Putting the

Green into IT

an IT Management eBook
contents
[ ] Putting the Green into IT

This content was adapted from internet.com's

ServerWatch, InternetNews and EnterpriseITPlanet
Web sites, and EarthWeb's EnterpriseStorageForum
Web site. Contributors: Drew Robb, Paul Rubens,
Pedro Hernandez, Marty Foltyn, and Jennifer Zaino.

5 Greening Your Data Center

Paul Rubens

8 Server Disposal Goes Green

5 8 Drew Robb

11 Green Is Hot For

Storage Managers
Marty Foltyn

15 How Green Is Your Storage

Jennifer Zaino
11 15

Putting the Green into IT, An Internet.com IT Management eBook.

© 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.

1
 [ Putting the Green into IT ]

Putting the Green into IT

show that environmentally friendly businesses also raise

L
et's just say for the sake of argument that your
business is running at or near peak efficiency, your employee retention and productivity rates.
current business model is on or above target, and
the organization is running smoothly. Even in this per- Office Space
fect scenario, the need to continue to push for
Let's start with implementing an effective and easy-to-
improvements will persist and when it comes to IT,
establish, company-wide policy.
regardless of how small or insignif-
First, have all employees config-
icant a possible enhancement may
ure their monitors to turn off
seem, the effects are going to be
after 20 minutes of inactivity,
compounded many times over.
configure the hard drives to turn
off after 30 minutes of inactivity,
So let's take a look at a few easy
and the desktop computers or
ways for us IT professionals to
laptops to go into standby or
push for a greener, more energy-
sleep mode after 70 minutes of
efficient work place.
inactivity (this gives you 10 whole
minutes to get back from lunch
For most businesses there are
or that hour-long meeting).
many changes their IT department
can easily make to move in a more
Next, purchase Smart Plug Strips
efficient, or green, direction.
for devices such as printers,
Saving energy on electricity-guz-
monitors, calculators, or type-
zling items such as monitors, com-
writers that do not need to have
puters, office lighting, and server
power reach them unless they
farms is easy and always a cost-
are being used. These plug-
effective method of reducing that
strips cost about $10 to $20
dreaded carbon signature.
each and they can reduce the
Jupiterimages
carbon output of your organiza-
The savings on the energy costs alone stack up quickly,
tion by up to 290 pounds each per year. Multiply that
and can be supplemented by possible incentives, envi-
by each office or cubicle and you can get an idea of
ronmental conservation, and a positive image. Studies
how much pollution and energy your business will

“
Saving energy on electricity-guzzling items such as monitors, computers, office
lighting, and server farms is easy and always a cost-effective method of reducing
that dreaded carbon signature.

2 ” An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.

 [ Putting the Green into IT
reduce by this simple investment.
Finally, install motion-detecting light switches wherever
possible. Replacing wall switches with automatic
motion detectors is an extremely effective way to cut
pollution and energy costs from indoor lighting.
This common sense approach to dealing with energy
costs has other added benefits as well, such as sheer
convenience and sleek appearance to employees, cus-
tomers, and other visitors. Keeping the lights off when
they're not in use can also extend the life of the bulb
and reduce unwanted heat while keeping an average
of 265 pounds of carbon per office out of the air each
year.
The Data Center
]
Installing a thermostat with a built-in timer to allow for
higher temperature settings during off-peak hours
when servers are not likely to overheat would be the
safest approach.
Also, having a rigorous maintenance schedule for the
HVAC unit responsible for the server room space is also
critical. These system filters, duct work, and monitoring
systems should be kept in perfect working order at all
times. And please, remember to keep the server room
doors shut.
Next are your servers themselves. All of the top proces-
sor manufacturers including Intel, AMD, IBM, and Sun
Microsystems, are now focusing much of their resources
into designing and building new energy-efficient
processors and all are sponsors of the

Now that we took care of the low

hanging fruit in our offices, let's see
what we can do in the computer
room.
While saving energy and reducing
cost for the server farms, computer
racks and other IT related apparatus
may not be as effortless as clicking a
button or even swapping out a light
switch, it can be a enormous place to
cut down on your overall carbon sig-
nature. And for anyone who didn't see
the "Al Gore documentary," this is a
good thing.
“
Most businesses
cannot afford to go
initiative known as The Green Grid, a
consortium of technology companies
focused on energy efficient datacen-
ter power management.
around upgrading
their servers for the Most businesses cannot afford to go
around upgrading their servers for the
sake of preventing a
sake of preventing a few hundred
few hundred pounds pounds of carbon from escaping into
of carbon from the atmosphere each year. This
escaping into the method of conservation, however,
should be at the top of your list when
atmosphere each
phasing out obsolete equipment.
year.
And while we're speaking of obsolete

