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Power Perspectives
and IT Analysis
 Power through increased energy consumption.

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2 researchit

Powering Through the Economy
Q&A with Lennart Jonsson, Vice President & CTO
Electrical Sector, Eaton Corporation
Today’s lean, more tightly-
regulated economy and the
ever-increasing importance of
IT have many organizations
caught in a bind. On one hand,
reliable access to power is
vital to keeping data centers
operational, and the costs
associated with loss of power
can be devastating. On the
other hand, IT departments are
being asked to get more done
with less money even as energy
rates continue to rise.
Lennart Jonsson, vice president
and chief technology officer,
Electrical sector, at Eaton
Corporation believes that any
organization can get past this
predicament by tapping into a
different kind of power—the
power of returns on smart,
strategic investments. He
recently shared his thoughts on
that topic with us.
Q: What’s a good starting
point for companies look-
ing to “power through the
economy”?
A: Creating organizational
alignment between your IT
and facilities departments
is an excellent first step. At
most companies, IT reports
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up to the CIO while facilities
reports into the COO or vice
president of corporate real
estate. Unfortunately, that
divided organizational structure
can produce conflicting goals
around technology, energy
spend and sustainability. For
example, while IT buys server
equipment, facilities often pays
the energy bill. As a result,
power efficiency is sometimes
a bigger priority for facilities
managers than it is for their IT
counterparts.
Changing your organizational
structure such that both the
IT and facilities departments
report up to the same
executive helps align everyone
around common goals, metrics
and objectives. That can drive
greater efficiencies by ensuring
that IT and facilities managers
are equally motivated to
improve performance and
lower power bills.
Q: What’s the quickest way
to save money on power?
A: Invest in new Uninterruptible
Power Supplies! That might
not seem like the most intuitive
action when money is tight, but
the latest power systems are
so much more efficient than
their predecessors that they
can quickly pay for themselves.
In the 1990s, the average UPS
was generally about 85 to
90 percent efficient. Today’s
models routinely achieve 90
to 94 percent efficiency, and
UPSs equipped with Energy
Saver System deliver up to 99
percent efficiency. For most
companies, that can quickly
translate into considerable
savings. For instance, a UPS
that delivers 400 kW at 82
percent efficiency requires an
average of 4.3 million kW hours
per year. A newer, 95 percent
efficient, UPS reduces that
to only 3.7 million kW hours
annually. That’s a reduction of
more than 600,000 kW hours,
which can easily save tens or
even hundreds of thousands of
dollars a year.
Q: What’s the best long-term
strategy for ensuring power
efficiency?
A: Use modular power system
design principles. No business
ever wants to get caught with
less power than it needs, but
arming yourself with excess
capacity just in case pointlessly
drives up capital outlays while
lowering overall efficiency.
Taking a modular approach
to power system design, in
which you deploy only the
capacity you need in the short
term and gradually plug in
additional resources as your
business grows, allows you
to keep pace with expanding
needs economically, rather
than pay heavily in advance for
capacity you may never even
require. Plus, deploying multiple
modular components instead of
a single big one also increases
redundancy, which leads to
better reliability.
Q: There’s a lot of talk about
“green IT” these days. How
can that help?
A: A typical data center
consumes 10 to 30 times more
energy per square foot than the
average office building. All of
that power usage harms both
the environment and corporate
balance sheets. Fortunately,
there are lots of ways to reduce
both your carbon footprint and
your energy spending through
the use of environmentally-
responsible IT practices.
For example, most data centers
are filled with underutilized
but energy-hungry servers.
Virtualization technology
enables organizations to convert
underused physical servers
into virtual devices and then
consolidate them on shared
host machines. The end results
are greater hardware utilization
and significant energy savings.
You can also add hot and cold
aisles to your data center.
Every server takes in cool air
through one vent and expels
hot air through another. Simply
positioning servers such that
only hot air exhausts or cool
air intakes face each other in
a given aisle can generate a
continuous air flow in your data
center that lowers operating
temperatures and reduces the
burden on cooling systems.
Relatively simple practices like
these can make a big impact
on operational spending. In
fact, coupling ideas like those
above with deployment of more
efficient power and cooling
technologies can enable a
midsize data center with 1,500
servers to save millions of dollars
while dramatically shrinking its
contribution to global warming.
ResearchIT 3

