EPA Sets Date for Data Center Data Collection Update
In an email dated April 22nd, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Energy Star program that it would update interested parties on its progress to date in an update meeting to be held via teleconference on
May 6, 2008, from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
On March 20, 2008, the EPA kicked off the development of an Energy Star rating for data center infrastructure by initiating a nationwide data collection effort. Energy Star is calling on data center owners and operators to collect data for twelve months on energy use and operating characteristics in existing data center facilities. In order to participate, data center operators must first submit an Expression of Interest Form. This form, as well as the Data Collection Instructions and Data Collection Form, are available on the Energy Star web site. Data center operators intending to collect and provide energy data should complete and return the Expression of Interest Form as soon as possible, and no later than June 1, 2008. Data collection must also begin no later than June 1, 2008. In order to answer any last-minute questions, the EPA will host an important session via web conference on May 6, 2008 at 1:00 pm for prospective and committed data collection participants. EPA's goals for this meeting are to:

• Provide an update on the response from the data center industry to EPA's call for participation in the data collection initiative.
• Answer questions regarding the process and the actual data collection.
• Present next steps.
  

Session Number: 718 576 899. This session does not require a registration password.
 

Cassatt Survey Finds Waste in Development and Test Centers
Nearly two-thirds of IT and facilities personnel consider the energy efficiency of their data centers to be "average" or worse - and their development and test environments might be the biggest cause of that, according to a survey conducted by Cassatt Corporation . More than a quarter of survey respondents said that greater than 60 percent of their development and test servers are idle during off-peak hours.  There is some good news, though:  62 percent are working on a data center energy-efficiency project now or expect to within the next year, according to the "Cassatt 2008 Data Center Energy Efficiency Survey."   And, contrary to conventional wisdom, 59 percent would consider turning off computers that are idle.

Virtualization ranks highest on the energy-efficiency project list, with 69 percent of respondents pursuing a server consolidation/virtualization strategy, and nearly 49 percent pursuing storage consolidation/virtualization.  But, while nearly half of the companies (46 percent) say they need a payback on energy-efficiency projects in less than two years, organizations are primarily pursuing consolidation, which is frequently a longer-term project.
"We conducted the 'Cassatt 2008 Data Center Energy Efficiency Survey' to learn more about the extent to which companies are pursuing energy-efficiency initiatives and the rationale behind the ones they choose," said Bill Coleman, chairman and CEO of Cassatt Corp. "Many of the findings were expected, such as those that emphasize the data center power crunch, the popularity of virtualization as a potential solution, and the massive waste in development and test environments.
"Less expected," Coleman continued, "and very problematic for the industry, are the findings that show that many companies simply don't measure their power consumption at all, or do so at a very superficial level.

Digital Realty Trust Study Finds Standards Barriers to Greening Data Centers
A new study from Digital Realty Trust, Inc. is reporting results from a new study of green datacenter trends that show a decline in implementing green data center strategies. The new survey found that 51 percent of companies have a green data center strategy, a decline since the 2007 study when 55 percent of companies answered the question affirmatively. This indicates that corporate adoption of green datacenter strategies has stalled or perhaps taken a step back since 2007.
"When we conducted our first green data center study last year, respondents expressed concern about the lack of industry standards for green data centers. The impact of that concern is very evident in this year's survey. Companies are looking for leadership and clarity on how to define a green data center, how to design their green data center plans, and how to put them into action," said Jim Smith, vice president of Engineering at Digital Realty Trust. "In the past, the question may have been how to convince companies of the value of green data centers. The good news is that is no longer a problem. Companies are convinced. The challenge is that the data center industry needs to step up and show the way with clear standards."
Key findings from the research study are provided below and will be discussed in an upcoming Webinar hosted by Digital Realty Trust:

