Service detail
Data centre infrastructures are at a tipping point. New high-density servers provide more computing power with less energy consumption than traditional servers. But with more servers, overall data centre demand for energy grows. Add increased equipment cooling requirements, and many data centre infrastructures can't handle the stress of new IT equipment. According to American Power Conversion Corporation (APC), 70 percent of data centre energy-related costs can be attributed to infrastructure systems, which means that improving your energy usage is key to effective data centre management.1
IBM Data Centre and Facilities Strategy Services – data centre energy efficiency assessment measures the energy usage of your cooling, electrical and building systems, compares your energy efficiency to an industry standard and identifies opportunities to improve. It helps create business-case financial justification to help prioritise improvements for energy savings, giving you a framework to make infrastructure decisions.
IBM offer two Data Centre Energy Efficiency Assessments:
- Basic Assessment based on observations and interviews
- Advanced Assessment based on observations, interviews with Operations and Facilities personnel and actual measurements of site equipment
For both assessment options, IBM will undertake a Data Centre Energy Efficiency Assessment and provide a report of the following:
Facility:
Data and Power Cabling layout,
Suitability of equipment racks,
Room layout/design and equipment positioning,
Rack ventilation and airflow dynamics check and
Infrastructure weakness – location, construction and single points of failure
Mechanical – Cooling:
CRAC unit positioning in the room,
CRAC unit operations and availability considerations,
Cooling distribution mechanisms and effectiveness and
Chiller or Condenser operations
Power:
UPS Type, capacity, load and runtime,
Generator availability (back-up) and operations,
Power redundancy and distribution
Security:
Physical security and alarms
Fire Protection:
Detection and suppression systems
The assessment report will highlight potential single points of failure or risks to availability of the critical data centre infrastructure, usable capacity available to support growth plans, and energy efficiency improvement opportunities.
1 American Power Conversion Corporation (APC) white paper, Implementing Energy Efficient Data Centers #114, Neil Rasmussen, 2006. The views expressed in the whitepaper, Implementing Energy Efficient Data Centres written by Neil Rasmussen, 2006 are not necessarily those held by IBM Australia Limited, IBM Corporation, or Affiliates. IBM Australia Limited does not warrant the accuracy and correctness of any of the information contained in the article.