Q: What steps is Eaton
taking to help organizations
power their way through
these turbulent times?
A: Most importantly, of course,
we continue to develop
leading-edge technologies
that equip organizations to
use power more efficiently,
effectively and safely. But we’re
also setting new standards
for operational efficiency and
environmental stewardship in
our own business practices.
For example, Eaton is currently
completing two state-of-the-
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art data centers that are
designed from the ground up
to take maximum advantage
of the strategies we’ve
been discussing. They use
only the latest and most
efficient power quality and
distribution systems and
employ modular power system
design principles, as well as a
variety of technologies aimed
at conserving power and
shrinking our impact on the
environment.
More broadly, Eaton is
dedicated to making
sustainability an integral part
of everything we do. That’s
why we like to call Eaton the
business that’s “sustainable
by design”. You can see that in
our Green Leaf products. All of
our products and solutions are
designed to meet or exceed
government environmental
standards, but products and
solutions that bear our Green
Leaf designation go well beyond
normal standards to provide
exceptional environmental
benefit. It’s just one small
part of our commitment to
helping customers implement
sustainable materials and
practices so they can realize
environmental benefits and
financial savings.
Source: Eaton
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ResearchIT 5

Newer Power and Cooling Technologies
Are Making Inroads in the Data Center, but
More Can Be Done
This research uses the electronic polling results from the 2009 Gartner Data Center Conference to examine some of the newer
power and cooling technologies used in today’s data centers. Infrastructure and operations (I&O) management can benefit from
knowing what other data centers are doing with newer power and cooling technologies.
Key Findings
• Only half the respondents’
data centers depend
on computer room air
conditioning (CRAC)
units alone to cool their
equipment.
• Almost one-third (29%) of
the respondents say they
have plans to start using
free cooling solutions
during the next two years.
• While most respondents’
data centers use
batteries as the backup
power source for their
uninterruptible power
supply (UPS), a growing
number (11%) of
respondents are looking at
battery alternatives.
Recommendations
• When designing a new
data center or upgrade,
always include in-row and
in-rack cooling as a cooling
solution option.
• To allow for liquid cooling
flexibility, install drains,
leak detectors and dams
that would allow for liquids
to be placed anywhere in
the room, as needs arise
and provide plenums or
overhead hangers that will
support the installation of
pipes later on, allowing
you to delay committing
to specific pipe sizes and
types.
6 researchit
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• Use free cooling in your
data center to improve the
efficiency of your cooling
solution and to lower your
power demands if your
location will allow enough
hours/days of sufficient
temperatures.
• When looking to replace or
add UPS systems, expand
your options by considering
the benefits offered by
alternatives to battery
backup power systems.
ANALYSIS
This research examines the
results of polling questions
covering power in the data
center issues asked at the
Gartner Data Center Conference
held in Las Vegas, 1 to 4
December 2009. More than
1,500 data center professionals,
Gartner analysts and industry
experts discussed a host of
issues and challenges. As part
of the conference, electronic
polling devices were made
available during sessions, with
selected questions inserted in
each presentation. Although we
recognize that the respondents
may not necessarily represent
a statistically significant
distribution, we believe the
results of these polls will
be of interest to our clients.
Polling results from previous
conferences have tracked very
close to observed and reported
results.
The presentation “A Look
at Data Center Power and
Cooling Technologies Present
and Future” was based on
the “Hype Cycle for Data
Center Power and Cooling
Technologies, 2009.” We have
compiled Q&A relevant to the
use of some of the newer
power and cooling technologies
in the data center, along with
some general observations and
analysis of the polling results.
Of the more than 200 attendees
at the session, approximately
150 responded to the polling
questions.
Most data centers have only
used room cooling with CRAC
units placed around the edge
of the computer room, with an
underfloor air plenum. As data
centers install higher-density
servers, there is a need to move
the cooling source closer to
the servers to increase cooling
efficiency. Air movement is
a power challenge for data
centers, as the power required
to increase cooling through
increased air velocity follows a
cube law.
The biggest cause of cooling
inefficiency in a data center is
inefficient air paths. Short air
paths are more efficient than
long air paths that allow mixing
of inlet and outlet air. Therefore,
in a modern data center, the
shortened air paths offered by
in-row and in-rack cooling can
make a significant difference
in energy consumption, and
allow more compute capacity
to be installed in the same
power envelope. In-row cooling
provides cooling or extra cooling
directly to the cold aisle of a
row of servers. Cooling units
may be interspersed within the
row of servers, or an overhead
cooling unit may be installed
directly over the cold aisle. In-
rack cooling moves the cooling
closer to the server by providing
a cooling unit per rack to cool air
flowing in from the cold aisle,
using a rear-door cooling unit
to cool air flowing out of the
server rack, or by a complete
self-contained rack with internal
cooling and airflow. These direct
cooling systems can provide
supplemental cooling support
to room cooling, or provide the
total cooling solution with or
without a raised floor.
We asked: “What computer
room cooling solutions have you
adopted in your data centers?”
See Figure 1 for the responses.
The results show that the higher
density servers, along with
their requirement for greater
levels of cooling, are changing
the design of data centers.
Only half the respondents’
data centers depend on CRAC
units alone. Forty-two percent
of the respondents are using
in-row cooling solutions, with or
without other types of cooling,
and 15% have made use of
in-rack cooling solutions, with or
without other types of cooling
solutions.