Since the top two issues for server farm efficiency are
power management and cooling, let's start with the
HVAC unit that you have keeping temperatures cool.
Typically these are huge, redundant, energy-wasting
beasts. The good news is these beasts can be tamed.
So how do we improve cooling efficiency without com-
promising reliability?
We start by setting the server room thermostat to a
comfortable 75 degrees Fahrenheit or 24 degrees for
all you folks measuring in Celsius. The recommended
operating range for most business class servers is 68 to
86 degrees Fahrenheit (20° to 30°C) so there are some
considerations to keeping the temperature setting at or
near the environmental threshold due to increased
temperatures in the server room during business hours.
” equipment, every one of those com-
puters, laptops, servers and even that Blackberry, PDA
and mobile phone in your pocket contains heavy met-
als including lead and mercury which damage both the
environment and human health. These devices contin-
ue to multiply exponentially with an estimated 130,000
computers packed into landfills each day with poisons
that seep into our waterways and then into plants, fish
and animals. And in case no one is paying attention,
that's the stuff we all need to live. You can help by fol-
lowing the guidelines set forth by the Environmental
Protection Agency.
If saving the world from climate change and toxins isn't
incentive enough, then talk to your superiors about the
one thing that corporations can relate to, and that's
money.

3 An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.

 [ Putting the Green into IT
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
released a report in August detailing what's in store
energy-wise for data centers in the next few years.
According to the report, data centers consumed about
60 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2006, roughly 1.5 per-
cent of total U.S. electricity consumption. Of this, feder-
al servers and data centers account for approximately 6
billion kWh (or 10 percent), at a total electricity cost of
about $450 million per year, a press release summariz-
ing the highlights said.
The energy consumption of data centers (and servers)
has doubled in the past five years and is expected to
almost double again in the next five years. The report
estimates it will reach close to 100 billion kWh. In other
words, about $7.4 billion will be spent annually on
power come 2011.
4 An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
]
Taking steps to conserve energy should be appealing
enough to the corporate kings for the simple fact that
you will not only appeal to your increasingly eco-savvy
customer base and help your business to gear up for
changes in the regulatory wind, but you'll also save
money in the present. You can also mention that taking
diligent measures now is sure to keep environmental
and corporate watchdogs, various consumers groups,
and the bloodthirsty media from centering your busi-
ness in their crosshairs.
You've all heard it before and the truth is that if we all
did our part to help conserve energy and reduce pollu-
tion, we would all be better off in a multitude of ways.
Just for starters, we would see reduced energy costs
and a cleaner and healthier place to live and work for
all. I
 [ Putting the Green into IT ]

Greening Your Data Center

by Paul Rubens

The writing has been on the wall for some time. tions, and costing $2.7 billion - about the gross national
product of an entire country like Zambia or Nepal.

E
lectricity use in data centers is skyrocketing, sending
corporate energy bills through the roof, creating envi- Unless data centers go green, energy costs could soon
ronmental concerns and generating negative publicity spiral out of control, according to Rakesh Kumar, a vice
for large corporations. president at Gartner. In a report titled "Why 'Going
Green' Will Become Essential for
Because IT budgets are limited and Data Centers" he says that
because governments in Europe because space is limited, many
and the United States may soon organizations are deploying high-
impose carbon taxes on wasteful density systems that require con-
data centers, something's got to siderably more power and cool-
give. Data centers are going to ing than last generation hardware.
have to "go green."
Add to that the rising global
It's not as if no one saw this coming. energy prices, and the proportion
The aggregate electricity use for of IT budgets spent on energy
servers actually doubled between could easily rise from 5 percent to
2000 and 2005, both in the U.S. and 15 percent in five years. The
around the world as a whole, mooted introduction of carbon
according to research conducted by taxes would make this proportion
Jonathan Koomey, a consulting pro- even higher. "When people look
fessor at Stanford University. at the amount of energy being
consumed and model energy
In the U.S. alone, servers in data prices, and think about risk man-
Jupiterimages
centers accounted for 0.6 percent agement and energy supply, they
of total electricity usage in 2005. But that's only half the should begin to get worried," Kumar said.
story. When you include the energy needed to get rid
of the heat generated by these servers that figure dou- It's Not Easy Being Green
bles, so these data centers are responsible for about
Since most data centers historically have not been
1.2 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption, equiv-
designed with the environment in mind, Kumar says
alent to the output of about five 1000MW power sta-
more than 60 percent of the energy used for cooling

“
Since most data centers historically have not been designed with the environment in
mind, more than 60 percent of the energy used for cooling purposes is actually wasted.

5 ” An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.

