Articles from infoworld.com

For 2012, power-efficient servers could get a shot in the ARM

Explore infoworld.com (Dec 30 2011) Construction , Cloud Computing , Servers

In 2012 a fundamental change in server architecture could be on tap as companies look to cut data center costs with the help of technologies like ARM processors and graphics chips, analysts said. Low-power processors from companies like ARM could be in full use in data centers by 2013, and mixing them up with graphics chips could bring massive performance improvements and power savings, analysts said. Experiments around implementing ARM processors in servers are already underway, and graphics chips are already being used in some of the world's fastest supercomputers. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Intel   Hewlett Packard   InfoWorld

Facebook shrugs off alleged security flaw

Explore infoworld.com (Oct 28 2011) Power and Cooling

Facebook downplayed an alleged vulnerability in its social-networking site that could allow a hacker to send a potentially malicious file to anyone on Facebook. The issue concerns a Facebook feature that allows a user to send another user who is not their friend a message as well as an attachment. Facebook prohibits sending executable files, but a security penetration tester found a way to ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   InfoWorld   Facebook

Free cooling lures Facebook to Arctic's edge

Explore infoworld.com (Oct 26 2011) Power and Cooling , Carbon Footprint , Servers

In a move that will further bolster Facebook's green data center credentials, the social networking giant plans to build an enormous new 120MW data center in Luleå, Sweden, just 62 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The company will make the official announcement Thursday, according to the Telegraph. The allure of the locale is three-fold: First, it's a prime location for taking advantage of free cooling -- that is, using outside air to chill machines instead of running costly CRAC (computer room air conditioner) units 24/7. Second, dams on the Luleå river generate an abundance of renewable electricity -- enough so that half is exported -- so Facebook needn't worry about an energy shortfall any time soon. Third, Sweden has a dense fiber-optic network, which means data can flow reliably and easily through Finland and on into Eastern Europe and Russia. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Fujitsu   Europe   ASHRAE

Koomey's Law: Computing efficiency keeps pace with Moore's Law

Explore infoworld.com (Sep 13 2011) Emissions

Koomey's Law: Computing efficiency keeps pace with Moore's LawInfoWorldOn a related note, anyone who has followed green IT trends over the past couples of years is likely familiar with Koomey's previous study about data center power consumption [PDF]. The co-authors for this study included Microsoft senior program manager ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Intel   Carnegie Mellon University   Microsoft Corp

Yahoo keeps data center efficiency secrets to itself

Explore infoworld.com (Sep 24 2010) Power and Cooling

The data center industry has embraced green goals in a big way over the past couple of years, and companies of all shapes and sizes are vying to crank out the most energy-efficient facilities with the lowest PUE (Power Utilization Effectiveness) rating. Plenty of companies have not only trumpeted their success in attaining admirable PUE scores, many are refreshingly -- and surprisingly -- open in sharing their secrets with the rest of the industry. Yahoo is a notable exception to the trend -- at least in part. The company appears to have a handle on wringing a high levels of per-watt performance from its data centers. Just this week, the company announced a new data center facility in Lockport, N.Y., with a jaw-dropping PUE of 1.08. In comparison, the industry average is 1.92 according to the EPA; the lowest reported PUE on record that I've seen, prior to Yahoo ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Google   Yahoo   InfoWorld

HP says prefab data center cuts costs in half

Explore infoworld.com (Jul 27 2010) Cloud Computing , Servers

Its Flexible Data Center, announced Tuesday, consists of four large data center halls, or quadrants, that are built around an operations building in the center. It's constructed from prefabricated sheet metal parts, and the quadrants, each about 6,000 square feet, can be added one at a time as a company's capacity needs increase. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   IBM

Green IT in high demand among IT buyers

Explore infoworld.com (Jul 15 2010)

Demand for green IT products has increased impressively over the past few years, according to new research from Forrester. Back in 2007, only 25 percent of companies had a list of green criteria for technology purchases, whereas 60 percent now have such requirements. Notably, the biggest driver for purchasing green is to cut costs, rather than to be a good environmental steward -- yet many companies are still struggling to find an ROI from embracing green IT. Although both awareness of and demand for green IT products are high, economic hardships -- and perhaps some skepticism as to the true ROI of green tech -- pose significant barriers to adoption, according to the latest in Forrester's series "The State of Green IT Adoption. "Our survey found a significant jump (from 29 percent to 40 percent) in the number of companies stating that a lack of a clear business case or return on ... (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Forrester Research

The green IT stars of 2010

Explore infoworld.com (Apr 22 2010)

This year's crop of Green 15 winners demonstrates how organizations of all sizes are finding innovative ways to use information technology to achieve critical and often complementary environmental and business objectives. Increasingly, companies are moving beyond out-of-the-box products and siloed approaches to making IT itself more energy efficient. Rather, they're leveraging technology as part of a broader, holistic effort to create greener operations as a whole. Telecom equipment manufacturer Ericsson, for example, has adopted a complex asset management system that the company and its global partners use to deliver parts, products, and repair services to customers in the most efficient way possible. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Intel   InfoWorld   Dell

