Cloud to slash data center energy costs by 38 percent in 2010 — ecoINSITE. A new forecast from Pike Research points not only to the accelerated growth of cloud services, but also huge energy savings in the coming decade. According to the research firm’s “Cloud Computing Energy Efficiency” report, cloud computing is projected to cut worldwide data center energy costs by 38 percent, from $23.3 billion in 2010 to $16.0 billion in 2020.
By its estimation, “Pike Research forecasts that data centers will consume 139.8 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2020, a reduction of 31% from 201.8 TWh in 2010.” And, you’ll be able to breathe easier too. Data center greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) drop as a result of the cloud’s growth, falling 28% from today’s levels. The latest data falls in line with several recent reports heralding the cloud’s eco-advantages. This bodes well to the cloud’s image of a greener, budget-friendly technology. Image credit: IBM. Yahoo! green data center design keeps servers cool | Texas Innovator. Microsoft Picks Virginia for Major Data Center « Data Center Knowledge.
A recent version of the Microsoft IT-PAC container, which will be a key component of the new Microsoft data center. Microsoft has selected a site near Boydton, Virginia for a major new data center project, with plans to invest up to $499 million in the rural community in the southern part of the state. The company plans to build a cutting-edge data center that will serve as the East Coast hub for Microsoft’s online services. Microsoft’s decision is being welcomed by officials in Virginia, which engaged in a pitched battle with neighboring North Carolina to win the huge project, which will create 50 new jobs.
Boydton, a town of about 500 residents in Mecklenburg County, will become the unlikely home for one of the world’s most advanced new modular data centers. Microsoft’s new facility will feature the use of its container-based design known as an IT-PAC (short for Pre-Assembled Component). But Microsoft apparently found the Boydton Industrial Park a compelling location. Top 5 Data Center Construction Companies - Green (low carbon) Data Center Blog. Updated Sept 25, 2013. Here are modular data center construction companies in addition to the typical construction companies below. Updated Aug 30, 2011. I wrote this blog post on Jan 15, 2010, and the Top 5 data center companies have not changed.
Most companies have at least one of these companies bid on their construction projects. It can be hard to figure out who are the top data center construction companies and in this economy it is even more difficult than ever. Wal-Mart, Data Centers and The Fight Club RuleJune 3rd, 2006 : Rich Miller“The first rule of Fight Club is – you do not talk about Fight Club. Based on conversations with people who should know who builds what in the USA, and not a scientific survey here is what I can gather are the top 5 data center construction companies in order. Also, the nice thing is every one of these construction companies has a green data center skill set. #1 Holder Construction. #2 StructureTone #3 Turner Construction #4 DPR Construction Web-hosting.
Kundra: Fed Data Centers 7 Percent Utilized « Data Center Knowledge. Federal CIO Vivek Kundra tour the NASA Nebula cloud computing container last year. Kundra has announced plans for a major consolidation of 1,100 U.S. government data centers. In the past decade, the number of data centers operated by the U.S. government has skyrocketed from 432 to more than 1,200. The agencies building these new facilities must have been adding capacity because they had filled their existing servers and space, right?
Wrong. ”One of the most troubling aspects about the data centers is that in a lot of these cases, we’re finding that server utilization is actually around seven percent,” Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra said Wednesday in an address at the Brookings Institute. Boosting The Case for Cloud Computing “That’s unacceptable when you think about all the resources that we’ve invested,” said Kundra, who once again made the case for shifting government IT to a cloud computing model. $600,000 to Launch A Blog? Yes, you read that correctly.
Government data center. Government Taps the Power of Cloud Computing « Data Center Knowledge. Bruce Hart is the Chief Operating Officer of Terremark Federal Group which provides government agencies with a complete suite of managed infrastructure services for mission-critical federal applications, including cloud computing, colocation, network services, managed hosting and security services. BRUCE HART Terremark Since taking office, the Obama administration has pushed the Federal government to improve efficiency in its IT systems and provide citizens with greater transparency through the use of innovative technology. Following this mandate, Federal CIO Vivek Kundra has recently promoted virtualizing and consolidating data centers and operations, and ultimately shifting government IT to a cloud-computing business model. This has led major governmental agencies to identify projects and IT operations that can benefit from moving to the cloud. Can Cloud Computing Meet These New Infrastructure Demands?
Is There a Model to Increase Scalability while Reducing Infrastructure Costs? Feds Commence Huge Data Center Consolidation « Data Center Knowledge. Federal CIO Vivek Kundra tour the NASA Nebula cloud computing container last year. Kundra has announced plans for a major consolidation of 1,100 U.S. government data centers. The federal government has begun what looms as the largest data center consolidation in history, hoping to dramatically reduce IT operations that are currently distributed among more than 1,100 data centers.
