Businesses are deploying energy saving
technologies to help them lower the electricity costs of running
datacentres during the recession.
The
Western Europe: Datacenter Investment and Infrastructure Trends
2007-2009 report prepared by the Research Group at
DatacenterDynamics has found that businesses are increasingly
looking at deploying lower-powered microprocessors in server racks
and running datacentres hotter to lower their electricity
bills.
The report, which questioned 287 businesses, found
that the cost of power is the biggest concern of owners and
operators of UK datacentres. DatacenterDynamics found that there
was a maturing of the debate about the key power/cooling/efficiency
challenge.
"This has moved from general concerns about using
too much power into the specific implications of this, in
particular, the cost and availability consequences of inefficiency.
It would therefore appear that the financial crisis may have as
much impact on existing facilities as upon planned ones," the
report said.
The study found that the average maximum power
consumption in datacentres has dipped marginally from 2007 and the
mean inlet air temperature has risen by 2.4°C to 20.8°C.
Power issues are a major concern for the IT
industry. Companies like
Google and
Microsoft are embarking on major green datacentre strategies,
using renewable energy sources and state-of-the-art datacentre
designs to lower the power consumption and running costs of the
major centres they need to build to grow their businesses.