 [ Putting the Green into IT
purposes is actually wasted. This is bad for the environ-
ment and reflects poorly on the organizations con-
cerned - especially if, as increasingly is the case, they
have corporate social responsibility commitments. And
as a growing number of companies are adopting a
"carbon neutral" policy (either out of genuine concern
for the environment of for the positive PR this can pro-
duce) pressure from head office to reduce the carbon
footprint of the data center, to help reduce overall car-
bon emissions, will become more intense. "There's no
doubt that in the short term this problem is a financial
one, but behind that there is the need of organizations
to be seen to be green," he said.
So what can be done to "green" the data center?
"There is no one solution that will solve the problem -
this is a collective issue and it will require a raft of solu-
tions," Kumar said. "You need to start by getting some
metrics to understand the problem, because it's not
going to go away," he said.
The ideal solution is to start from the ground up by
designing and building a new data center with energy
efficiency in mind. This includes looking at the thermal
properties of the building being constructed, the layout
of the building for maximum cooling efficiency, and even
the site of the building: Locating a new data center far
from urban areas means that it might be more feasible to
incorporate renewable energy sources such as wind tur-
bines or solar panels into the design, for example. For
more specific guidance, organizations can turn to stan-
dards such as the U.S. Green Building Council's
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certifica-
tion. Vendor programs such as the Green Grid, an infor-
mation network sponsored by AMD, IBM, HP and Sun,
may also be a useful source of information.
Assuming you're not quite ready to tear down your
buildings and start again, there's still plenty you can do
to reduce your electricity bill and reduce your carbon
footprint. Perhaps the most effective action you can take
is to reduce the number of servers in use at any one
time. Each server you switch off can reduce your electric-
ity bill by up to $500 per year (and reduce the amount of
carbon dioxide released into the air annually by perhaps
2000 pounds) directly, with about the same savings again
realizable from reduced cooling requirements.
It may be that you have servers that don't need to be
on at all hours of the day and night, but it's more likely
6 An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
]
Hearst’s
Green Wireless
W
By Adam Stone
hat's the only thing harder than
building an environmentally friend-
ly skyscraper? Rigging it up for
wireless service.
Opened in June 2006, the 46-story Hearst
Tower in New York City boasts a range of
"green" features. Activity sensors manage the
lights. A rooftop collector reduces the amount
of rainwater dumped into New York City sew-
ers. A "diagrid" construction system reduces
the need for vertical steel beams, and allows
for more natural light.
Thanks to MobileAccess Networks of Vienna,
Va., the building also has about 856,000 square
feet of wireless connectivity to provide cover-
age throughout the building. The network
employs roughly eight access points on each
floor. These in turn are managed and secured
by four Cisco 4404 WLAN controllers, each of
which can handle up to 100 APs.
That part is easy. It's all those acres of glass
that make the job tricky.
As part of his environmental stance, architect
Norman Foster made extensive use of natural
light, and that created an aesthetic challenge
for wireless designers looking for discreet
locations to house access points.
"You have an interior architecture that has a
lot of glass -- it has a lot of very decorative
areas," says MobileAccess CEO Cathy
Zatloukal. "These are areas where you would
not want to put a lot of active electronics in the
ceiling, not because you would see them but
because if you ever needed to do a mainte-
nance action, it could be unsightly."
This aesthetic concern directly informed the
technological choices behind the project. First,
MobileAccess technology fits snugly in a
continued
 [ Putting the Green into IT
that you can reduce the number of severs you need
through virtualization. If you run corporate applications
on separate servers, many may be only 10 to 20 per-
cent utilized. Virtualization can dramatically cut the
number of physical servers you need, while technology
from companies such as VMWare can ensure that your
virtual machines can be switched to higher-capacity
physical machines during peak times.
If you do retire some servers, it obviously makes sense
to get rid of the older ones. This has the added benefit
of increasing your overall server energy efficiency
because newer multi-core chips can offer significant
performance gains over older ones, whilst using almost
50 percent less power. Power management technolo-
gies such as Intel's Demand Based Switching can fur-
ther reduce individual processor electricity consumption
by up to 30 percent.
Another area where you can make significant power sav-
ings is server power supplies themselves. That's because
they can vary enormously in efficiency, especially under
certain loads. Bad power supplies waste about half of
the energy they consume (and thus the same again used
by cooling systems to dissipate the heat generated by
this wasted energy.) To compound this, power supplies
running at a small fraction of their rated capacity are
often even more inefficient. Look for power supplies with
the 80 Plus certification - this means that the power sup-
ply will run at least 80 percent efficiency even when run-
ning at just 20 percent of its full capacity.
It's a Long Way to Tipperary
The answer to the question "how do you make your
data center greener" is similar to the traditional ques-
tion from the Emerald Isle: "How do you get to
Tipperary?" The answer in both cases is "If I were you I
wouldn't start from here." What this means is that while
you can certainly make savings by switching power sup-
plies and switching off unused machines, the real solu-
tion requires a total rethinking of the data center. This
ranges from the design of the buildings and cooling
systems they contain, to the extensive use of virtualiza-
tion to increase server utilization, all the way down to
the use of energy efficient equipment, from power sup-
plies to smart, power-managed processors. It's not a
cheap undertaking, but one that may prove vital for the
survival of the data center, the corporation, and per-
haps - in a small way - even the planet. I
7 An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
]
Hearst’s Green Wireless
continued
telecommunications closet for discreet access.
Moreover, the solution need not be tweaked
very often, if all goes as planned.
Zatloukal didn't want to create a solution that
would require frequent re-working of infra-
structure, with building owners having to alter
the network each time wireless services went
through changes and upgrades.
Without a sufficiently robust solution, it would
be easy to get locked in, to become a prisoner
of every new change in the world of wireless
offerings. "Say Sprint launches their WiMax
network next year," Zatloukal says. "Now what
happens? You have to deploy a whole new net-
work."
Zatloukal prefers what she calls a combined
solution, one that integrates cellular and wire-
less infrastructure into a seamless whole. "If
you do it right, these future services become
just another blade plugged into the network,"
she says. As new protocols become available, it
should be relatively easy to simply swap out
access points, which are tucked away in wiring
closets.
By combining and "conditioning" cellular and
WLAN signals, Zatloukal says, it becomes pos-
sible to extend a wireless network over sub-
stantial distances while maintaining signal
integrity and leaving open the possibility of
future uses. In the Hearst building, the present
architecture should be able to easily incorpo-
rate a range of new mobility services, includ-
ing location and asset tracking, voice over
wireless LAN, advanced security and guest
access, as such features evolve. I
 [ Putting the Green into IT ]

