Simon Terry, chief executive, Unite Technologies looks at whether it is possible to balance energy and environment in the data centre

One of the biggest challenges facing data centres is achieving a balanced and optimised approach to energy and environmental management.  Ultimately, if this ‘balance of power’ is not as optimised and accurate as it should be, there is the risk of seriously compromising overall resilience and business continuity.

In addition, the continued growth in data processing brings with it the combined increase in power and cooling demands of new technologies. Aside from the pure running costs where cooling systems alone can account for as much as 45 per cent of the total energy bill, there are also the environmental issues to consider.

A fundamental step towards a more balanced data centre management strategy is to fully understand what the facility’s overall energy consumption is and pinpoint exactly where it is going at any given time. As well as the cooling, CRACs, chillers, heating and ventilation et al, the key IT and network infrastructure factors found in zones 4, 5 and 6 should also be taken into consideration. These will include the NMS, data room and rack layout, hot and cold aisle configuration and containment, recirculation of hot air back into IT equipment and prevention of hotspots that challenge cooling.

Traditional BMS and Modbus metering systems alone are not up to the job as historic data collection on pure power consumption in zones 1, 2 and 3 is simply not going far and deep enough. The necessary approach should extend to all six zones and, crucially, factor in real-time as well as historic information capture. These must include the NMS, BMS and PMS, the point of entry fiscal metering systems, facilities asset sub metering, individual IT payload load monitoring and the integration of 3rd party existing management platforms.

Amongst the key benefits are the ability to take accurate and dynamic PUE readings as well as the knowledge and information necessary to take proactive measures in driving down the PUE to reduce energy costs still further. At the same time the means to calculate the CO2 with much more precision for carbon reduction purposes will help ensure CRC compliance and corporate social responsibility commitments.

To consolidate all of the energy and environmental data being monitored, a scalable enterprise software management platform is necessary. This must be capable of generating highly granular real-time and historical management reporting to measure, control and deploy energy optimisation initiatives including  energy consumption; alarm status; dynamic Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Data Centre Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE) monitoring; CO2 tonnage; temperature/humidity monitoring; capacity management; asset management; and CRC compliancy.

Early adopter’ corporate organisations have begun to recognise the value and strategic importance of a more integrated approach between FM and IT within their data centres. This has been a key driver in shaping the design of next generation power management and monitoring technologies as well as the software platforms necessary for providing the all-important holistic management and reporting intelligence. 6 Zone Data Centre Management, for example, is a fully integrated monitoring and management platform that provides a consolidated view of the entire facility.

Aside from the vastly improved energy optimisation performance that such solutions can realise - reducing a typical legacy facility’s annual energy bill by as much as 40 per cent – and the positive impact on PUE, DciE, CRC and resilience, there is also more streamlined and efficient billing to be had.

Whether cross-charging between departments, or recharging to customers in the case of colocation data centres, all of the required data and statistics are on hand to apportion and bill energy consumption costs with pinpoint accuracy. 
A holistic view of the entire data centre estate, from building point of entry through to individual Server payload will unite the traditional domains of the FM department with those of IT, enabling all concerned to work smarter, improve efficiencies and reduce operational costs.