Eben Owen, enterprise and solutions manager, Schneider Electric SA
Virtualisation: Optimised power and cooling to maximise benefits.
Virtualisation is an undisputed leap forward in data centre evolution. It saves energy, increases computing throughput, frees up floor space and facilitates load migration and disaster recovery. However, less well known is the extent to which virtualisation’s effect can be multiplied if power and cooling infrastructure is optimised to align with a new, leaner, IT profile.
Energy efficiency and virtualisation
While the virtualisation challenges of dynamic and migrating high-density loads and the need to ensure that capacity meets demand at the row, rack and server level are not new or unique to virtualised data centres, the combined simultaneous effects of virtualisation are focusing attention on them with a new urgency, especially in light of the growing interest in energy efficiency.
There are three key points to understand about virtualisation as it relates to the data centre’s power and cooling infrastructure:
* Power and cooling technology is available today to safeguard availability and meet the challenges of density and dynamic power that often accompany virtualisation and consolidation.
* Power consumption will always be lower after virtualisation as a result of computing consolidation and physical reduction of the amount of IT equipment.
* Data centre infrastructure efficiency, measured as power usage effectiveness (PUE), will worsen after virtualisation due to fixed losses in unused power and cooling capacity. With optimised power and cooling to minimise unused capacity, PUE can be brought back to nearly pre-virtualisation levels – sometimes even better, depending on the nature of improvements to the cooling architecture.
Maximising the benefits
The comparison of pre- and post-virtualisation power consumption involves two concepts relatively new to data centre cost analysis. As mentioned above, the first is fixed loss: the amount of power consumed by devices and systems regardless of load. This is responsible for the often surprising inefficiency of under-loaded systems.
The second is the distinction between energy consumption and energy efficiency. Even without a parallel upgrade to power and cooling, virtualisation will always lower the electricity bill, but not usually as much as might be expected. This lowered efficiency indicates room for improvement in power and cooling systems. It is, in effect, a measure of the potential for extracting more value per energy Rand.
A parallel upgrade of power and cooling infrastructure will optimise both architecture and operation in a number of ways that safeguard availability, enhance manageability, lower power consumption and increase efficiency. Row-based cooling, scalable power and cooling and capacity management tools are essential elements in realising virtualisation’s full potential in cost reduction, efficiency and reliability. These solutions are based on design principles that simultaneously resolve functional challenges, reduce power consumption and increase efficiency.
In addition, the shift towards virtualisation with its new challenges for physical infrastructure re-emphasises the need for integrated solutions using a holistic approach. Consider everything together and then make it work as a system.
For more information contact Pierre Lintzer, APC by Schneider Electric, +27 (0)11 557 6600, [email protected], www.apc.com
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