Server Disposal Goes Green

by Drew Robb

Getting the Lead Out

H
istorically, IT equipment hasn't been environ-
mentally friendly. Server vendors are only now
Bottle and can recycling programs have proven
working to change this. Getting the most pub-
extremely effective. Not only has the percentage wind-
licity currently are multicore chips, in-rack cooling sys-
ing up in landfills dropped drastically, but roadsides are
tems, and energy-efficient power supplies, which all
also no longer littered with discarded cans the way they
help cut down on electricity consumption and carbon
were in the 1960s. Municipal toxic waste collection pro-
dioxide emissions. The IEEE and the EPA are no
grams also help ensure that chemicals from batteries,
doubt driving this, as they
motor oil, paint and house-
develop benchmarks to show
hold cleaners don't wind up
exactly how efficient servers
in the ground water.
are.
Electronic waste, however,
But there are other environ-
remains a growing concern.
mental implications that IT
Cathode-ray tubes (CRTs)
managers must take into
contain lead, and liquid
account, server disposal,
crystal display (LCD) moni-
being a prime example.
tors contain mercury.
Buying lots of new energy
Batteries and semiconduc-
efficient gear is only an envi-
tors contain cadmium. The
ronmentally sound practice if
flame retardant used in cir-
one disposes of the old gear
cuit boards is toxic, and
properly. Jupiterimages
wires are coated with PVC
insulation. This wasn't a big issue in the mainframe
"Compliance with environmental regulations and
days, but it certainly is now.
social responsibility are important," said Bob
Houghton, president of Redemtech, a Columbus,
In the United States, nearly a billion cell phones were
Ohio, company that disposes of used data center
manufactured worldwide last year; the year before,
gear. "You don't want to have to explain to sharehold-
130,000 computers a day were trashed. Research firm
ers or customers why the equipment is showing up in
Gartner said that it anticipates between 2006 and
a dump in Pakistan or going to a blast furnace in
2010, 925 million PCs and more than 46 million servers
Canada."

“
A large portion of U.S. and European waste is being sent to countries in Asia and Africa
with lax environmental and employee safety regulations.

8 ” An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.

