Sustainability is a key element of information technology within the enterprise, according to a recent article, “Seven Major CEO Concerns CIOs Should Address.” One of the things a CIO can do to control costs and impress the CEO is to look at the “true” cost of running and maintaining the data center.
Electricity and power used to run the corporate data center are typically the number one cost of managing and operating an in-house data center. Couple power costs with the ineffective design and deployment of data center resources, and you have a perfect storm that can suck money right out of the company’s IT budget.
By metering data center power and gaining insight on where the load is going, you can better understand IT efficiencies and burdens. Also, measuring airflow and server cabinet “heaters,” which cause CRAC units to continually run, will allow you to optimize electricity.
Are you running the AC too cold? Today’s infrastructure doesn’t have to be kept at meat locker settings like they did in the past. With proper design and deployment you can run (and reduce costs) with less AC than before.
CEOs looking to ensure sustainability are demanding CIOs to get on top of all the latest technologies. As IT executives are working toward implementing new technologies, they must still deliver high-performance computing and network availability.
Implementing sustainable best practices and infrastructure improvements can add to the bottom line. The data center has lots of hidden costs to address – power, cooling, connectivity, disaster recovery. Perhaps this is why more companies are looking to colocation as way to allow more time to focus on improvements that drive business results, while someone else manages the network and ensures uptime guarantees.
