Data Center Efficiency - We're still just scratching the surface!

I hope my title is correct, because I love the opportunity that technology brings to the world, and I'd hate to think that at some point we might have to decide between a safe planet and more data centers.

What is a data center? Based on the following facts It's really a computer;
- A shell like a PC case is the building that houses your systems and protects them from the elements
- Power (much more of it) coming in from the utility, just like the plug you put into the wall for your PC at home
- Large HVAC systems protect a data center from getting overheated, just like your fan on your PC
- There's storage in the data center, there's memory in a data center and there are processors and applications there, just like in your PC.....

So what's different?

On your PC you have a group of applications sharing an environment and controlled through a single interface and a minimal number of input devices. The data center has many separate devices that often have just one application running.

We need to make the computing resource in a data center more like a single large computer with replaceable components. The opportunities associated with having a "Computer" for a data center (I coined the phrase "The Data Center is the Computer") are so numerous I'll have to create several posts to try and do them justice. Here's a short taste of what I'm thinking.

- Data Center managers and their managers should be able to say "I've got XX.X percentage of DC capability left" in response to a question from the CFO on current capability.
- When the DC manager is asked to add a new application to the environment his next step would be to determine the performance requirements of the application. He would then compare the requirements against his available data center capacity. If he determined that the new application would take him over his threshold of "available" capacity then he would simply buy the appropriate amount of disk, storage or processing required.


The above model is very different from today where a data center manager would have to look for a specific architecture of hardware and software to install the new application. He would also have to determine what extra equipment he needed to buy to accommodate additional “SAN” or “Core” network capacity and extra servers for “test & dev”. We must get to the point where the data center is truly converted to a large resource of "brain" (processing), "heart" (1 network) & "stomach" (storage).

The benefits of the "Data Center is a Computer" model are numerous. Lower cost of ownership (you reduce the overhead associated with running many silos of servers that are supporting single applications) and you make the resources you have optimized for the amount of compute power you actually will use.

I’ll write more on the opportunities and provide some thoughts on how you can get to this “Nirvana” in upcoming posts.

Bridging the Gap between DC Operations & Facilities

Data Centers always seem to be what I come back to. I guess I have a strong opinion about how a resource as big and expensive as a data center should be handled.

What do I mean by "Bridging the Gap?"

Recently more and more Bloggers & Analysts have started jumping on the bandwaggon of the need to develop staffing roles that fill the gap between what the average Data Center Operations manager knows and what a Facilities person knows. I've been worried about this problem for some time. In October last year I was able to develop and justify a new position "Global DC & Lab Space Efficiency Manager". Funny how these things work, but within days of hiring this person no one could figure out how we had managed without it.

We're several months into the project to build a new Data Center and this new role has been crucial to filling the void of information between the traditional IT & Facilities roles. Following are some of the areas that have proven this Gap theory;
- Carbon Emissions measurement
- Outside Air or Water Economizing for HVAC systems
- Finding efficiency improvements in the electrical system
- Identifying current DC standards initiatives in Europe & the America's (EU DC Standards & Green Grid are examples)

Any or all of the above are things that might normally be missed or ignored in a Data Center project. Yet, when you're building a facility that will eventually have 30-40 MW of power and 20,000 plus systems any small improvement means real dollars and a greener Data Center.

I'll be speaking about these issues in several upcoming events.
- Uptime Institute (Orlando April 27th - 30th)
- Emerson DC User Group (Tampa May 1st)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue. I will surely be writting more in the near future.