 [ Putting the Green into IT
will be sold, mostly replacing older equipment.
As a result, more than 2 million tons of electronic waste
is already going to U.S. landfills every year. Even worse
is what happens overseas. A large portion of U.S. and
European waste is being sent to countries in Asia and
Africa with lax environmental and employee safety reg-
ulations. This transfers the toxic burden to third-world
countries, despite agreements such as the Basel
Convention on the Control of Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal -
designed to prevent such actions.
"Businesses need to figure out their policy and their
plan for disposing of different types of equipment,"
said Gartner research vice president Frances O'Brien.
"It is part of the ongoing cost
of business, and they need to
plan for it."
]
cleanses, along with the tests showing the data was
effectively erased.
"The key to effective data management at the end of
the lifecycle is the audit trail," said Houghton. "You
should be able to say 'I took these 200 hard drives out
of service, these are the serial numbers, and here is the
record of sanitation.' That closes the information lifecy-
cle on those devices."
Handling the Hardware
Once the data is cleansed, the next issue is what to do
with the servers themselves. It is tempting to try to sell
them and recover any residual value, but O'Brien said
this is rarely cost-effective.

Data Destruction
Creating a disposal plan starts
with knowing what equip-
ment the company owns and
the data it contains.
"Most customers have pretty
“
Disks can be degaussed or
shredded, but server disposal
specialists generally follow the U.S.
Department of Defense's standard
˜ three complete overwrites of the
disk with random 0s and 1s.
"Some companies are skilled
at selling the equipment, but
more often than not they
aren't," she says. "It involves
a lot of labor and logistics."
Instead, she recommends
leaving it to a company that
specializes in the area. If the
equipment is leased, the ven-

”
good processes for procuring
new equipment," said Daniel
Ransdell, general manager of IBM Global Asset
Recovery Services, which disposes of more than 22,000
machines weekly. "But when you ask them about end
of lifecycle management, a lot of them look at you with
a blank stare."
A server asset management system must address both
the hardware and the data. When a server is taken out
of production, the data should be erased and the
results fully documented. That evidence can then be
given to auditors showing that the company is in com-
pliance with regulations, such as the Health Insurance
Portability and Accessibility Act (HIPAA) in the United
States or the Data Privacy Directive in the European
Union.
Disks can be degaussed or shredded, but server dis-
posal specialists generally follow the U.S. Department
of Defense's standard - three complete overwrites of
the disk with random 0s and 1s. The overwriting soft-
ware should then keep a record of all the disks it
dor will simply take it away at
the end of the lease period. If
it is not leased, you can often get the company selling
you the replacement equipment to take it off your
hands. Jim O'Grady, director of Technology Value
Solutions for Hewlett-Packard Financial Services is
responsible for all of HP's lease returns, and as a result
he also oversees the disposal of much non-HP, cus-
tomer-owned equipment.
"We find all the stuff that they were hiding in cubes,
warehouses and closets," he said. "Then, we get them
onto a refresh cycle that is more consistent and helps
turn it into a value recovery proposition."
There are also companies that focus strictly on equip-
ment removal and disposal. Redemtech deals with a
wide range of equipment, but others, such as Network
Liquidators and Missouri-based PC Disposal, specialize
in certain types of gear.
Once an equipment disposal company receives the
gear, it goes through a series of steps. First, it wipes

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 [ Putting the Green into IT
any data from the disk and reloads the operating sys-
tem, if needed. Next, a series of tests is run on the
equipment. If it is in good shape, it is repackaged and
resold.
"There is a worldwide market for data center equip-
ment," said Houghton. "Some [hardware] that is no
longer valuable in this country has value in developing
countries in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East."
Some equipment is more profitable to disassemble and
sell as parts rather than as a whole unit. Anything
remaining then goes through a recycling process to
extract hazardous materials or precious metals, before
sending the remainder to a landfill. Ransdell said that
15 percent of what IBM takes in is converted to parts,
while less than 1 percent winds up in a landfill.
10
]
When a company is on a regular equipment upgrade
cycle, the old equipment may have some resale value.
The primary concerns, however, are data security and
environmental compliance. Gartner's O'Brien said that
in most cases, you can expect to pay to have the
equipment properly disposed of, but that is still less
expensive than the fines and bad PR resulting from
data breaches and toxic waste dumping. She advises IT
directors visit the premises of any equipment disposal
company they are planning to use to make sure they
do the job properly.
"You have to verify who you are doing business with is
doing it in a safe environmental manner," said O'Brien.
"Some companies haul the gear away but just dump it
at the side of the road or in a landfill, and the customer
then had to pay to get that equipment cleaned up." I
An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
 [ Putting the Green into IT ]