Green IT means making the most of what we've got

Explore infoworld.com (Mar 31 2010) Power and Cooling , Servers

Frequent readers of my Sustainable IT blog may have noticed a recurring them in my posts over the past three years: Much of green IT's success depends heavily on making the most out of your resources, whether you're talking about servers and PCs, CRAC units and power supplies, or watts of electricity and gallons of fuels. Cliché though they may be, adages such as "Waste not, want not" and "Do more with less" summarize the case for green IT pretty well. Consider, for example, the numerous data center operators who have grappled with limited floor space, a tight budget, and limited amount of available power. Rather than spending valuable time and piles of ducats on an expansion or a new facility, many of these organizations have embraced green tech -- virtualization, application mapping, power management, free cooling, and more -- to make better use of what they had. The end ... (Read Full Article)

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Energy Star for data centers has bright sides, dark sides

Explore infoworld.com (Mar 24 2010) Cloud Computing , Servers

You've no doubt seen the familiar Energy Star label emblazoned on computers, refrigerators, televisions, and other electronics and appliances, indicating that the machine you're using is among the crème de la crème of energy efficiency. In the not-too-distant future, a select group of organizations will be able to proudly display a similar seal on their data center walls. Whether the seal accurately or fairly reflects a high level of energy efficiency, however, remains to be seen. After many months of crunching data center statistics and working with players from all walks of data center life, the EPA has announced that it will release on June 7 the finalized Energy Star performance rating for data centers in Portfolio Manager, the group's energy management tool for tracking and assessing buildings' energy and water consumption. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Don't accept defeat against data center power shortages

Explore infoworld.com (Mar 10 2010) Cloud Computing , Servers

The ongoing power crisis is taking its toll on large data center operators. According to a recent survey by Campos Research, most of these operators are expanding their facilities or build new ones -- and they're citing a lack of available power as the No. 1 cause. At the same time, these organizations report that their data centers are operating at an appallingly high average PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) ratio of 2.9. Interestingly, the survey also hints at a growing interest among organizations in containerized data centers, which are essentially modular data centers in a box that are relatively quick and easy to install for added capacity. Although this route may be more efficient and sustainable than building entirely new facilities from scratch, too many companies are overlooking opportunities to embrace smart, sustainable practices to save money and resources and, in the process, make their existing data centers more ... (Read Full Article)

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Bridging the gap between IT and facilities

Explore infoworld.com (Feb 17 2010) Emissions , Cloud Computing , Servers

There was a time when an IT admin would hardly give a second thought to slapping a new server into a rack in the data center. There was no need for him or her to fret over whether there was enough power or cooling to support the new machine; that was something for facilities to worry about. But things have changed. With data centers facing a shortage of floor space, limited energy supplies, and demands from on high to reduce operating costs and carbon emissions, IT admins have had to broaden their purview beyond simply ensuring that servers are serving, storage gear is storing, and the network is blazing. IT is now expected to track energy efficiency at granular and broad levels, including monitoring energy consumption and even heeding climate, humidity, and power availability. (Read Full Article)

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Simplicity yields efficiency at new Hurricane Electric data center

Explore infoworld.com (Feb 10 2010) Power and Cooling , Cloud Computing , Servers

Hurricane Electric's new energy-efficient data center isn't much to look at. In fact, at first blush, it's tough to distinguish any appreciable differences between the newly opened facility, housed in an old Apple manufacturing plant in Fremont, Calif., and the company's first data center a mile and half down the road -- even though the latter was built some ten years ago. Yet in designing the newest addition to its data center family, Hurricane Electric, which offers collocation services and hosts the world's largest IPv6-native Internet backbone, drew on lessons learned developing and running its first facility over the years. Those lessons are reflected in its approach to selecting power, cooling, and IT equipment; laying out server racks; setting the temperature of the facility; and staggering equipment installation. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Apple

Green Grid to release new data center efficiency tools

Explore infoworld.com (Feb 4 2010) Cloud Computing , Servers

The Green Grid Consortium will release two free tools in the coming months to help companies measure and improve the energy efficiency of their data centers. The new tools are both Web-based and will be available through the Green Grid's Web site by the end of March. The consortium is presenting them at its third annual conference on Thursday in San Jose, California. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   Intel   The Green Grid   Dell

Datacenter operators dangle green benefits to lure tenants

Explore infoworld.com (Nov 12 2009) Construction , Power and Cooling , Carbon Footprint , Emissions

Hardware vendors aren't the only organizations out there touting their green credentials to lure customers. Companies specializing in building and operating datacenters, both for individual and multiple tenants, are increasingly trumpeting the energy efficiency and eco-friendliness of their facilities. These traits not only appeal to the "save the planet" sensibilities of more environmentally conscious decision makers but to cost-conscious decision makers as well. Among the datacenter operators celebrating green achievements is Fortune Data Centers, which recently earned LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification for an eight-megawatt facility in San Jose. By building and developing the facility with energy efficiency in mind, Fortune Data Centers asserts it will enjoy long-term cost savings that will be passed on to its tenants. (Read Full Article)

Comment Mentions:   LEED