Our survey reinforces this point, as about half of respondents say they'll be remodeling their data centers or building new ones in the next two years. And as they remodel, they'll find their every assumption about data center design challenged. Here, we'll focus on the remodeling problem, because the greenest data center is the data center that's never built. Sure, the Googles and Amazon.coms of the world can build state-of-the-art facilities next to dammed rivers or geothermal vents, but for the rest of us, the environmentally responsible thing to do is to squeeze every last ounce of potential out of the data centers we have.
SERVER CONSOLIDATION
If the greenest data center is the one you don't build, then the greenest server is the one you never turn on. Server consolidation is the first step in maximizing your data center's potential. Not only will it save on power and space, but it can also offer the means for maintaining critical systems that require an out-of-date operating system on up-to-date hardware.
One dual-socket quad-core server loaded with lots of memory can replace 30 or more older, lightly loaded single-processor systems. The power savings just from unplugging the servers will be in the range of 12 to 15 kilowatts, which for Californians means a cool $15,000 per year off the electric bill, and New York's ConEd customers can figure it at better than $18,000. With the server costing about $10,000 and the virtualization software from VMware costing about the same (considerably less if you choose Citrix's XenSource), the investment pays for itself in a year.
Of course, the savings in terms of IT resources managing one rather than 30 servers is even more profound. We're not implying that managing 30 virtual servers is trivial--on the contrary, their virtual nature should be enough to force most organizations to automate server management tasks such as patch deployment. IDC finds that while server expenditures are increasing relatively slowly and may even flatten out with the multicore and virtualization phenomena, the cost of managing all those servers is growing nearly as fast as the cost of powering them. Since management started out as a larger cost, lowering it provides the best direct benefit to IT's bottom line. For many organizations, a well-thought-out server consolidation plan, along with such steps as automating patch management, can pay for itself in less than year, even with staff retraining.
STORAGE ... MANAGEMENT?
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
