SynapSense

Jul 31 2008. Internet search company Yahoo partnered with wireless data center monitoring startup Synapsense to tune its hot-aisle/cold-aisle configuration, implementing cold aisle containment strategies and raising the inlet air temperatures on servers.

The Web giant reduced data center cooling energy use 21%, and reduced its PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) ratio from 1.52 to 1.44. According to a presentation given by Christina Page at Yahoo and Troy Mitchell, of SynapSense at the recent Silicon Valley Leadership Group Data Center Energy Summit in San Francisco, the project will save Yahoo $563,000 annually on its data center energy bill.

July 2, 2008. How strong is the Green IT wind blowing? In the software industry, the Green IT wind is blowing but not very strongly. Much of the industry still stands on the sidelines of climate change innovation. From industry leaders like Microsoft and SAP down to niche apps vendors, software firms are just now defining their strategies for environmental sustainability, Green IT and climate change. What can software professionals like you learn from your hardware cousins? IBM is a good place to start.

Friday, June 27, 2008 1:20 PM PDT. Putting data centers on decommissioned ships and reusing hot water from cooling systems to fill the town swimming pool were among the wackier ideas floated at the Data Center Energy Summit on Thursday.

Data center operators came together to compare notes about the best ways to tackle rising energy consumption at their facilities. Ideas ranged from the exotic to the more down to earth, like improving air-flow management and using outside air in colder climates to cool equipment.

06/27/2008 01:36:03 AM PDT. Data centers - huge buildings that house the gear that drives the Web - face a "slow-moving crisis" from the massive costs of electricity needed to run and cool them.

Today's typical data center is 1,000 times as large and uses 1,000 times more kilowatt-hours than a typical data center in 1972, said Subodh Bapat, vice president of energy efficiency for Sun Microsystems. And it's only going to escalate. He cited research showing the cost of powering data centers worldwide could grow from $18.5 billion in 2005 to $250 billion by 2012.