Figure 1. Computer Room Cooling Solutions Used in the Data Center
None of the new technologies
Power management software
CFD analysis
Thermal storage
In-chassis cooling
Absorption/Adsorption chillers
Combined heat and power (CHP)
On-site solar
Fuel cells
On-site wind turbines
0 5
Source: Gartner (March 2010)
During our one-on-one sessions
at conferences and inquiries
during the year there’s been
a dramatic increase in the
questions about in-row and
in-rack cooling. Data center
management was reluctant to
move liquid cooling closer to
the servers. CRAC units using
chilled water from the building
cooling plant were not perceived
as liquid cooling, as they were
on the periphery of the machine
room. This attitude is changing,
because of the increased cooling
needs, and the improved liquid
cooling technology and sensors
that have reduced the risk of
leaks.
Free cooling is another
technology associated with
cooling efficiency. It is not free
of charge, but can reduce the
cost of cooling significantly.
Data center free cooling reduces
the chiller burden, partially or
totally, to cool a data center by
using the temperature of outside
air or other naturally occurring
cooling capability. Free cooling
is not a new concept. The use
of a cooling water tower is an
example of using outside air to
help cool water that is used in
cooling large buildings and data
centers.
Two types of economizers are
being used today:
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12
12
6
6
4
3 conditioned power and isolating
2 building power from noise and
10 15 20 25 30
Percentage of Respondents
• Air-side economizers use
outside air directly when
that temperature is lower
than the temperature of
air needed to cool the data
center. For best results,
the air must be filtered
and have its humidity
adjusted (if necessary).
Also, hot air expelled from
the data center may be
needed to help regulate the
temperature of the outside
air entering the data center
to prevent the temperature
from dropping too low.
• Water-side economizers
use outside air to help cool
the liquid (water, glycol)
piped into the data center
to be used by cooling
equipment. With water-side
economizers, there is no
need for filtration or extra
humidity controls, because
the outside air is not being
introduced into the data
center. Some data centers
are experimenting with
innovative approaches based
on favorable locations, such
as deep-lake water cooling
and ocean-water cooling.
We then asked: “Do you make
use of free cooling in your data
center?” See Figure 2 for the
responses.
45
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35 40 45 50
Two-thirds of the respondents
do not use air-side or water-side
economizers to help cool the
data center. The polling results
show this will change during
the 2010/2011 time frame.
Almost one-third (29%) of the
respondents have plans to start
using free cooling solutions
during the next two years. Major
factors that will impact the use
of free cooling are:
• Location of the data center
(hours/days available for free
cooling)
• Temperature at which the
data center is run
• Improvements in the
economizer technology
There has been a noticeable
uptick in inquires about free
cooling solutions; but the 39%
of respondent who said they
have no plans to use free cooling
is higher than we expected,
given the improvements in
the technology allowing many
organizations to get some
value from free cooling in most
locations.
Next, we looked at a major part
of the power path: the UPS. The
modern UPS:
• Provides data centers with
emergency backup power
to keep IT equipment
running through short power
disruptions.
• Bridges the time needed to
start backup generators for
longer power disruptions.
• Allows time for controlled
shutdown if no generators
are available.
The UPS has also taken
over the role of providing
waveform distortion caused by
the equipment. In older UPS
systems, energy efficiency
curves fell off dramatically at low
loads. Because of this, as well as
the growing interest in green IT,
many data centers are looking to
buy new, high-efficiency UPS to
replace older ones.
The newer class of UPS uses
a flywheel or ultracapacitor for
its backup power, rather than
batteries:
• Flywheel technology
has been around for
decades, and is based on
the acceleration of a rotor,
or flywheel, to a very high
speed, thereby maintaining
energy in the system as
kinetic energy. The primary
power source jump-starts
the flywheel spinning. This
builds kinetic energy based
on the mass of the flywheel
and the speed at which it
rotates.
• Ultracapacitors use
nanomaterials to store
static charge on either side
of a vast surface area of
insulating material. The
voltages are low, but the
charge density is high. The
technology continues to
evolve, and ultracapacitors
will continue to enter new
markets (such as UPS), as
capacity increases and costs
decrease.
Some of the reasons people
are looking to replace batteries
are that batteries take more
space, need to be replaced
every two to five years, are not
ResearchIT 7

