At Vanderbilt University, officials with
Information Technology Services are using a server virtualisation
strategy to dramatically reduce the rising energy demands caused by
the computing needs of a large research university.
The sharing of servers maintained by ITS
has meant that various portions of campus are increasing the
security of their data and helping the university lower energy
costs and its environmental footprint.
“There's a myth that everything on the
Internet comes at no cost and gets better all the time," said
Matthew Jett Hall, assistant vice chancellor for ITS at Vanderbilt.
"The more physical servers we have, the more our power costs go up
and the more our heat profile goes up. It's not very green.”
In the past year, ITS officials estimate
that Vanderbilt began saving 20,575 watts per hour because of
server virtualization for 35 percent of the servers they manage.
Vanderbilt aims to increase that to 50% soon, and 75 or 80% as time
goes on. Departments who maintain their own servers, who may have
security, facility, or power concerns, are encouraged to take
advantage of the server virtualisation service.
Hall anticipates further steps to save
energy, such as allowing the power of campus computers to be used
for other purposes when individual workers aren't there to use it
themselves.
"We know that if our campus is fully
informed on the benefits of server virtualisation and other
sensible environmental progress, they'll make the right decision,"
he said.