Green Is Hot for Storage Managers

by Marty Foltyn

Storage Networking Industry Association board of

T
he concept of "green" may be cool, but pressure is
heating up as storage and network managers around
the world struggle with skyrocketing energy costs. IT
departments can expect to spend half of their total budget
on energy, according to an EPA draft report on server and
data center efficiencies.
One of the top issues for storage managers is to use
energy more efficiently and meet
environmental challenges while
storing more data and retrieving it
ever faster, according to Jonathan
Storper, attorney and partner at
Hanson Bridgett LLP. Evaluating
and implementing new technolo-
gies that reduce energy use is a
way for storage managers to con-
tribute to business growth and the
bottom line, and Storper said vir-
tualization, tiered storage, and
consolidation of data storage
infrastructures are tools for
increasing energy efficiency.
In the last five years, companies
have moved to consolidate data
assets back to the data center and
"manufacturers are being driven
to come up with clever ways to store more data on a
smaller footprint," said Tom Clark, member of the
directors and principal engineer at Brocade.
"Combining technologies like server virtualization and
storage virtualization can make significant reductions in
energy costs."
Server virtualization - running multiple instances of an
operating system on a single platform - yields greater
productivity, supports multiple
applications, and reduces the
need to purchase additional hard-
ware. Storage virtualization can
create infrastructures for informa-
tion lifecycle management (ILM),
where tiers of storage create dif-
ferent energy consumption
points, reducing carbon foot-
prints.
Implementing virtualization can
also pay off on the bottom line.
California, Arizona, New York,
and Vermont now have utility-
based rebate programs for non-
residential customers who imple-
ment virtualization and server
consolidation projects, and other
Jupiterimages states are expected to follow.
Once assets are centralized, best practices such as poli-

“
Evaluating and implementing new technologies that reduce energy use is a way for
storage managers to contribute to business growth and the bottom line, and
virtualization, tiered storage, and consolidation of data storage infrastructures are
tools for increasing energy efficiency.

11 ” An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.