Figure 2. Free Cooling in the Data Center
Air-side economizer
Water-side economizer
Air- and water-side
economizers
No, but plan to use within 2
years
No. No plans to use
Don't know
Source: Gartner (March 2010)
Figure 3. UPS Systems in Use
Battery-backed UPS
Flywheel UPS
Ultracapacitor UPS
Combined battery and
flywheel UPS
Combined battery and
ultracapacitor UPS
0
Don't use a UPS
Don't know
0 10
Source: Gartner (March 2010)
environmentally friendly (can give
off gases and require special
disposal), and are difficult to
monitor for possible failures.
To determine if the use of
nonbattery technology with UPS
for power backup was growing,
we asked: “What type of UPS
systems do you use?” See
Figure 3 for the responses.
While most respondents’ data
centers use batteries as the
backup power source for their
UPS, we are starting to see
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12
14
3 were asked to choose all that
3
0 5 10 15 20
Percentage of Respondents
5
1 Computational fluid dynamic
4 numerical algorithms to analyze
1
1
20 30 40
Percentage of Respondents
some movement to the use of
flywheel backup power (9%) and
just a trace of ultracapacitors
(2%). Ultracapacitors still have
to improve capacity, cost and
maturity (combined with a data-
center-level UPS) to gain usage;
flywheel technology, however,
appears to be gaining traction.
There is one major inhibitor
to both options. Flywheel and
ultracapacitor systems provide
only seconds of power (for
example, 15 seconds), leaving a
short time for generators to be
29
39
25 30 35 40 45
88
50 60 70 80 90 100
started and come to full power.
Although this isn’t an issue
with modern generators, some
users feel the window provided
by flywheel (and ultracapacitor)
systems is too small to provide
extra time if a generator fails
to start on the first try. Some
flywheel UPS systems integrate
a 24 volt, high-current output,
which is enough to bring a
generator to speed in a few
seconds. We will continue to
monitor the growth and maturity
of these alternatives to batteries.
We also wanted to get a sense
of how organizations were
exploring emerging technologies.
We asked: “Which of the
following power and cooling
technologies do you currently
use?” and presented the list
shown in Figure 4. Participants
applied.
Power management software
— software designed to provide
low-level monitoring of energy
consumption for all IT-related
equipment, including compute
resources and infrastructure
components. These products
are beginning to be integrated
with traditional inventory/
configuration and performance
management systems. We
recommend that you investigate
these integrated, data center
infrastructure management
(DCIM) tools to gain insight and
drive performance throughout
the data center, including data
center assets and physical
infrastructure.
(CFD) analysis — uses
and model the flow of air around
data center hardware surfaces
such as servers and storage
systems. Organizations can also
use CFD analysis to determine
the optimum layout of hardware
in a data center. CFD analysis is
not as useful for newer cooling
technologies, such as in-row and
in-rack cooling, where air flow is
more concentrated.
Thermal storage — a
mechanism that enables
cooling power consumption
to be timeshifted, from peak
daytime hours to off-peak
nighttime hours. Most utilities
offer discounted rates for off-
peak electricity, because they
can deliver it from their most-
efficient power plants. Increasing
sensitivity to electricity rates will
drive adoption of the technology.
The challenge is the installation
and maintenance of the thermal
storage tanks.
In-chassis cooling — this refers
to emerging technologies that

