Data Center Power Featured Articles
Syracuse University Implements Green Approach to Reducing Data Center Power
By Susan J. Campbell TMCnet Contributing Editor
Data center power is one of the main sources of power consumption and costs for the enterprise. As companies are working to try and reduce their cost of operation, data center power costs and adopt a more “green” approach to doing business, many have implemented a Green Data Center. This concept was recently explored in an Inside SU report.
Syracuse University was recently acknowledged for implementing a Green Data Center to drive an effective and efficient reduction in data center power. The institution’s data center has actually been called one of the world’s greenest computer centers and is the result of collaboration between SU, IBM (News 
- Alert) and New York State.
To focus on a reduction in data center power, the green data center as SU is designed to use roughly 50 percent less energy than the typical data center. Completed in early December of 2009, the green data center is a $12.4 million, 12,000-square-foot facility. In its design, this data center has 6,000 square feet of infrastructure space and 6,000 square feet of raised-floor data center space.
IBM uses the green data center at SU to demonstrate the reduction in data center power and to showcase the energy-efficient technologies put in place to reduce energy costs and the environmental impact. SU uses the data center as its primary computing facility.
There are a number of favorable attributes within the green data center at SU, including a direct current power distribution system; the use of energy-efficient IBM Power 575 and z10 servers; the reduced environmental footprint as a result of the data center power reduction; a reduction in the number of resources expended on building construction; the on-site tri-generation system reliant on natural gas-fueled microturbines; a liquid cooling system; server racks with cooling doors; and a sensor system to monitor server temperatures and usage.
According to Christopher Sedore, SU vice president for information technology and chief information officer, the facility is a prime example of pairing faculty and students with IT and facilities staff. The collaboration demonstrated new ways of delivering data center efficiency and a reduction in data center power.
The group worked together, drawing on individual knowledge and resources to produce the green data center students and faculty needed and IT and facilities staff could easily manage. The resulting center considerably reduced the data center power needed to accomplish the same tasks demanded, while also providing the capabilities to continue to expand as necessary.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Erin Monda
Data Center Power Resources
Featured White Papers
This article explores the various monitoring systems typically found within the data center ecosystem and how to navigate getting the required power and environmental information needed to make better decisions within your data center facility.
[Read More]RF Code provides an enterprise class, wire-free sensor solution that is ideal for monitoring in real time the environmental conditions in IT dense areas such as data centers and IT closets.
[Read More]Within enterprise data centers, power used for operating the facility, lighting, running IT loads and cooling is the largest operational expense. Numerous papers and articles have been published by The Green Grid, The Uptime Institute, PG&E, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories and others discussing ways to measure, monitor and increase efficiencies. This paper discusses the effect on efficiency of load balancing across phases in a 3-phase distribution system.
[Read More]