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Power Usage Breakdown in the Average Data Center
For the typical data center, IT equipment averages 55% of total IT data center power consumption. Remember these numbers are industry averages and serve as guidelines for determining specific consumption metrics. Servers consume 30 percent of the equipment total and storage consumes 15 percent. For storage devices, disk averages 12 percent and tape 3 percent. The disk drive is typically of the total disk energy consumption figure. Focusing on storage won't reduce the total IT energy bill, but could decrease the 15 percent electrical consumption by a few percentage points.
The top three power consumers in the data center are heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC); servers, and storage consuming an average of 45 percent of the IT energy total. Reducing the amount of power consumed in the data center means improving device efficiency. HVAC power consumption can be reduced with upgrading to newer, more efficient cooling. Server power consumption can be reduced with multi-core servers as well as implementing virtualization and consolidation efforts. Attention needs to be focused on the major IT energy consumers like chillers, UPS and air conditioner providers to lower the energy consumption and use newer technologies, advanced heat exchangers, etc. Then attacking servers, storage and switches can make more sense along with implementing energy efficient solutions such as tiered storage, thin provisioning, and virtualization.
However, reducing consumption doesn't necessarily mean that the monthly energy bill will go down - something IT centers want to accomplish. Annual energy supplier rate increases typically average 15-25% and will wipe out most reductions in consumption if the percent of energy reduced doesn't exceed the rate increase. In any case, IT must be aware of energy consumption levels to avoid maximizing the utility company's capability to deliver energy to that location. If no more energy can be provided to a given location, new data centers and additional facilities must be considered. Given current economic conditions, today's average cost of $500 per square foot to build a new data center is most likely prohibitive for most businesses.
Bottom line: IT organizations need to increase attention on overall data center design and establish long-term plans for the adoption of green-related technologies, while pushing the energy providers to address rate structures and the storage industry to improve overall product efficiency.
Source: Horison Information Strategies: Storage Spectrum
© 2009 Horison
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