 [ Putting the Green into IT
For Marriott,
Green IT is
Reality, Not Hype
A
By Judy Mottl
s one Marriott International technology
leader told a crowded ballroom today at
Storage Networking World in April
going "green" isn't about environmentalism;
it's about saving "green" -- money that is.
"There's a statistic that about 29 percent of
technology professionals believe that 'green IT'
is just hype," Ed Goldman, vice president, tech-
nology strategy, for Marriott, told his standing-
room-only audience. "I hope to lessen that
number by sharing what we've been doing in
the data center and throughout our computing
environments."
At Marriott, the IT team has not only jumped
on the green bandwagon, it's driving it at an
accelerated pace. Its efforts were noted by the
organization being named one of the top 12
green firms in the country.
The $13 billion dollar company, which employ-
ees 151,000 people as well as 120,000 franchise
personnel, runs a "non for profit" IT organiza-
tion, which charges user groups for everything
from PCs to bandwidth in a "very cost-con-
scious" approach, Goldman explained.
"When you can do 'green IT' on the grand scale
like we operate, you can achieve substantial
savings," said Goldman, noting that just swap-
ping out old desktops for new think clients and
energy-efficient hardware in data centers and
network ops can be financially rewarding for a
company.
Marriott replaced 3,000 PC with thin clients,
"turned the screws up" and virtualized about
40 percent of its server farms and 75 percent of
its storage area networks. That virtualization
effort saved 33 percent in future server costs,
the IT leader said.
continued
12
]
cy based-data administration and tiered storage can
help maximize energy efficiency by migrating data from
higher energy usage devices to lower ones, such as
SATA, tape, or optical disk.
Incorporating a tiered storage solution combines the
potential for energy savings with the ability to meet
business requirements of the data center, according to
Mike Koclanes, chief strategy officer and senior vice
president of sales and marketing at Plasmon. With new
compliance and regulatory requirements comes the
need to preserve for the long term increasing amounts
of data that likely will not change over its preservation
life.
"A number of organizations do not have the luxury of
adding more data center space," said Koclanes, "but
still need to retain information like patient records,
trade information, and client data."
Archival solutions that incorporate technologies like
Plasmon's UDO optical disk, he said, "offer the oppor-
tunity to meet both electronic data discovery require-
ments and green requirements by putting data that
needs to be retained but less frequently accessed on
more cost-effective platforms that meet retrieval
requirements but require less space, cooling, and
power."
New technologies for file storage are also turning
green, with a focus on reducing power requirements
along with the total amount of storage required to con-
tain corporate data. "We've been power efficient from
day one in our architecture, and are now deploying
energy-aware storage solutions for consolidating infor-
mation from Windows, Unix, and Linux devices into one
file storage environment," said Narayan Venkat, vice
president of marketing at ONStor.
ONStor clustered NAS solutions are part of the Climate
Savers Computing Initiative, which sets aggressive new
targets for energy-efficient computers and components,
and promotes the adoption of energy-efficient comput-
ers and power management tools worldwide. ONStor's
technologies, according to Venkat, save enterprises 50
percent on total cost of ownership, and deliver up to 95
percent power savings, 90 percent fewer devices to
manage, and 90 percent space savings compared to
traditional direct-attached and networked storage envi-
ronments.
An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
 [ Putting the Green into IT
For Marriott…
continued
In the data center, Marriott plugged in more
efficient units to reduce cooling costs, as well
as new flooring that directs airflow for maxi-
mum temperature efficiency.
"Our data center is 20 years old and just a few
years ago had 15-year-old boxers. We had to do
more than replace them; we had to do a lot of
work in the hot and cool aisles," he told the
crowd.
His team took down antiquated cooling towers
on the data center building roof and replaced
them with cheaper and more energy-efficient
units.
In the computing environment, the Marriott
rolled out a standard desktop and laptop con-
figuration to take advantage of built-in power
options that allow IT to power down PCs when
not in use. It replaced 10,000 laptops with new
Energy Star–compliant models and will con-
tinue that effort as part of the company's three-
year device rollout program.
"Where we're going is focused on saving both
kinds of 'green.' We're continuing to move
more applications into the online secured
environment to save on data center costs.
Right now 80 percent of our data center is vir-
tualized," he said.
The goal, according to Goldman, is a "gridlike"
computing environment for users, and to make
that happen he plans on using service-orient-
ed architecture technology to include third-
party applications to which users also need
access. He's also working on reducing plat-
forms from six down to three for standardiza-
tion efficiencies.
His team is working with a third-party provider
to locate a recovery and development data cen-
ter underground in a Pennsylvania cave. The
ambient temperate of 50 to 60 degrees is perfect
for heating and cooling purposes, and using
remote online systems there is little labor or
energy requirements, he explained. I
13
]
A Global Perspective
With many businesses now global, there is growing
attention to worldwide laws and regulations on environ-
mental issues.
Current US policy may lag behind the rest of the world
in energy efficiency regulations and incentive programs,
but this will change within the next year or two. U.S.
federal laws that took effect July 20 apply Energy Star
version 4.0 ratings to desktop computers, integrated
computer systems, notebook computers, tablet PCs,
desktop derived servers and workstations. Midrange
and large servers, thin clients/blade PCs, handhelds
and PDAs are expected to be covered by January
2009. Congress is expected to take action on an EPA
data center energy report in 2007, and has mandated
that all federal agencies reduce their energy use by 3
percent per year, and 30 percent by 2015.
"There are many different laws that cover environmen-
tal factors beyond the cost of energy, from recycling
equipment safely to reducing carbon footprints," said
Clark. "All this brings increasing pressure on data cen-
ters "to balance the business requirements driving
exponential data center growth with cost and availabili-
ty issues."
E-waste is another green issue looming on the horizon.
Recycling and proper disposal of computers and tech-
nological devices containing hazardous materials is criti-
cal, and legislators are responding to the challenge with
laws that apply to both manufacture and disposal. One
example is the EU directive on restriction of hazardous
substances (RoHS), which requires the elimination of
certain hazardous waste such as lead and mercury in
computers and computer accessories sold or distrib-
uted within the EU.
"Companies are now setting goals for new procure-
ments with regard to RoHS compliance," said Koclanes,
who said Plasmon's products conform to RoHS. RoHS
takes on more importance for U.S. manufacturers and
consumers with a recent extension that imposes a
series of requirements on consumer electronics that are