use liquids, rather than air, to
transfer heat from the processor
and other components to an
external cooling system. The
benefits are:
• Significantly reduced airflow,
reducing energy costs and
noise
• Smaller heat sinks, reducing
weight and cost and
increasing reliability
• Higher processor operating
power, enabling higher
performance in the same
form factor
Absorption/adsorption chillers
— use a different mechanism
than normal chillers (driven
by electric compressors), and
are powered by heat from
gas burners or other sources.
Absorption/adsorption chillers
have complex thermodynamics
and working fluid paths, but
relatively few moving parts.
Therefore, acquisition costs are
higher, but maintenance costs
are lower. Overall efficiency and
carbon footprints are comparable
to gas-derived electric power
cooling systems. Expect to see
a growing use of these in CHP
systems.
Combined heat and power
(CHP) — aka cogeneration. CHP
is an efficient, clean and reliable
approach to generating power
and thermal energy from a single
fuel source. A CHP system
uses fuel such as natural gas
to produce heat and electricity
simultaneously. The electricity
can be used for running a data
center, and the heat can be
used for water or space heating
or cooling the data center and
elsewhere. Technically, CHP
is a viable technology for data
ResearchIT
Figure 4. Which of the following power and cooling technologies do you currently use?
None of the new technologies
Power management software
CFD analysis
Thermal storage
In-chassis cooling
Absorption/Adsorption chillers
Combined heat and power (CHP)
On-site solar
Fuel cells
On-site wind turbines
0 5
Source: Gartner (March 2010)
centers. Depending on local
electricity costs, utility bill
rebates and tax incentives, it
may be economically viable
today.
On-site solar — solar cells are
mature as an on-site power
source. There are challenges
with using on-site solar:
• IT is a 24-hour operation,
and solar cells only provide
power during daylight hours.
Therefore, the facility still
needs full power feeds.
• Solar cells deliver only about
11 watts per square foot
under optimal conditions.
This low number is
incompatible with modern
data center power density.
While viable, it will take
a unique situation and
19
12
12
6
6
4
3
2
10 15 20
Percentage of Respondents
business case for use with
an individual data center.
Fuel cells — most common
forms of fuel cells take hydrogen
and oxygen, which, when
combined in a fuel cell, produce
electricity, heat and water.
Data centers are reasonable
contenders for fuel cell operation
because of their 24/7 operation
and opportunity to use waste
heat for cooling systems.
On-site wind turbines —
intermittent electricity generated
by wind forces on spinning
turbines that generate up to 2.5
megawatts of power per turbine.
This provides the kind of capacity
required for data centers.
Therefore, adding wind turbines
to a rural data center is an
occasionally proposed solution
to data center power issues.
45
34
25 30 35 40 45 50
However, the power output is
variable, and other challenges
include maintenance costs, the
impact on migratory birds and
noise pollution.
While many of these
technologies are just maturing
for data center use, data center
management should explore
their use. The fact that 45%
or those polled have not used
any of the above technologies,
including power management
software and CFD analysis,
shows that there are still many
things that can be done to
improve data center power and
cooling.
Source: Gartner RAS Core
Research Note G00174480, John
R. Phelps, 3 March 2010
ResearchIT 9
 Power through high-density applications.

