About the Space
The data center is ruled by two masters. Facilities control power, cooling, building systems and construction. IT is responsible for the equipment, software, process and service delivery to business units. The line between these two organizations has always been blurred and in these gray areas, cracks quickly become fissures when the data center is reconfigured, expanded, or relocated.
This blur also occurs in the service provider community. On the IT side, giants in the industry push hardware and software solutions that affect the physical infrastructure and even offer collocation and full outsourcing services, but they are not experts of mechanical and electrical and architectural elements. On the facilities side, geographically localized engineering firms hold sway with their customer base. They dictate designs around archaic engineering practices, rarely utilizing new IT related software, processes, or principals. Since in many cases the engineering community is driving design elements, the post-construction operability of the data center is left to the client. Hence the problem: poor internal processes lead to server sprawl, which can over tax even recently designed spaces This can shortening the life cycle of a data center from a decade to three to four years. In some local cases, problems occurred eighteen months after delivery.
What we’ve learned so far…
It was during the relocation of data centers that our awareness of gigantic opportunities for containment, waste reduction and even new design methodologies emerged. Most IT organizations only find out what is on their servers during the planning and execution of the relocation.
Our methodology is simple; know what is on the server, who is it for, when they use it, when it is running at its peak, what its interdependencies are and opportunities to reduce power become evident immediately. As companies begin to track these components and understand them more precisely they can re-design old data centers to run at an optimal energy levels. The second component is finding electrical and mechanical engineers who are open, unbiased and eager to rethink the data center design process. Third, complete overhauls are not necessary; incremental steps can occur at each level that do not require huge investments.
Where We Are Trying to Go
Nearly ten years ago Daniel Skutelsky and Derek Schwartz worked together performing outsourcing services. We leveraged Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Service Management principals into our solutions portfolio and became students of this philosophy. Five years ago Derek left IT for the world of data center design, build and relocation and Daniel continued on in his role, becoming an expert in ITSM and ITIL, and Six Sigma methodologies.
We have since reunited and brought these two very different and distinct worlds together. In the last several months we have discovered that IT Service Management and ITIL principals are easily applied to design, build, and relocation projects and also create the added value of better operational methodologies which will extend the life of existing and new centers.
There is also a major opportunity to reduce power through application audits, service catalogues, and intelligent virtualization strategies. We have coupled this solution with engineering firms offering CFD studies that identify physical opportunities to optimize cooling and reduce energy consumption. Extrapolated outward, these solutions can lead to new design methodologies that can contain, control, and reduce power consumption and ease operations. With the Understanding that maintaining high reliability, redundancy and process controls throughout the IT system is paramount to success.
As we have looked outward we have encountered numerous power, cooling, software, hardware and ancillary devices that can assist with reducing energy utilization. But we know that for every solution we have seen dozens, even hundreds more exist. It is very important to look at the actual experiences of data center operators using these products and techniques. The purpose of this group is to share experiences of applying products properly, along with developing methods and techniques that truly make data centers more GREEN.
In the coming months our Board, Directors, and Committee Members will begin to frame these discussions, define the key components and develop a framework. While we are doing that we will also attempt to do the following:
- Create a Calendar for events, populated by our members
- Create a Anonymous End User review section for our members to discuss products, processes and technologies they had experience with – both positive and negative
- Create a centralized Glossary
- Start monthly webinars based on membership interest
- Link relevant sites
- Create a central repository for whitepapers and trade publications
