Modular data center offer opportunities to support green IT and cloud initiatives
The data center is amid a period of change, as modular facilities emerge to meet efficiency and cloud computing requirements.
By Donna DonnowitzDecember 6, 2011
The IT world - whether it is technically-focused businesses, enterprise IT departments or small businesses owners attempting to find the technology needed to get the job done - is increasingly focusing on two key trends: sustainability and cloud computing.
Supporting green IT initiatives along with the cloud is becoming a priority for an increasingly large number of businesses. Modular data center infrastructure is rapidly emerging as an ideal solution to meet these new requirements, Reuters reported.
To display how modular data center design is emerging to support sustainability and cloud computing within IT infrastructure, the news source pointed to two distinct projects.
The first, a modular data center from colocation provider Verne Global. The organization is building a new data center in Iceland, tapping into the country's ample supply of geothermal energy to achieve power usage efficiency levels just above 1.1.
The PUE of a data center refers to the ratio between the amount of energy created and the electricity that is devoted to run servers. Ideally, an organization would achieve a PUE of 1.0, using all of the electricity it takes in to power IT equipment. However, cooling systems and other data center technologies often use significant amounts of energy. Many experts point to a PUE of between 1.7 and 2.0 as the industry average.
The second project did not have such an advantageous environment, as the Taiwan Industrial Research Institute needed to build an energy efficient facility in a sub-tropical region, TIRI spokesman Paul Sun told the news source. Furthermore, the organization's goal was to invest in networking systems and other technologies designed to support cloud computing initiatives. Through liquid cooling and direct DC power connections to servers, the organization was able to achieve a PUE below 1.3 despite challenging climactic conditions, the report said.
For businesses, following either of these models could be difficult. However, investing in console server technology to improve data center management, and combining that with robust network infrastructure, could be key first steps to improving energy efficiency while also supporting the type of data transit and bandwidth rates needed to support cloud computing. By pursuing these more approachable strategies, organizations can achieve enhanced sustainability in cloud computing operations.
Perle’s wide range of 1 to 48 port Perle Console Servers provide data center managers and network administrators with secure remote management of any device with a serial console port. Plus, they are the only truly fault tolerant Console Servers on the market with the advanced security functionality needed to easily perform secure remote data center management and out-of-band management of IT assets from anywhere in the world.
Supporting green IT initiatives along with the cloud is becoming a priority for an increasingly large number of businesses. Modular data center infrastructure is rapidly emerging as an ideal solution to meet these new requirements, Reuters reported.
To display how modular data center design is emerging to support sustainability and cloud computing within IT infrastructure, the news source pointed to two distinct projects.
The first, a modular data center from colocation provider Verne Global. The organization is building a new data center in Iceland, tapping into the country's ample supply of geothermal energy to achieve power usage efficiency levels just above 1.1.
The PUE of a data center refers to the ratio between the amount of energy created and the electricity that is devoted to run servers. Ideally, an organization would achieve a PUE of 1.0, using all of the electricity it takes in to power IT equipment. However, cooling systems and other data center technologies often use significant amounts of energy. Many experts point to a PUE of between 1.7 and 2.0 as the industry average.
The second project did not have such an advantageous environment, as the Taiwan Industrial Research Institute needed to build an energy efficient facility in a sub-tropical region, TIRI spokesman Paul Sun told the news source. Furthermore, the organization's goal was to invest in networking systems and other technologies designed to support cloud computing initiatives. Through liquid cooling and direct DC power connections to servers, the organization was able to achieve a PUE below 1.3 despite challenging climactic conditions, the report said.
For businesses, following either of these models could be difficult. However, investing in console server technology to improve data center management, and combining that with robust network infrastructure, could be key first steps to improving energy efficiency while also supporting the type of data transit and bandwidth rates needed to support cloud computing. By pursuing these more approachable strategies, organizations can achieve enhanced sustainability in cloud computing operations.
Perle’s wide range of 1 to 48 port Perle Console Servers provide data center managers and network administrators with secure remote management of any device with a serial console port. Plus, they are the only truly fault tolerant Console Servers on the market with the advanced security functionality needed to easily perform secure remote data center management and out-of-band management of IT assets from anywhere in the world.
