The Evolution of Green Data Centres:A Practical Guide

Table of Contents

• Executive Summary
• Research Methodology and Report Objectives

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Business and technology drivers
  • 2.1 Overview
  • 2.2 Some cool statistics
  • 2.3 Cost savings
  • 2.4 Sustainability and corporate responsibility
  • 2.5 Legislation changes
    • 2.5.1 USA
    • 2.5.2 European Union
    • 2.5.3 Australia
  • 2.6 Environmental changes
  • 2.7 Energy availability and studies
  • 2.8 Benchmarks and standards
    • 2.8.1 SPEC
    • 2.8.2 Energy Star and related initiatives
    • 2.8.3 Building standards
    • 2.8.4 Recycling standards
• 3. Facilities and infrastructure design
  • 3.1 The Green Grid
  • 3.2 Chip manufacturers
  • 3.3 Virtualisation
  • 3.4 IT vendors
  • 3.5 Power
  • 3.6 Cooling
  • 3.7 Cabling
• 4. Building design
  • 4.1 Fannie Mae
  • 4.2 Highmark
• 5. “Green” Data Centre vendors
• 6. “Green” consulting services
  • 6.1 IBM
  • 6.2 Syska Hennessy Group

• 7. Key Strategies
  • 7.1 Stocktaking
  • 7.2 Virtualisation
  • 7.3 Cooling and power efficiency
    • 7.3.1 Cooling efficiency
    • 7.3.2 Power efficiency
  • 7.4 Data Centre design
    • 7.4.1 General considerations
    • 7.4.2 Raised floor
    • 7.4.3 Power distribution
    • 7.4.4 Power generation
    • 7.4.5 Cooling and air conditioning
    • 7.4.6 Air and water - side economisers
  • 7.5 Hardware selection
    • 7.5.1 IT equipment
    • 7.5.2 Facilities equipment
  • 7.6 Process improvement
  • 7.7 A balanced approach
• 8. Technology changes
• 9. Examples and case studies of “green” Data Centres
  • 9.1 Highmark and Fannie Mae
    • 9.1.1 Highmark
    • 9.1.2 Fannie Mae 7
  • 9.2 Solar powered Data Centres
    • 9.2.1 AISO.Net
    • 9.2.2 Thinkhost
  • 9.3 Geothermal and hydroelectric powered Data Centres
  • 9.4 Wind powered Data Centres
  • 9.5 Other Case Studies
    • 9.5.1 Quebecor and NetApp
    • 9.5.2 Microsoft
    • 9.5.3 Rackspace
    • 9.5.4 Yahoo
    • 9.5.5 Power co-generation

• 10. Conclusion
• 11. Summary & Recommendations
  • 11.1 General Recommendations
  • 11.2 Site Selection
  • 11.3 Site Design and Raised Floor Layout
  • 11.4 Electrical infrastructure
  • 11.5 Mechanical infrastructure
  • 11.6 Cabling infrastructure
  • 11.7 Fire protection
  • 11.8 IT systems
  • 11.9 Data Centre operations and management
• 12. Useful Resources
  • 12.1 General environmental resources
  • 12.2 General media resources
  • 12.3 Building and construction resources
  • 12.4 Technology - related resources
  • 12.5 General Data Centre resources

APPENDIX ONE

• Diagram 1. Power distribution within the Data Centre
• Diagram 2. Impact of Power and Cooling on Data Centre Infrastructure
• Diagram 3. Comparison of server purchase costs vs. power and cooling costs
• Diagram 4. Trends in server growth, power demand, power costs and Data Centre densities
• Diagram 5. Original power trend projections
• Diagram 6. Updated power trend projections
• Diagram 7. Server shipments in Asia Pacific by price band
• Diagram 8. Extrapolation of power and hardware costs for low end servers
• Diagram 9. Changes in greenhouse gases
• Diagram 10. Changes in temperature, sea level and snow cover
• Diagram 11. US federal R&D funding
• Diagram 12. Dependency of UPS efficiency on electrical load
• Diagram 13. Energy losses between power generator and IT equipment
• Diagram 14. Cooling hierarchy
• Diagram 15. Exterior of the Highmark Data Centre and Operations Centre
• Diagram 16. Hallmark Data Centre: mechanical plant and UPS battery room
• Diagram 17. Fannie Mae Data Centre

• Table 1. Assessment of the likely effect of climate changes
• Table 2. Power saving examples
• Table 3. Cooling saving examples
• Table 4. Comparison of fibre switches power efficiency
• Table 5. Benefits of server consolidation