Articles from NetworkWorld.com

Using Renewable Energy in the Data Center

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Aug 11 2011) Cloud Computing

Earlier this year, social networking giant Facebook finished construction of its newest data center in Pineville, Oregon. In a press release, Facebook officials touted the new facility as "setting new standards for environmental responsibility in data center design and operations." Those standards incorporate renewable energy tactics such as rainwater reclamation, solar energy, and heat recycling. By now, the energy-saving advantages of environmentally friendly efforts in IT are clear - even if companies don't always practice them. Even rather token efforts that make grossly inefficient data centers slightly less so can result in significant cost savings, given the escalating cost of electricity. But it's clear that energy efficiency will become only more important in the years ahead. That's especially true for data centers, as the demand for IT horsepower increases. So what are the best next steps in efficient data center operation? And is there a place for renewable ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Facebook

Viridity Software's new CEO: it's not all about green IT

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Dec 22 2010) Cloud Computing , Networking

New CEO Arun Oberoi doesn't exactly bristle at Viridity Software getting lumped into the Green IT vendor category, but he wants to make sure the Burlington, Mass., company is seen as more than that. "We're working in the converged world of green IT, a big part of which is saving not just costs but the planet in any which way we can," says Oberoi, most recently head of security/governance company Aveksa. "But the real theme around what we do is finding a way to make the physical realities of the data center more available and optimized so that businesses can become more agile in their business processes." (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Network World

Green IT: Train Staff to Think About Sustainability

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Nov 24 2010)

Frederic Chanfrau, senior vice president of IT for governance, quality and vendor management with Schneider Electric, wants everyone in the company's IT organization to understand three points about going green. First, that energy demands are increasing at the same time as the company must decrease its greenhouse gas emissions; next, that each employee is responsible for helping address this challenge; and finally, that running a sustainable technology shop doesn't necessarily cost more. "They can put their own stone in the building of a greener IT organization," Chanfrau says. But they have to know how. So early next year, Chanfrau is launching a course through Schneider Electric's ( SCHN) internal Energy and Solutions University to introduce IT professionals to the basics of running a sustainable organizatio (Read Full Article)

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Network World's top 12 green IT products

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Oct 25 2010) Networking

A dozen nitty gritty tools and technologies that cut energy costs, boost data center efficiency and promote green IT practices. What makes them green: IT leaders are demanding energy-efficient hardware, and vendors are listening. That's particularly true when it comes to server hardware, where performance-per-watt is improving markedly thanks primarily to improvements at the processor level, says Andy Lawrence, eco-efficient IT research director at The 451 Group. "IBM, HP, Dell – they're all putting a lot of thought into how servers are designed for efficiency. For example, they're putting more effort into the number and placement of fans, airflow, use of power supplies and converters. And these all can add up, and combined with power management at the processor, we've seen rapid progress in the last few years," he says. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Network World

Avaya preps one-box data-center strategy

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Jun 28 2010) Cloud Computing

Avaya is prepping to launch its one-box data-center strategy early in October -- the VSP 9000 switch -- as a counter to Cisco's more comprehensive approach. The Avaya plan differs from Cisco's one-box strategy in that Avaya's box is purely a switch, while Cisco's is a chassis containing a switch, servers, storage and applications. Avaya has little choice but to present a limited offer because it lacks the other components among its assets. Until it bought Nortel last year the company described itself as a communications software specialist, but the purchase brought along Nortel's collection of networking gear, including the in-development VSP 9000. Now with the switch in customer trials prepping for release, Avaya is making a virtue out of its approach and finding fault with Cisco's "toaster box" solution -- as Avaya's vice president and general manager of data solutions Steven Bandrowczak calls Cisco's ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Cisco

US, Europe, Japan agree on data center efficiency ...

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Apr 2 2010) Servers

Industry groups and government agencies from the U.S., Europe and Japan have reached a basic agreement on how to measure the energy efficiency of data centers, they are expected to say on Monday. The agreement is seen as significant because it establishes a common metric that different types of data centers, in different parts of the world, can use to report their level of energy efficiency. That could provide a yardstick for companies to assess the efficiency of their own data centers, and also to gauge the effectiveness of energy-saving techniques employed by other facilities. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Europe   The Green Grid   ASHRAE

Users lament state of Ethernet

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Mar 2 2010)

