers does your business have? How many workstation PC’s, monitors, printers, faxes, scanners, etc . . . They all need power to operate, and they’re often left on 24/7. What does that power consumption look like now? Quite a bit more?

There is more to consider. When figuring the power needed for a data center, or equipment room, we generally add the power required for each component that will be in the space, add room for expansion and then multiply the sum by 2.5. Why, because it usually takes as much power to cool the room as it does to power the devices. In other words, a server that takes 250-watts of power, will require about 250-watts of AC to keep it from burning up. The extra .5 (50%) allows for power loss from UPS’s and associated equipment, and also give a little wiggle room.

Now looking at office technology from the bigger picture, we can see the true cost is much bigger than the price tag. You may purchase a low price piece of equipment that uses a lot more energy than a slightly higher priced unit, but you’ll pay more to operate the machine and the savings will quickly be gone.

So, what are some easy ways to save some green?

1) Look for workstation PC’s that come with the Energy-Star certification.

2) Configure servers to run at peak performance, not under-utilization.

3) Decide if all devices need to be left on 24x7. Does everyone’s PC need to be on all of the time? Can Copiers, scanners, etc. be turned off after hours?

Larry Nazworth

As one may expect, there is a trend in the Information Transport Systems world to develop "Green" data centers.  Perhaps you're not a big environmentalist and are wondering why you should care about the greening of IT equipment.  Well, think of it as an opportunity to save some "green"!  Now, I'm by no stretch of the imagination a big environmentalist, however I've learned some interesting facts lately.  It started last month when I was taking a continuing education class at BICSI in Tampa, Data Center Design Best Practices.

Part of my job as a Registered Communications Distribution Designer is to assist our clients in the design and layout of their Computer Rooms.  (In all fairness, most of these rooms are really categorized as "Equipment Rooms" due to their size and lack of tier level ratings, but I digress...)  Since North Florida Communications only designs and supplies the infrastructure (racks, cabling, power management, etc...) and not the IT equipment (servers, monitors, switches...), the only component of power consumption that I've been concerned with is to make sure the room has enough of it.  But, during the Data Center Design class, we took the time to compute the power required to service a small data center.  Good golly Miss Molly!  The amount of energy used was staggering.

IBM released a study in September 2008 which included the following:

• Information Technology energy demand is growing at a rate of 12-times the overall demand for power.
• Data Centers consumed 180-Billion kwh in 2007, which is expected to double in the next 4 years.
• 100 units of energy production drives only 3 units of productive computing on average.
   

Perhaps the first two bullets didn't get your attention, but I bet the last one did.  Now you can see why "Green IT" may be good for the planet, but can also save you some green.  Over the next few weeks, we'll look more into this.

Larry Nazworth