Data Center Power

Data Center Power Consumption Projected to Grow 20 Percent in 2012

By Susan J. Campbell TMCnet Contributing Editor

The concept of “Going Green” has gained much traction in advertising and marketing materials over the last several years. And, while the idea of being kinder to the environment is important, companies today are also searching for more sustainable approaches to data center power consumption. Efficiency is the name of the game as these companies want lower cost and better value.

This concept was the focus of a recent CRM report, stressing that data centers today are consuming nearly 1.5 percent of the world’s total electricity production. This consumption generates nearly $44.5 billion in energy costs, according to Linley Gwennap, an industry analyst.

DatacenterDynamics, a market researcher, suggests this consumption will rise a staggering 20 percent in 2012, pushing total data center power usage to roughly 31 GW. This total energy consumption is equal to that necessary to power all residential homes in Italy, France or the U.K.

If actual growth matches current projections, energy costs are expected to skyrocket. Gwennap suggests that growth projections for data center power consumption compared with the anticipated growth in power generation is not sustainable. Therefore, a new paradigm is in demand for the creation of data centers focused on energy efficiency to ensure data centers can scale realistically to meet the demand for data center power.

Fortunately, this new paradigm has already arrived. Solution providers are well aware of the energy appetite in today’s data centers and are making significant strides in the delivery of low-power, cost-saving alternatives. The advancements emerging today ensure efficiency in data center power consumption, without demanding a sacrifice in performance, providing a platform for healthy growth.

Intel (News - Alert) is one company focused on more sustainable solutions for data center power consumption. The company revamped its Xeon 5600 processors and launched a number of server management solutions for monitoring and managing power and cooling resources within today’s data centers. The Intel Intelligent Power Node Manager optimizes all data center power consumption and reports on system-level, as well as process and memory consumption.

Hewlett-Packard is also doing its part to reduce data center power consumption, announcing a partnership with Calxeda to produce ARM (News - Alert)-based servers that demand less power. Dubbed Project Moonshot, this project puts HP into an influential and central position within the industry as it makes a public move toward data center power efficiency.

Aside from the cost-saving benefits promised in more efficient and sustainable platforms, the move toward such solutions is also created new opportunities and clients for VARs. The control-your-own-power approach tends to lend itself to resellers as solutions can be customized according to large opportunities and changing demands.

While a reduction in data center power consumption often demands a focus on the hardware currently in place, efficiency efforts can extend beyond the walls of the physical data center. Cloud computing and virtualization both offer opportunities for current accounts, while also drawing in new customers. The drive toward more efficiency and lower cost will continue to be in motion as companies strive to reduce their reliance on data center power while optimizing new technologies to derive more value from the information they capture and store.

For its part, Server Technology (News - Alert) is focused on innovation, to continue to provide current and prospective clients with the tools necessary to optimize data center power and reduce costs. With a keen focus on reducing the overall investment in the data center, Server Technology continues to lead its industry.