Vendors have a lot more work to do to make Ethernet ready for large-scale data center duty. According to users at the Ethernet Technology Summit here this week, Ethernet could be a lot greener and "fabric-friendly." This shows that recent efforts by vendors and standards organizations -- such as the Data Center Bridging work by the IEEE and Cisco's next-generation Nexus platforms -- to ruggedize and reduce the power consumption of Ethernet switches and routers for data center applications are still incomplete. "The biggest, baddest switch you can buy today is still too small -- woefully too small," said Donn Lee, an engineer at Facebook. "We have to lash together huge arrays of 10G links to scale. Switches are not built for being in a fabric." (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Google   Cisco   Arnold Schwarzenegger

Green IT: CIOs Can Demand Sustainability from Vendors

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Feb 25 2010) Carbon Footprint

Comment Mentions:   The Green Grid   Alcatel-Lucent

New at Disney: It's a Data Center World After All

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Feb 2 2010) Construction , Cloud Computing , Servers

Visitors to Disney's Epcot Center in Orlando can walk around the world, stopping at pavilions that aim to give them a taste of other countries. Now, Disney and IBM hope to give visitors a unique look at the information technology that delivers the modern world's everyday necessities as well. Last week, the two companies unveiled the latest revision of their collaboration-the Smarter Planet-an exhibit on how technology can save energy and Earth's resources. Based on concepts espoused in IBM's 14-month-old marketing push of the same name, Smarter Planet allows guests to explore the impact of various technologies, such as using mobile phones for banking. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   IBM

Help Your Company Get Totally Green

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Jan 30 2010) Carbon Footprint , Cloud Computing

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SAP plays up sustainability angle

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Jan 12 2010) Carbon Footprint , Emissions

Organizations seeking ways to conserve energy and profit from being green may find the true gains won’t come from "greening" their data centers, but rather by maximizing the efficiency of their supply chains, said Peter Graf, the chief sustainability officer for SAP. “I find [green IT] a little bit exaggerated. Green IT is usually positioned as reducing the energy consumption of the data center,” Graf said, speaking at the National Retail Federation’s annual convention, being held this week in New York. Only an average of 2 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions are created from computers, he noted. "I'm not dismissing it, but the real opportunity is in logistics, production, in distribution and production." (Read Full Article)

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Alcatel kicks off green networks group

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Jan 11 2010) Networking

Comment Mentions:   Massachusetts Institute of Technology   Cisco   Alcatel

DOE announces grants for Green Data Centers

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Jan 7 2010)

Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo and Alcatel-Lucent are among the recipients of grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for projects on improving energy efficiency in the IT and communication technology industries. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced US$47 million in grants for 14 energy-efficiency projects across the country Wednesday. The funds come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a huge economic stimulus package passed by the U.S. Congress early last year. Managing Data Center Power and Cooling: Download now "These Recovery Act projects will improve the efficiency of a strong and growing sector of the American economy," Chu said during a press conference. "By reducing energy use and energy costs for the IT and telecommunications industries, this funding will help create jobs and ensure the sector remains competitive. The expected growth of these industries means that new technologies adopted today will yield benefits for many years ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Yahoo   Hewlett Packard   Network World

Emerging markets willing to pay more for 'green' products

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Jan 6 2010)

Comment Mentions:   Accenture   Network World

Top data center challenges include social networks, rising energy costs

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Dec 1 2009) Cloud Computing , Servers , Storage

Enterprise data needs will grow a staggering 650% over the next five years, and that's just one of numerous challenges IT leaders have to start preparing for today, analysts said as the annual Gartner Data Center Conference kicked off in Las Vegas Tuesday morning. Rising use of social networks, rising energy costs and a need to understand new technologies such as virtualization and cloud computing are among the top issues IT leaders face in the evolving data center, Gartner analyst David Cappuccio said in an opening keynote address. The 650% enterprise data growth over the next five years poses a major challenge, in part because 80% of the new data will be unstructured, Cappuccio said. IT executives have to make sure data can be audited and meet regulatory and compliance objectives, while attempting to ensure that growing storage needs don't break the bank. Technologies such as thin provisioning ... (Read Full Article)

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Security pros seek hacking, forensics skills

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Nov 10 2009) Construction

IT professionals looking to boost their high-tech careers in the coming five years are betting on security certifications and skills to help them stand out to potential employees, according to a new survey. Five ways to get affordable certification skills Some IT skills see pay hikes during the downturn From Trust to Process: Closing the Risk Gap in Privileged Access Control: Download now CompTIA, an IT industry trade association, polled some 1,537 high-tech workers and found 37% intend to pursue a security certification over the next five years. Separately, nearly 20% indicated they would seek ethical hacking certification over the same time period. And another 13% pinpointed forensics as the next certification goal in their career development. "When you add the results, you will see that about two-thirds of IT workers intend to add some type of security certification to their portfolio," says Terry Erdle, senior vice president of ... (Read Full Article)