Eighty-two percent of companies say there is no clear industry standard for green data centers. This figure is up from 75 percent in 2007, indicating that there is more ambiguity than clarity in the industry. One area where there was broad agreement was in what elements an industry standard should comprise. The top two responses were:
1.       Ninety-four percent agreed that a standard should outline how to achieve efficient power usage (i.e. maximizing energy delivered to IT equipment by the facility)
2.       Eighty-three percent agreed that a standard should also outline how to enhance HVAC systems to use energy more efficiently
In the absence of green data center standards, companies cite LEED certification as the best alternative. More than 60 percent of companies look to LEED general building standards as a model for their green data center initiatives. The Green Grid was also cited as a resource for green data center initiatives, indicating that the consortium is gaining visibility and momentum in the industry.
Of the companies that do have a green data center strategy, 82 percent are taking a holistic approach that encompasses not only servers and other data center hardware, but also facility design and data center operations. This is nearly identical to the 2007 metric (81 percent), indicating that companies understand the value of taking a comprehensive approach that maximizes energy efficiency by addressing not just the equipment in the datacenter, but the facility itself.
Only 18 percent of companies are planning to include carbon credits in their green data center plans, down from a figure of 25 percent in 2007. This indicates that companies are focusing on directly reducing their data center energy consumption rather than displacing it through carbon credits solutions.
Digital Realty Trust will host a webinar about the results of these green data center trend studies on Monday, April 28, 2008. The webinar, entitled "How Green is Green?," will be conducted by Jim Smith, who will provide additional data and analysis of these trends.
The findings of this study are based on a survey of senior decision makers at leading North American corporations who are directly responsible for data center strategy, planning, and technology. Digital Realty Trust conducted a similar study in 2007, one of the first in-depth analyses of green trends in the data center industry.
       

News Briefs

The Green Grid  announced Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) . The Green Grid's agreement with the EPA will first promote energy efficiency in EPA computer facilities and then broadly share results in order to impact change within both other governmental agencies and the private sector. The alliance with SNIA, formally announced by SNIA earlier this month, is designed to further networked storage best practices for energy efficiency.

Marist College and the Institute for Data Center Professionals announced that enrollment applications are now being accepted for the Facilities Management, Systems and Software and Data Center Professional certification programs beginning in August 11, 2008. Courses are 100 percent online. Asynchronous instruction- Students across all time zones can participate in the same class.
Individual certificate programs include:

• Data Center Systems and Software
• Data Center Facilities Management
• Data Center Networking
• Data Center Security
• Data Center Operations and Process Management
• Data Center Product Development and Financial Planning

BICSI announces the launch of a renewed collaboration agreement with the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) in the ongoing effort to reach out and deploy new business systems that will benefit information transport systems (ITS) industry professionals.  Leaders from the two groups recently met at TIA's headquarters in Arlington, Va. to discuss strategic direction and joint initiatives including development and promotion of environmentally friendly standards to the building industry.
 

Eaton Corporation introduced its 10-kVA Pulsar MX Frame. Sold under the MGE Office Protection Systems brand, Eaton's Pulsar MX Frame is now available in a 10U configuration. Accommodating Eaton's Pulsar MX 5000 RT hot-swappable power and battery modules, the new Pulsar MX Frame gives users a low-entry cost to scalable power in one easy-to-populate modular system. As with Eaton's larger 20-kVA 16U (28-inch) frame, the same power and battery sub-modules can be used for both the stand-alone Pulsar MX RT 5 kVA uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and the modular chassis, which significantly reduces the entry cost to scalability. Through this innovative approach, users can decide to acquire a cost-competitive Pulsar MX 5000 RT and migrate to a fully scalable, redundant solution using the Pulsar MX Frame while still using the original power and battery sub-modules of the original 5 kVA stand-alone UPS.

NDSL Cellwatch released Cellwatch Central, a server application that constantly monitors multiple Cellwatch systems over an internal network or across the Internet. Cellwatch Central pulls together the condition and alarm data from different Cellwatch systems on one server and then provides data to multiple web viewers throughout a network. Remote users can view and interact with real-time, summary condition data such as alarm status, battery condition, and alarm history.  Cellwatch Central uses a standard web browser and consolidates the data on a dedicated desktop or rack mount server PC. Cellwatch Central is currently undergoing field trials in Europe and will be available for general release in the third quarter of 2008.