Shaving savings

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Cost cutting is not the only modus operandi that might encourage an IT manager to look at ways of optimising the energy consumption of their infrastructure. But it is a really good one right now. There are, of course, also massive environmental concerns which have also become paramount and are likely to lead to further compliance requirements in the near future. NME asks industry experts how enterprises should go about trimming power outlay.

Panduit

What power or cooling reduction techniques or solutions are the most cost effective in terms of showing a rapid ROI?

Dave Hughes, professional services manager, EMEA: Key gains and a quick ROI can be made from passive cooling products which manage hot air around equipment. These products use no power thus, no operating costs are associated with running them. An example of this is the Cool Boot air sealing grommet which reduces bypass cold air dissipation. Calculations by experts in the US indicate that the deployment of Cool Boot air sealing grommets in an average data centre could save almost US$7,000 utility costs annually as well as reducing costs of replacing heat damaged equipment.

Also, DC UPS fed Power over Ethernet units can offer up to 33% saving on power conversion and using IP telephony and virtual PCs at desktop can drop energy usage from 200W to less than 30W per person.

How skilled up and knowledgeable is the Middle East IT market when it comes to reducing energy consumption? What more needs to be done?

The region is proving itself to be very forward thinking in terms of sustainable buildings. Not only is the Urban Planning Council in Dubai using the US LEED buildings standard, but they are also examining two other sustainable building standards: BREEAM Gulf Standard and Estidama which might be more suited to requirements of the region in terms of climate.

What are your top five energy savings tips?

1. Manage hot air in the data centre; using ducting to direct hot air into the CRAC unit for treatment, or use tools for localised hot spot management to release cooler air into the data centre meaning less power is used by the cooling systems to cool ambient temperature.

2. Get a professional assessment of data centre cooling efficiencies.

3. Deploy passive cooling tools such as Cool Boot to reduce the amount of bypass air lost ensuring maximum efficiency in directing it where it is needed.

4. Use data centre UPS to power power over ethernet units with which you can run many desktop services using much less power.

5. Using a Unified Physical Infrastructure-based solution to link desktop services powered by PoE to security systems can offer savings by only powering desktop services when the occupant is in the building.

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