Data Center World was held in Las Vegas March 27-31, 2011. If you didn’t get the chance to go, here are some highlights presented by NEI on data center facility infrastructure.
DC Power
DC power is gaining traction in green field data centers. For instance, GE and Validus DC Systems, LLC signed an agreement to promote the new Validus DC Data Center System using advanced GE electrical components.
DC powered servers save energy, space, maintenance and installation costs. Utilizing DC power end-to-end gains maximum return on investment. Data centers that operate DC powered servers have an estimated return on investment (ROI) of over 800% for a 10 year period and nearly 2000% over 20 years.
Support for the 380VDC and -48VDC standard is increasing among equipment manufacturers. The new ATCA platform is leading the way in providing efficient DC powered performance among data center equipment.
Cloud Computing
Operational managers are struggling to meet the promises of cloud computing. While promises of agility (provision when you need it) and efficiency (only provision what you need) sound good in theory, they are difficult to keep in practice. While virtual machines may provide scalability, it is not possible to instantaneously scale to infinity.
Virtualization does not always equal efficiency. There is a cost to VM sprawl, which occurs when too many VMs sprawled across a virtual infrastructure take up processing power and storage space even if they are rarely used. One solution is to install a Virtual Appliance to support automatic capacity provisioning and de-provisioning.
A final note on cloud computing. Cloud is not always cheaper if you try to design for peak capacity with design margin. Too much of a good thing is still a problem.
Last Word
For more insights on Data Center World, state-of-the-art in data center facility infrastructure and cloud computing contact NEI. They will be glad to discuss the future of DC power in data centers, as well as solutions to your cloud computing needs.
Download our whitepaper End-to-End DC Data Center Technologies Come of Age.