imported into the EU or otherwise placed on the EU
market. And even companies with no international
operations need to be aware of RoHS because of a
California regulation that requires compliance with EU
RoHS for products sold within the state.
An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
 [ Putting the Green into IT
Moving Forward
Server, storage, and networking manufacturers are
working together to measure energy efficiency in stor-
age products. Industry organizations such as the Green
Grid are advancing energy efficiency in data centers
and computing ecosystems with industry-wide recom-
mendations on best practices, metrics, and technolo-
gies that will improve overall data center energy effi-
ciency.
"The Green Grid focuses on the entire data center,
while the SNIA's emphasis is on storage networking,
including arrays and network components," said Clark.
Many SNIA member companies are also members of
the Green Grid, and SNIA "will be a great venue for
developing industry-wide metrics that apply to storage
networking," he said. "The availability of metrics that
can be used to select equipment, design storage infra-
14
]
structure, and keep costs under control will be very
beneficial."
Storper suggests that storage managers keep abreast
of green storage issues in the three main areas that
laws and regulations are focused:
1. Energy efficiency for servers and data systems.
2. Hazardous materials utilized in the production of
computers and other technological devices.
3. Recycling and proper disposal of computers and
technological devices containing hazardous materials.
He also recommends that companies and individuals
get ahead of the regulatory curve by considering volun-
tary action plans for energy efficiency, reduction of e-
waste, and using less toxic materials in production.
"Green law issues are here to stay," said Storper, "and
there is no question that more regulations in this area
will affect the storage and networking community." I
An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
 [ Putting the Green into IT
How Green Is Your Storage?
by Jennifer Zaino
I
f 2006 was the year of the energy-efficient server move-
ment, 2007 has been the same to storage platforms.
A couple of weeks ago, HP announced new storage
array technology designed to cut data center power
and cooling costs by 50 percent, and IBM's Project
Green is putting a billion dollars toward increasing
energy efficiency across the
data center.
Meanwhile, Hitachi Data
Systems is touting efforts such
as its intelligent virtual storage
controllers and Dynamic
Provisioning software for
improving utilization and sav-
ing power.
Pillar Data Systems, the stor-
age vendor funded by Larry
Ellison's venture capital fund,
has its own take on what's
wrong with today's storage
environment in terms of effi-
ciency - and how to fix it. With the explosion in data
only increasing, fixing it is going to become a priority
for companies that want to lower costs, reduce com-
plexity, improve utilization, and ensure performance
doesn't suffer.
Pillar's argument is that power and cooling make up
only half of the green story. Physical space consump-
tion is equally critical to storage efficiency, given the
cost and expansion issues around data center space.
With the acceleration of the ILM trend - in which com-
panies design a storage architecture and infrastructure
to handle different type of information, and to manage
15
]
that information with respect to its importance and
value to the organization, appropriately migrating data
from one platform to another as it ages or becomes
less critical to present business requirements - individ-
ual storage devices have proliferated to meet the
needs of each lifecycle stage. And these all consume
space, power, and generate heat, and have to be
cooled to let the equipment work efficiently.
A Modular Storage
Platform
"ILM is a good notion in
terms of reducing the cost of
managing information and
delivering the right level of
performance and application
of data, but it has also caused
companies to buy special-pur-
pose equipment to meet
these requirements, and
those consume space and
power," says Russ Kennedy,
senior director of marketing
Jupiterimages
and strategy at Pillar.
Pillar's answer is to give organizations a modular stor-
age platform that could handle all the different proto-
cols to support their ILM needs. With unified storage
(NAS and SAN), and multiple technologies (FC, SATA,
fixed content) on one platform, companies could have
a single system to consolidate different applications
and needs across varying tiers of storage, establishing
different performance levels for the different applica-
tions and data, it argues.
"So you could serve up and manage tier-one applica-
tions like mission-critical database applications on the
An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
 [ Putting the Green into IT
same platform as is used for data protection, archive,
backup, and different secondary storage requirements,
without suffering performance penalties," Kennedy
says. "People have to understand how to reduce the
cost of managing information in an environment that's
going to continue to grow. But you have to still deliver
on your service level requirements, on application avail-
ability."
Pillar says IT pros really are starting to care about the
efficient use of space, cooling and power, with nearly
50 percent of respondents they recently surveyed say-
ing these all matter a great deal in their storage pur-
chases.
In fact, he says, the market is driving more innovation
among vendors, including Pillar's own sleepy drive
technology, due in 2008, that spins or slows down
drives to consume less power during times of inactivity.
It's basically the same technology individuals have
access to on their own desktops or laptops, but until
now, "no one has let you power down pieces of a stor-
age array and do so via policies, via active manage-
ment of information," Kennedy says. "The technology
is there because the individual drives have that capabil-
ity. It just has not been applied yet."
The Green Grid
Pillar also is working on its own implementation of the
thin provisioning concept, due before the end of the
year in Version 3 of its platform, as well as higher
16
]
capacity drives in the same-size enclosures, and new
motherboards and server boards within its arrays that
have almost double the performance and half the
power consumption of today's server components, it
says.
At the same time, Pillar is a participant in The Green
Grid, a non-profit consortium dedicated to advancing
energy efficiency in data centers and business comput-
ing ecosystems, as well as in the Storage Networking
Industry Association (SNIA). Along with other industry
players, it's trying to drive some consistent and indus-
try-wide measurements for measuring storage plat-
forms' efficiency.
Its own take on that is found in its EQ (Efficiency
Quotient), which basically is the result of taking the uti-
lized capacity of data used on a storage platform, times
the performance of that platform, divided by the power
and space consumption of that particular platform, and
which Pillar says can be applied to any type of storage.
"Associations are a bit of challenge in getting consis-
tency and consensus in moving forward," says
Kennedy, but he's confident progress will be made.
"The consumer and IT market will drive it." I
This content was adapted from internet.com's
ServerWatch, InternetNews and EnterpriseITPlanet Web
sites, and EarthWeb's EnterpriseStorageForum Web
site. Contributors: Drew Robb, Paul Rubens, Pedro
Hernandez, Marty Foltyn, and Jennifer Zaino.
An Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.