On Friday Federal CIO Vivek Kundra outlined details of the ambitious plan in a memo that directs federal agencies to prepare an inventory of the IT assets by April 30 and develop a preliminary data center consolidation plan by June 30. These plans will need to be finalized by Dec. 31, 2010, with implementation beginning in 2011. Huge Implications for Data Center Sector The government data center consolidation has huge implications for the fortunes of system integrators, data center service providers (especially in northern Virginia), and cloud computing platforms optimized for hosting government apps. Data Center Consolidation Gets Under Way -- Data Center Consolidation -- InformationWeek.
Federal agencies must eliminate 800 data centers over the next five years. Here’s how they plan to do it. he first two phases of the federal government's long-term data center consolidation effort--an agency-by-agency inventory of data center assets, followed by submission of draft consolidation plans--have been completed. Now begins the hard work: Implementing those plans, with the goal of reducing the number of federal data centers by 40% by 2015. It's an aggressive goal, but one that has the backing of President Obama. In June, Obama issued a memo instructing agencies to adopt a zero-growth strategy for data center space over the near term, to be followed by a reduction in data center floor space over the next five years.
Four months before that presidential memo, federal CIO Vivek Kundra introduced the government's overarching plan, the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI). Agencies are now working with OMB to ensure that their targets are realistic. Col. More Insights. Feds Discover 1,000 More Data Centers « Data Center Knowledge. The U.S. government has 2,094 data centers, nearly 1,000 more than previous estimates, according to an updated inventory by federal agencies.
The finding underscores the scope of the challenge facing the Obama administration as it seeks to streamline the government’s IT infrastructure. For months, Federal CIO Vivek Kundra has cited the existence of 1,100 federal data centers as evidence of government waste and inefficiency. Kundra has repeatedly used this data point to drive home the need for a major data center consolidation that will consolidate servers and drastically reduce the number of U.S. government facilities.
It turns out Kundra was massively underestimating the extent of the redundancy. The new total was included in a memo from Kundra and Department of Homeland Security CIO Richard Spires, who is coordinating the government consolidation effort. Off by 1,000 Facilities? How could the government lose track of 1,000 data centers? Which agencies have the most data centers? Global Citizenship: Energy use. Energy use accounts for 98 percent of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by our operations and represents one of the largest costs of operating our facilities. The remaining 2 percent of our GHG emissions is generated by refrigeration equipment and HP manufacturing processes. We report GHG emissions from employee business travel separately in Business travel. We estimate emissions from product manufacturing and product transport, as well as the emissions benefit related to product recycling. Although these are not under our direct control, we do have programs in place to reduce them.
We strive to reduce our energy consumption, to decrease GHG emissions and costs. We have now brought 465 former EDS sites into our energy-efficiency program and are implementing the Global Workplace Initiative at these locations. Improving workplace energy efficiency In 2009 we launched a major effort to further improve the energy efficiency of HP operations. Data center consolidation –Amory B.
Cloud Computing Could Cut Data Center Energy Use 38% by 2020. The adoption of cloud computing will lead to a 38% reduction in worldwide data center energy expenditures by 2020, compared to a business as usual (BAU) scenario for data center capacity growth, according to Cloud Computing Energy Efficiency, a new report from Pike Research. As part of its cloud computing adoption scenario, Pike Research forecasts that data centers will consume 139.8 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2020, a reduction of 31% from 201.8 TWh in 2010.
This also represents a significant decrease from the 226.4 TWh that would be consumed by data centers in the firm’s BAU scenario. The reduction will drive total data center energy expenditures down from $23.3 billion in 2010 to $16.0 billion in 2020, as well as causing a 28% reduction in GHG emissions from 2010 levels. “Few, if any, clean technologies have the capability to reduce energy expenditures and GHG production with so little business disruption,” says senior analyst Eric Woods. The Cisco Connection: Cisco, others see healthy growth in data center, SANs | Network World. A new round of data center upgrades, driven by virtualization, growing amounts of data and a greater need for storage, pumped life into the data center equipment market in 2010, according to Infonetics Research.
Even with a flat third quarter and an expected down fourth quarter, the market will grow about 67% this year over last. That's because there was under-investment in data center equipment in 2009 due to the hangover from the Great Recession. Infonetics expects the worldwide market - which includes sales of data center Ethernet switches, application delivery controllers and WAN optimization appliances -- to hit $7.6 billion this year and $10.5 billion in 2014. In Q3, it was $1.9 billion, up 2% from Q2. Growth was led by North America and Europe/Middle East/Africa, and 10G Ethernet ports were 14% of data center switch port penetration in the quarter. Infonetics expects that to reach 50% in 2014, helped by dramatic price reductions. Another piece of the data center puzzle is SANs.