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Data center start-up offers energy saving software

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Nov 7 2009) Monitoring

A data center start-up is exiting stealth mode with technology that reduces power and cooling costs by analyzing the energy consumption of IT equipment and applications. What does a real green data center look like? Impact of Data Center Relocation on Application Performance: Download now Officials at Viridity Software -- the name means "greenness" -- argue that today's power monitoring products focus only on the physical infrastructure, giving insight into how power is delivered to the data center but not insight into why it is being consumed. Viridity's software maps the connections between applications and specific IT equipment, while also analyzing the relative importance to the business of each application. Then it provides step-by-step recommendations to eliminate power and cooling inefficiencies, simulates the potential impact of new technology deployments and enables chargeback. (Read Full Article)

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Wireless helps hone data center efficiencies

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Oct 24 2009) Monitoring , Cloud Computing

Enterprise efforts to consolidate data centers and install virtualization software are taking a big bite out of the number of power-hungry application and storage servers required to support enterprise data. But after taking this critical first step, what else can you do to boost efficiency? You can move from hatchet to scalpel (to borrow a metaphor from President Obama). In this instance, the reference means that once you've minimized your number of power-sucking devices, it's time to precisely monitor and measure data center environmental metrics -- down to the nitty-gritty rack level -- so that you know exactly what adjustments are needed to optimize efficiency. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Cisco   Barack Obama

Disney, Verizon go green in the data center

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Oct 6 2009) Power and Cooling , Carbon Footprint

For Disney, energy efficiency is being achieved through a series of small improvements, Weber said in an interview with Network World. "Some of it just comes down to cleaning the facility up," Weber says. "And I don't mean with a dust pail and so on and a broom, but cleaning the data center up from obstructions and ensuring that every one of our floor tiles is sealed properly for air flow. Blanking panels -- not only that we have them but that they're in the right spot. Variable speed fans and motors on our CRAC units, increasing temperature settings across the board. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   The Green Grid   Network World   New York Stock Exchange

Gartner: Turn server heat up to 75

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Sep 24 2009) Monitoring , Cloud Computing , Servers

Data center managers should turn server temperatures up to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and adopt more aggressive policies for IT energy measurement, Gartner says in a new report. Five tools to prevent energy waste in the data center Mergers & Acquisitions: The Data Dimension : Download now After conducting a Web-based survey of 130 infrastructure and operations managers, Gartner concluded that measurement and monitoring of data center energy use will remain immature through 2011. Only 7% of respondents said their top priorities include procurement of green products and pushing vendors to create more energy efficient technology. In general, data center managers are not paying enough attention to measuring, monitoring and modeling of energy use. “Although the green IT and data center energy issue has been on the agenda for some time now, many managers feel that they have to deal with more immediate concerns before focusing attention on their suppliers’ products,” Rakesh Kumar ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Gartner   Network World

Intel details power-savings features on Moorestown

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Aug 25 2009)

Comment Mentions:   Intel   Network World

Green challenge for techies: Power down PCs at night

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Aug 18 2009) Monitoring

Some techies like to think of themselves as eco-friendly, driving energy-efficient cars, riding mass transit or, better yet, biking to work. On the job, many are involved in data center consolidation and virtualization efforts aimed at slashing electricity costs. But how many techies are willing to go green on their desktops? That's the question a group of IT vendors is asking as it challenges its own employees and government workers to turn off their PCs, monitors and printers at the end of the workday to save power. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Intel   Microsoft Corp

California utility expands rebates for power efficiency

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Aug 14 2009) Power and Cooling

PG&E, which serves much of Northern and Central California, including Silicon Valley, has set aside US$50 million to spend on a set of rebates and incentives between now and 2011. Those rebates will go to customers who employ energy-saving technologies such as virtualization, fresh-air cooling and high-efficiency power supplies in their data centers. Enterprise System Management Challenges in Big Organizations with Eli Almog: Download now That's up from the $7 million PG&E doled out in 2008, and the utility can increase the money available if enough customers are interested, said Mark Bramfitt, the head of PG&E's customer energy efficiency program, in a presentation at the Next Generation Data Center conference on Thursday. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Department of Energy

Oracle mysteriously halts work on green data center

Explore NetworkWorld.com (Jul 10 2009) Cloud Computing

Comment Mentions:   Sun Microsystems   Oracle   Network World