Eaton offers ePDUs with monitored

and switched technologies to power
through high-density applications.
Our monitored and switched ePDUs offer:
• Remote power monitoring of both voltage and current
• State-of-the-art software, allowing the user to aggregate
information from multiple ePDUs in one location
• Read Digital LED Ammeter for easy startup and
provisioning of servers
• Environmental monitoring for temperature and humidity
• Multiple configurations for individual on/off/reboot
control of up to 36 receptacles
• Highly customizable control interface

Download Eaton’s white paper,

“Optimizing Power Distribution
for High-Density Computing,” and
you’ll automatically be entered for
a chance to WIN a laptop case!
www.eaton.com/researchIT

10 researchit Eaton and ePDU are registered trademarks of Eaton Corporation. ©2010 Eaton Corporation. 11657_0610

Power for the Data Center Is More Than a
Facilities Department Concern
This research uses electronic polling data from the 2009 Gartner Data Center Conference (DCC) to examine the changing power
environment in the data center. We look at the age of data centers, funding for data center power, the measurement and monitoring
of data center power, and the growing use of distributed power for the data center.
Key Findings
• One-third of respondents’
data centers in the U.S. are
more than 20 years old, and
50% are more than 16 years
old.
• For more than 70% of
poll respondents, budget
responsibility for the data
center power bill resides in
the facilities budget, but this
is starting to change.
• Fewer than 50% of the
respondents measure
the power utilization
efficiency (PUE)/data center
infrastructure efficiency
(DCiE) of their data centers.
• Almost one-third of the
respondents are sourcing
some of their data center
power from locally
generated power sources.
Recommendations
• Data center and facilities
managers must work closely
when designing new data
centers or data center
upgrades to ensure that
the highest levels of power
and cooling efficiencies are
achieved.
• Data center managers
should plan on having the
cost of power included in
future budgets, if it’s not
already there.
• Even if PUE and DCiE
metrics aren’t perfect, you
should begin to measure
your data center power
efficiency to get a feel for
how much improvement
potential you have, because
you can’t manage what you
don’t measure.
ResearchIT
ANALYSIS
Gartner’s use of electronic polling
in major conferences began
with the 2001 Gartner DCC
and has grown since then. This
research will examine the results
of polling questions on data
center power asked at the U.S.
DCC, held in Las Vegas from 1
December to 4 December 2009.
At this conference, more than
1,500 data center professionals,
Gartner analysts and industry
experts discussed a host of
issues and challenges. As part
of the conference, electronic-
polling devices were made
available at track sessions, with
selected questions inserted in
each presentation. Although we
recognize that the respondents
do not represent a statistically
significant distribution, we
believe the results of these
Figure 1. When was your current data center built?
During the past two years
3–5 years ago
6–10 years ago
11–15 years ago
16–20 years ago
Older than 20 Years
0 5
Source: Gartner (February 2010)
polls will be of interest to our
clients, and, in the past, polling
results from the conference have
tracked close to observed and
reported results.
We have compiled the results
of the questions relevant to
power for the data center, along
with general observations and
analysis of the results. There
were more than 200 attendees
at “The Impact of Green on
the Data Center” and “A Look
at Data Center Power and
Cooling Technologies Present
and Future” sessions, with
more than 150 responding to
the polling questions in each
session.
A major concern facing many
I&O managers is the age of their
data centers. Many older data
13
16
13
9
17
10 15 20
Percentage of Respondents
centers are showing limitations
in space and their power and
cooling infrastructure. In a third
track session, “Getting Your Data
Center in Shape for Green IT
Evaluation,” we asked attendees
the age of their primary data
center (see Figure 1).
The results show that most
data centers were built before
the current higher-density
rack systems were a concern.
One-third of the data centers
are more than 20 years old, and
50% are more than 16 years
old. As another data point, a
separate kiosk survey conducted
at the conference, which was
open to all attendees at the
conference, indicated that, for
70% of the audience, the oldest
data center was more than
32
25 30 35
ResearchIT 11

