There are many issues related to Green Computing such as power use, recycling (equipment), and others. However, the one that gets the most attention of management is the cost for electricity. The reason for this is simple – they have to pay the bills each month!
Much of the server consolidations during the past couple of years have been spurred by the “need to be green”. The increase of Virtual Appliances and the reduction of physical systems has been a good thing for most data centers. The footprint, complexity, cooling cost, and power cost have certainly been reduced, albeit with a new set of problems. Trends in IT never stand still, they just keep cycling.
However, from the power consumption standpoint, it appears that Green Computing has come to a standstill. The “low hanging fruits” have been picked from the Green Computing tree and it is now time to move on to the higher fruit. The question becomes, what can be done, how much will be the benefit, and will it be worth the effort. To do this you will first have to understand your costs!
RG Solutions® has a built in a framework for determining the power costs associated with your computing systems. With this information you will understand where and when are your green costs, and will be able to make informed decisions as what further actions can be taken.
Key Business Values
- Data Center profiles for defining a system’s host location.
- Electric rate plan profiles for differing seasons and locations.
- Inclusion of data center related green costs.
- Inclusion of power related costs into the Total Cost of Ownership model.
- Automatic calculation of total green costs associated with any physical system or Virtual Appliance.
Next Phase
The Green Computing movement has come a long ways in the past couple of years. Many corporations will expound on how much they have done for the environment by concentrating on Green Computing. We all know the reality is that the businesses are first and foremost saving money – a lot of it! A very good secondary result was the overall reduction of power consumption. This was a win-win situation, so let them brag about it – it helped everyone.
But now that the server consolidation has been done, where will the power consumption part of Green Computing head next? The easy part has been done and now hard part starts. The 80-20 rule really does apply here, and the 80 percent part has been done. Before you can move forward with any further reductions, you will first need to understand where your power costs are going. The answer might not be obvious.
Power Costs
The calculation of power costs for computing systems is a very complex process and requires a good understanding of the systems, how they are configured and used, and other internal and external factors. RG Solutions® uses a proprietary methodology that allows the user to easily configure the processing for their own environment.
One of the major issues associated with the calculation of power costs has to do with the rates that are in effect at the time. These rates not only change during the year (seasons) but also change during the day (on/off peak). These calculations are further complicated in that the rates can change (rate increases) or might be different in similar locations (i.e. two data centers in the same city on different power grids). It is also possible, that due to volume usage, non co-located data centers on the same power grid would have different rates.
RG Solutions® provides for the ability to configure the rate plans that are needed in the power calculations. The plan processing not only includes seasons and on/off peak designations, but the ability to have differing rates in different years.
For the actual calculation of power cost, there are many issues that have to be considered. The considerations include:
- System type (physical or Virtual Appliance)
- System configuration
- System location
- System processing
- Cooling contribution
- Other environmental contributions
- Time of day
- Day of year
RG Solutions® knows what to consider to calculate the costs. The proprietary processing determines the kW and kWh values for the processing and uses these values for the determination of the costs.
By simply setting up a couple of tables and configuring the systems in the Resource Catalog, RG Solutions® will tell you the Green Computing power costs. Once you understand when and where the costs are occurring, it will be possible to climb higher on the Green Computing tree.
Benefits
RG Solutions® provides the opportunity for business management to understand the role that Green Computing will play in IT decisions. Moving forward will not be as easy as in the past and new methods of quantifying the needs will be required. The following are just some of the benefits that can be realized using RG Solutions® for Green Computing:
- Quantify the cost of power for system processing.
- Quantify the effects of deferred system processing.
- Understand the power cost contribution of Virtual Appliances, and the cumulative power costs on Physical Appliances.
- Incorporate power cost considerations into current and future decisions.
