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Erik Swan, co-founder, chief technology officer, Splunk says that unlocking silos in the data centre to save the environment and improve the bottom line
In an August 2008 report the EPA estimated that US corporations and public agencies spent almost five billion annually to power their data centres, this is estimated to climb 30 per cent by 2011. With an average utilisation rate from 6-15 per cent, there's a huge opportunity for organisations to address data centre inefficiency.
The potential benefits of data centre efficiency are far reaching as the facilities represent a large source of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in-scale with the airlines. Any improvements made to data centre efficiency will not only influence the bottom line, they are good for the environment. The technology lag
Considering that the very nature of technology is centred on change and evolution, I find it quite ironic that the maturity of the data centre significantly lags far behind other, if not all, business units. What department in any business operates at six - 15 per cent efficiency? In its defence, the data centre is very different from all other parts of a business. How many areas within an organisation completely change every five years? Furthermore, terabytes of unstructured data are generated daily and cannot be analysed to answer fundamental cost and consumption questions. I’m sure that many companies have no idea what's running in their data centres and they certainly can't measure the cost and efficiency of their services. Breaking down the silos
The growth of the digital economy has cemented the data centre's position as the hub of most organisations. Every mission critical application, server, tool, and network device sits in a data centre as an individual silo, representing an untapped wealth of information. Vast amounts of usage data are generated by these systems, but due to the size and unstructured nature it's left untouched and unanalysed. Without simplified interpretation how can a CIO begin to scratch the surface of controlling costs?
Three of the most popular options to improve data centre efficiency include virtualisation, outsourcing to the cloud, and greener hardware, but organisations are missing a bigger point. Virtualisation alone isn’t enough
Virtualised systems help combat IT sprawl and shrinking floor space, and help boost computing resources utilisation within the data centre, often by as much as 30 per cent. Unfortunately, virtualisation alone isn't enough. How can you ensure that multiple applications and operating systems being added are needed, being used and performing correctly? Virtualisation is an important step, but it's far from the final answer. Outsourcing or moving to the cloud can complicate matters
Due to lack of resources or skill sets, over the past five years many organisations have moved to outsourced applications. Recently, a slightly more close-to-home solution of using hardware/software in the cloud has become another option. The cloud offers that middle ground where IT organisations can continue to manage their services but also utilise cloud providers’ power and space optimisations. For many reasons the cloud providers are more sophisticated in squeezing out inefficiencies.
Unfortunately, moving to the cloud adds complexity between in house and hosted offerings. Greener hardware can be costly
The latest server technologies offer a dramatic improvement. These models include more efficient processing power, reducing power consumption and cooling requirements of predecessor models. Replacing old outdated hardware can have a huge impact on efficiency but it can be a guessing game as to how much and how to prioritise. Virtualisation, cloud computing and new hardware simply aren’t enough. When most people refer to their green IT efforts, they will point to one of the three areas. All three are terrific fixes, but they address specific symptoms not the larger problem. The information gap
Most departments of a business manage efficiency using detailed reports and metrics; conversely data centre efficiency is rarely measured due to its enormity and granular components. Business owners get reports based on aggregate data. They know how much daily power they are consuming and how much heat is generated for the entire datacentre. But they can’t see what services consume these costly resources. Only very sophisticated IT departments could report over the past month the pattern of heat generation and power consumption per service. It’s this level of detail that will unlock the information required to make good environmental and business decisions. The road to data centre optimisation (and Greening) lies within squeezing every bit of usefulness from machine and application. Understanding and tracking the huge mass of time-stamped footprints is the key to optimising data centre operations. The best of both worlds
The information you’re looking for is sitting in your data centre right now. Despite what some vendors may prescribe, an army of consultants, or a huge architectural change aren't required to solve the problem. The challenge for the average IT department is their lack of time and resources to stop, inventory, and account for all resources being used. As the cost and concern for the environment skyrockets, IT departments will have no choice but to find a way to better account for their complex systems. Organisations that can figure this out, and can effectively mine this information will get the best of both worlds. They do the right thing for the environment while simultaneously optimising data centre performance and efficiency.
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