seven years old. This is in line
with the data shown in Figure
1. Also, last year’s conference
results indicated that 80% of
the respondents’ oldest data
centers were more than seven
years old. The economic climate
in 2009 caused many data center
building projects to be deferred
or canceled, worsening the
problem.
The age of most data centers
indicates that, during the next
few years, companies may be
building new data centers or
renovating older data centers,
because of the increase in
higher-density servers. If you’re
running out of space, power or
cooling capacity, things can be
done to avoid the need to build a
new data center. However, if you
need to build a new data center,
because of the new demands
on power and cooling capacity
brought on by newer server,
storage, and communication
equipment, data center
management must work closely
with the data facilities group
to ensure that the data center
design provides efficient power
and cooling capacity.
In the past, more than 80%
of the IT departments weren’t
responsible for the power bill for
the data center. In most cases,
IT management was unaware
of the magnitude of the cost
of power and its impact on the
data center. This, coupled with
not seeing the looming power
and cooling issues brought on
by new high-density racks and
the impact of blades, meant they
had not been as concerned with
efficient power and cooling in
the data center. Having access
to (or responsibility for) the bill
would have highlighted the
issue sooner, but not solved it.
Although this lack of data center
responsibility for the power bill
appears to be changing, for most
companies, it is still a facilities
concern. We asked where the bill
for power resides (see Figure 2).
These results confirm what we
had been seeing during inquiries
and are similar to the results
12 researchit
ResearchIT
compiled from the kiosk survey
— budget responsibility for the
data center power bill has not
been the responsibility of the
data center. With the increase
in power use, the rising cost of
power and the growing concern
for greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions, we are starting to
see a shift toward data center
management becoming more
responsible for the cost and
efficiency of power usage in the
data center. The numbers show
that slightly more than one-fifth
of the respondents show the
data center power budget has
recently shifted (6%) or will soon
shift (15%) to the data center
budget. With the data center
power cost moving from facilities
to the data center budget, we
expect to see greater emphasis
on data center design for power
and cooling efficiencies. This will
also give I&O managers more
leverage in the design issues,
because they’ll be paying the
bills. Don’t underestimate how
difficult this shift in budget
responsibility may be or how
dramatic the effects could be.
Next, we looked at how data
centers measure their power
efficiency. The standard used
Figure 2. In which budget does the cost for data center power reside?
Facilities budget
Facilities, but moving to IT
Just moved to IT budget
Always IT budget
Other
Don't Know
0 10
Source: Gartner (February 2010)
for data center power efficiency
measurement in most data
centers is based on the work
of the Green Grid with its PUE
and its reciprocal DCiE. These
metrics measure the proportion
of power consumed by the
IT load (some have called this
“productive work,” but much of
it is nonproductive) versus total
power used, which includes
what’s used for non-IT load,
such as cooling, or lost in
power distribution. We asked if
companies measured the PUE/
DCiE of their data centers, and, if
they measured it, what was the
PUE/DCiE value they recorded
(see Figure 3).
The results show that fewer than
50% of respondents measure
the PUE/DCiE of their data
centers (44%). Twenty-seven
percent of the respondents who
measure it don’t know what the
ratings are, which would indicate
that, in their case, the results are
not widely distributed. Although
the PUE/DCiE metrics are not
perfect measures of efficiency
(there is no component of
actual workload processed
by the measured equipment),
they can provide valuable
15
6
8
4
3
20 30 40
Percentage of Respondents
information about the potential
for improvement and a way to
see the results of efficiency
actions taken by the data
center. It is important to have a
power efficiency measurement
process in place because you
can’t manage what you don’t
measure.
Whether you measure PUE/
DCiE — or something else, such
as consumption trends — you
need to measure it on a regularly
scheduled basis. Also, the more
often you measure, the better
you can manage consumption. In
the session “Getting Your Data
Center in Shape for Green IT
Evaluation,” we asked how often
the respondents measured and
trended the energy consumption
of their data center (see Figure 4).
The above results show that
25% of the respondents do
not measure basic energy
consumption, much less PUE/
DCiE. Of course, with the
results shown in Figure 2 that
the budget responsibility for
power is more invested with the
facilities department, this isn’t
surprising. What is surprising is
the low frequency with which
measurements are taken. The
largest, at 39%, is done monthly,
64
50 60 70
 ResearchIT

