At the beginning of the dot com boom, space was the biggest issue facing any data centre. The industry pushed the manufacturers to reduce the size of their servers so that more and more servers could be housed in a server cabinet. At the time this was great, but it has left us with another problem;
Energy Costs
The cost of energy has surged, making energy saving the new big issue. The industry is now pushing manufacturers to reduce the power consumption of its devices. In the mean time our clients are keen to know how much energy they are using and how they can save on these costs.
Independent Advice
Migration Solutions can provide independent advice on energy saving in your computer room or data centre. You don’t have to replace all of your existing server estate immediately to do this – although that’s what manufacturers might tell you.
The person most affected by the rise in energy costs, and most keen on energy saving, is the Facilities Manager, who probably has no control over the running costs of the computer room facility. Metering the computer room or data centre is the first step to managing costs by improved energy saving.
The PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) and DCiE (Data Centre infrastructure Efficiency) are often quoted as being the best way to understand the efficiency of a computer room or data centre. But don’t be fooled – the DCiE is a snap shot of your current position. It depends on many factors, not least the outside ambient temperature. Therefore any measurements have to take this into account, and measurements should ideally be taken regularly and automatically to give a useful history.
The Green Grid, of which Migration Solutions is a member, fully acknowledge the above, and say that it is not intended to provide a ‘one-off’ figure of a facility's efficiency, but is a tool for benchmarking.
There are many simple things that can reduce energy costs and Migration Solutions can provide advice and an assessment on energy saving and reducing operational cost.
With the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (formally known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment) regulations looming, which is part of the Governments Climate Change Bill, companies are starting to take a long hard look at their energy use - and their energy savings.