Water-Side Economizers. Rittal LCP - In-Row Precision CoolingSelf-contained precision cooling system that installs within a row of racks - close to the server heat source - for the most efficient cooling of critical IT equipment. Save Big with Aisle Containment! The Right Hot Aisle / Cold Aisle Containment strategy is an economical way to maximize airflow dynamics, increase data center efficiency, and save costs on your utility bill. Utilize "Free Cooling" to reduce carbon emissions while lowering operational cost with Water-Side Economizers Watch 42U's "Free Cooling" Webinar:Free Cooling & Economization 101 Limiting chiller operation-a practice dubbed "free cooling"-is intriguing, for "reducing the number of hours of chiller operation has a larger impact on lowering energy use in a facility than by selecting a more energy-efficient chiller" (Sorell, 2007).
Users with an existing chilled water infrastructure can accomplish "free-cooling" via a supplemental heat exchanger called a Water-Side Economizer. Conclusion. Reduce Your Data Center’s Carbon Footprint | Carbon Offsets Daily. First to Earn Data Center Energy Star Share Their Strategies. By Naomi Millán, Associate Editor BNY Mellon had one of the first two labeled data centers. The company's 71,000-square-foot Northpointe Data Center, built in 2006 north of Pittsburgh, has a PUE of around 1.65 and an Energy Star score of 86. Gaffney says one of the first things to do in tackling energy efficiency is understand what you're up against. "The first thing you want to do is know your PUE and trend your PUE," he says. Some of the best practices in place at Northpointe include sealing the raised floor area to maintain a consistent static pressure, using hot/cold aisles, installing return air collars on the CRAC units, raising the temperature in the data center — once the airflow was correct — so that the inlet to the servers meets the latest ASHRAE requirements of the equipment, and adding variable frequency drives to the CRAC unit fans to lower the horsepower needed to get the static pressure correct under the raised floor.
Toolkit of Best Practices. IBM’s Big Green Generating Big Revenue « Data Center Knowledge. When IBM rolled out its $1 billion a year Big Green data center initiative last May, we noted the program’s “symbolic importance as a sign that Corporate America is mobilizing to tackle the tough environmental challenges.” But are companies making Big Green purchases? They are indeed, according to IBM, which says the Big Green initiative “has emerged as one of the most successful in IBM history.” IBM says it made $300 million in new revenue from green client engagements in the fourth quarter of 2007, working with 2,000 clients and building more than 40 green data centers across the world. The success of Big Green and other data center programs focused on energy efficiency is driven by business imperatives to capture savings, rather than environmental sensitivity.
The green data center equation is captured nicely in this IBM commercial. Many of you may have seen it already, but it summarizes the reason companies are investing in data center efficiency. IBM Launches First Two-Year Green Data Center Degree | Business. ARMONK, NY — A new, two-year associate's degree from the Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Neb., is being touted as the first of its kind to give students an intensive focus on designing and managing green data centers. The program was launched today in cooperation with IBM, and will offer students coursework on virtualization and server consolidation, energy efficiency, security and compliance skills.
The training center is built on IBM hardware, software and online training resources. The online component was developed between the MCC and IBM's Academic Initiative, a project that provides online training to more than 3,000 schools worldwide. As a result, the courses in MCC's green data center program will be offered online to remote students. Among the courses on offer in the program are: The news comes during a significant push for increased training in the nation's colleges and universities to help meet the demand for skilled workers in the green economy.
Mega data centers. LEED - the Logo Program for a Green Data Center? Not necessarily - Green (low carbon) Data Center Blog. GSMI Blog » Top 10 LEED Certified Data Centers: Part 1. Digital-realty-trust-boosts-power-and-capacity-at-210-n-tucker-property-in-st-louis-89590337. Digital Realty Trust Completes Power Upgrades to 120 East Van Buren Street Property in Phoenix - The Data Center Journal.
Digital Realty’s 225 Megawatt Data Center « Data Center Knowledge. How mega data center construction is tied to taxes - TotalCIO. Are mega data centers cost effective? Yahoo, Microsoft agree ... on data center tax breaks. Microsoft moves data center out of Washington - taxes largely to blame | Washington Policy Center. Microsoft’s 198 Megawatts of Motivation « Data Center Knowledge. 6 Causes of Email Downtime.
More on today's Gmail issue. Google's Global Downtime- What Happened. Google Buys 20 Years' Worth Of Wind Energy To Power Data Centers. Google Energy Buys Up Iowa Wind Power « Data Center Knowledge. Going Green at Google | Clean Energy Initiatives. Url?sa=t&source=web&cd=19&ved=0CFUQFjAIOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcosentry.com%2FPost%2Fsections%2F77%2FFiles%2Fhuman%2520error. Multiple short outages can add up to major data center problems. Gartner: Data Center Problems Ahead -- Data Centers -- InformationWeek. Renewable Energy or Improved Efficiency? « Data Center Knowledge.
Fannie Mae’s Pioneering Green Data Center « Data Center Knowledge. Green House Data Harnesses Wind Power « Data Center Knowledge. Datacenter Tour | corp.bayarea.net. NetApp, VMware light up new green data centers | Networks Asia. Green Data Center Market to More Than Triple Over Next Five Years.