Figure 3. Do you measure PUE/DCiE for your data center? with only 17% taken at least
daily. With the growing emphasis
PUE <1.3 on power efficiency and newer
0 technologies that are providing
DCiE >77%
PUE 1.3–1.5 monitoring points at the device
5 level, we are starting to see
DCiE 67–77%
PUE 1.5–1.75 power management software
7 that will enable workload shifting
DCiE 57–67%
PUE 1.75–2.0 to better control power usage
9 when the workload slackens.
DCiE 50–57%
PUE 2.0–2.5
With this technology and
10 software, expect to see the
DCiE 40%–50%
frequency of measurement
PUE >2.5
1 change dramatically. Expect
DCiE <40%
to see power management
Measure, but don't know what it is 12 dashboards available that
continuously monitor power
Do not measure
56 usage down to the device level.
PUE/DCiE

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 The next question examines a

Percentage of Respondents growing trend — increased use
of distributed power generation
for data centers. Here, we asked
Source: Gartner (February 2010) about the source of power for
major data centers (see Figure 5).

Based on discussions with

Figure 4. How often do you measure and trend energy consumption of the data center? clients during the past two
years versus the poll results,
the results show there is
growing use of distributed
Every hour 10
(or locally generated) power
for data centers. Only 63%
Every day 7 of respondents use power
sourced from the utility power
grid only. Just 5% report using
Every month 39 just locally generated power,
and 26% of the respondents
use a combination of grid and
Every six months 10 distributed power. The use of
locally generated power stems
from several reasons. First,
Annually 9
some data center management
is becoming more concerned
Never 25 about the availability of power
from the standpoint of capacity
and from the standpoint of 24-
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Percentage of Respondents
hour availability. We have also
talked with some companies
that have data centers in high
Source: Gartner (February 2010) power-cost areas, and have seen
multiple benefits from the use of
local combined heat and power
(CHP) systems. Also some data
centers are beginning to use
local, renewable energy sources,
such as solar, wind, geothermal
and tidal-generated power (see
Figure 6).

ResearchIT 13

Figure 5. What is the source of power for your major data centers?
Use power grid only
Grid augmented by locally
generated
Locally generated
augmented by grid
Only locally generated
power
Don't know
0 10
Source: Gartner (February 2010)
Figure 6. Do you have an initiative to use renewable energy for the data center?
No
No — but looking into
Yes — use at least 10%
Yes — use at least 20%
Yes — use at least 30% 1 data center.
Yes — use at least 40% 1
Yes — use 50% or more
Don't know
0 5
Source: Gartner (February 2010)
14 researchit
ResearchIT
We have seen growing
concern about green IT and
environmental issues, as
63 evidenced by the increased
number of corporate social
responsibility (CSR) policies we
have seen that have sections
21
on environmental sustainability.
Our final polling question
concerned corporate initiatives to
5 use renewable energy sources
for data center power, either
through locally generated power
5 or programs to work with local
utilities to drive renewable
energy production.
6
Fifty-two percent of respondents
have no renewable energy
20 30 40 50 60 70 initiatives (45%) or don’t know
Percentage of Respondents if they have one in place (7%).
Although only 21% have
renewable energy initiatives in
place, 27% of the respondents
are actively looking at creating
such initiatives. Of those with
initiatives, 21% are working
toward sourcing more than 50%
of their data center power from
renewable sources.
45 The results of these electronic
polls show that power for the
27 data center is moving into areas
that are well outside the normal
7 facilities area. In the future, I&O
management will be taking a
4 greater role in areas affecting
decisions about power for the
Gartner RAS Core Research Note
G00173986, John R. Phelps,
8
5 February 2010
7
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Percentage of Respondents
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