Gartner Says a Green Data Centre Means More than Energy Efficiency

Analysts to Examine the Concept of the Data Centre as a Living Organism at Gartner’s Data Center Summit 2008, 21-23 October in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Egham, UK, Power and cooling will drive the evolution of data centres into becoming conceptual models of intelligent “living organisms” as organisations need to improve energy efficiency and become ‘greener’, according to Gartner, Inc.

“If ‘greening’ the data centre is the goal, power efficiency is the starting point but not sufficient on its own,” said Rakesh Kumar, vice president at Gartner. “’Green’ requires an end-to-end, integrated view of the data centre, including the building, energy efficiency, waste management, asset management, capacity management, technology architecture, support services, energy sources and operations.”

Legacy data centres, constructed in the last decade are - in relative terms and particularly when addressing ‘green’ - functionally obsolete. New, high-density, power-hungry data-centre equipment warrants more advanced power and cooling capabilities. If they are not fully aware of the problem, data centre managers run the risk of doubling their energy costs between 2005 and 2011. If we assume that data centre energy costs continue to double every five years, they will have increased 1,600 per cent between 2005 and 2025.

“Data centre managers need to think differently about their data centres. Tomorrow’s data centre is moving from being static to becoming a living organism, where modelling and measuring tools will become one of the major elements of its management,” said Mr Kumar. “It will be dynamic and address a variety of technical, financial and environmental demands, and modular to respond quickly to demands for floor space. In addition, it will need to have some degree of flexibility, to run workloads where energy is cheapest and above all be highly-available, with 99.999 per cent availability.”

Achieving an optimised, reliable and efficient data centre environment requires a holistic and integrated approach, which can be broken down into six stages:

1. Pick the location according to a strategic facility strategy. High-bay, warehouse-type buildings provide more efficient rack layout and airflow

2. Develop the site on a modular basis

3. Include chillers and high-ventilation air conditioning units (HVACS). Build all new large facilities with chilled fluid plumbing at the outset

4. Introduce some recycling and alternative energy sources

5. Put in monitoring tools

6. Manage the server efficiencies. Move away from the ‘always on’ mentality and look at powering equipment down

Mr Kumar concluded: “In this way, data centres will become more energy efficient, be better for the environment and use emerging green IT products and processes. In essence, this living organism data centre will be the green data centre.”

About the Gartner Data Center Summit 2008
At Gartner Data Center Summit 2008, taking place 21-23 October in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Gartner analysts will help delegates master the challenges and overcome these hurdles of transforming infrastructure and operations (I&O) culture, prioritising and delivering projects, implementing best practices and modernising I&O technology and operations, and help deliver the agility and innovation their business needs. They will also provide their advice on where I&O leaders should focus their efforts to be highly successful and on the best practices to improve process, people, technology and business management. They will be joined by end-user case presenters and other industry experts to share their vision. For more information, please visit www.europe.gartner.com/datacenter

To register for the Summit, please contact Holly Stevens, Gartner PR, on +44 1784 267738 and at holly.stevens@gartner.com

About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.