Viridity Software Presents Data Center Energy Resource Management Best Practices

In a recent survey of data center managers, Viridity Software learned that 48% of data center managers don’t know how they are measuring the power used within their data center. At the same time, 16% of data center managers are concerned with the increasing cost of power while another 10% are concerned with running out of power all together.

 

We reviewed the survey results and discussed data center energy resource management best practices with IT managers in a recent webinar. If you'f interested in learning what we presented, take a look at the slides below.

It Was a Big Week for Data Center Energy News

There was a lot of interesting news on data center energy this week.  Here's a look at some of the articles that caught our attention.

DatacenterDynamics ran a nice piece on how the rising cost and demand for energy in the data center combined with impending government legislation means energy efficiency metrics are taking hold and evolving at a rapid pace.

SearchDataCenter News ran an article by Robert McFarlane on the new EnergyStar ratings for data centers.  In the article, he points out that the new Energy Star rating will have its detractors because it is based on the already controversial PUE (power usage efficiency) which is becoming the global standard for measuring data center efficiency.  He points out, the metric is "not valid as a comparison among different data centers" and that the problem with PUE is that it looks only at how much energy is used and not how that energy usage is contributing the business. 

Melissa Alvarez blogged about The Three Biggest Myths About Green IT. The first myth is that the case for Green IT is a clear one.  She writes that "the biggest problem in making the case for energy efficiency has nothing to do with the technology. The issue is who realizes the benefits."  The second myth is that Green IT is achievable.  Her thinking here is that Green IT isn't so much a destination as a journey that involves creating processes and policies that define a way of operating over the long-term.  And the third myth is that everybody cares about Green IT.  She quotes the results of a recent survey from CIO magazine that asked IT management their top priorities where Green IT didn't make the list.  Her thinking is that "Green IT is really about doing away with waste and inefficiency -- and inefficiency costs money."

At Viridity Software, we believe that you can't manage what you can't measure.  It's great to read that energy efficiency metrics are taking hold across the industry and that people recognize that reducing data center energy usage benefits the whole organization.

What If IT Had To Pay The Power Bill?

Recently, BAO conducted their quarterly survey of one hundred IT professionals for us.

When they asked who has responsibility for power management in the data center they learned that it was a mix of IT, Facilities, IT & Facilities, and third party or co-location hosted facilities. This is because for most organizations the responsibility for the power bill usually sits with the Facilities department.

When asked "How are you measuring your power consumption?" about half of the IT managers asked just didn't know. 

 

 

These results are in line with information BAO has gathered from past surveys for Viridity Software. It's not unusual to learn that data centers are spending more on their energy bill than they are on capital equipment.  One reason for this is that the department ordering equipment for the data center is not the same group that pays the power bill.

What if IT paid the power bill?

If the IT department received the power bill instead of the Facilities department, they would understand the total impact of adding new equipment to the data center.  Technology investment decisions might be made based on being more energy efficient as it would impact data center ROI along with meeting business objectives.

Viridity EnergyCenter software helps both IT and Facilities managers get the information they need to monitor the power consumption and utilization of all of the networked equipment in the data center.  With this insight and actionable information, they can drive down costs and extend the life of their existing data centers. Our customers often discover 20% to 40% improvements in data center energy efficiency right away.  

So, which ever department ends up with the power bill, using Viridity EnergyCenter and putting best practices into place, they'll see their power bill get smaller instead of larger. And, that's good for the whole organization.

Discover What's In Your Data Center In < 2 Minutes

The first step towards optimizing your data center to be more energy efficient is to discover what is actually in it.  With Viridity EnergyCenter, you can view a data center inventory of assets including servers, power distribution units (PDUs), branch circuit monitors (BCMs), and more. Then, filter system types by data center, rack row, or IP address range. This video demonstrates how you can begin data center management in less than two minutes.

Once you've discovered all of the assets in this data center, you can then discover the data center power draw, events triggering jobs, the average server utilization, and the number of underutilized servers within hours.  Viridity Energy Center provides you with actionable information that results in major cost reductions while increasing your overall data center energy efficiency.

To learn more, join us on one of our upcoming live webinars where Viridity co-founder and CTO, Michael Rowan, will drill down on data center energy optimization issues, demo Viridity EnergyCenter, and answer any questions you have.

Join Us on The Road to Data Center Energy Efficiency

Lack of available power along with the energy expenses associated with IT equipment and cooling infrastructure has heightened the requirement for data center energy efficiency. Until now, it’s been difficult to successfully improve energy usage and gain visibility into hardware power usage because of the cost and complexity involved in gathering actionable information. Recently, Viridity Software’s Co-Founder and CTO, Michael Rowan explained how to get started on the road to data center energy efficiency. He discussed how to eliminate non-productive devices; optimize power and cooling; and how to optimize the data center to tie IT to the business.  Here's the presentation.

The Road to Data Center Energy Efficiency

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