ClusterFunk

I notice with great interest that power is starting to push its way to the front of the agenda when discussing any projects these days. While at Tech.Ed this year we were told that Microsoft are building a large DC in Ireland "because of ambient air temperature" Its cold most of the time . I didn’t appreciate what this meant until I read the article below which suggests allowing your DC to run at a balmy 32 C (much like any married man’s living room * ) instead of the usual 18C (65F) and use air from outside to provide cooling. I guess this is an option for some and is certainly something I will discuss with our DC manger the next time I see them.        

From: Green Checklist: 10 ways to save energy in the data centre

"Data center energy use can lead to economic catastrophe for many companies (in 2009). For example, energy use at the largest data centers grew at a 7.5 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2000 and 2006 but will hit a 24 percent CAGR from 2006 to 2010, according to Ken Brill, executive director of the Uptime Institute. At that rate, the United States will need 30 new 1,000-megawatt power plants by 2015 just to support data center usage."

CAGR – Compound Annual Growth Rate

http://www.accelerateresults.com/category/8/article/169-green-checklist-ways-to-save-energy-in-the-data-center-

* A genius is any man who can adjust the thermostat to please his wife.

If every there was a killer app for virtualisation this is it. Spend on virtualisation to save a huge amount on power/hosting.