Modularity Brings New Green Challenges By Peter Judge

Views and Opinions on Green IT (Nov 5 2010)

1. 

   We’re hearing about modular data centers again - this time, from CapGemini. The company  is offering data center modules which it can deliver “anywhere” with a PUE rating of around 1.08.

    

   Of course, PUE is location dependent, so that figure is not set in stone, but these are designed for fresh air cooling, and will make the best of what energy and cooling is available, apparently using half the power of some - unfortunately not specified - alternatives.

    

   Interestingly, these modules already have a shop window - it’s essentially the same design that CapGemini used in its Merlin data center in Swindon which got a double green PR whammy: Capgemini branded it the “world’s greenest”, and its first tenant is Britain’s Environment Agency.

    

   The Agency employs 13,000 peole and spends £1 billion a year, and its job is to look after the UK’s environment, including emissions and water pollution.  It can’t afford not to be sustainable.

    

   The Merlin center made news for those two reasons, and Capgemini waited a month or two before mentioning the modular aspect and, in effect, saying, “if you want one like this, you can have it - wherever you are.”

    

   Modular, it seems, is an idea whose time has come. The idea has also been put forward by Colt.

    

   Both these companies are offering ways to get the best out of small-to-medium data centers placed wherever makes most sense, from a business and performance perspective. It’s better thought through, both companies say, than the quick-and-easy option of containerised centers.

    

   earlier this year, I wondered why we are seeing data centers moving around the planet, instead of data, and various posts on this blog give the answers. There are financial companies who simply require processing to happen close to users, such as people on trading floor, to give the performance they demand.

    

   Other data centers may need to be close to users to make sure that the communications is available.

    

   Recently Doug Mohney drew my attention to the way IBM is planning to grow in Africa. That is a region which needs to see some economic growth - it’s lagging on the UN’s Millenium Development Goals, which set a target to reduce poverty by 2015.

    

   It will take technology for Africa to move out of poverty, and that will mean more data centers across the continent. As Doug says, that’s probably going to result in more power going to more servers, which on the face of it is a step backwards for green goals.

    

   But servers are a necessary part of society, just like travel, communications, energy and buildings - and the best way to build data centers is always going to be a trade-off between all these factors.

    

   Data centers are becoming more mobile, just at the same time as people are using more mobile data. There’s no direct connection between those facts,but they’re both based on technology that makes it easier to move things (real and virtual) around - and an emerging society that simply uses data all the time, wherever it is. 

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