Green Issues Hamper Boom Time for Data Centers

Demand for commercial data center space is set to reach an all-time high, but the boom is causing its own set of problems: What to do about spiraling energy needs as climate change issues gain political currency?

According to the Yankee Group Anywhere Enterprise—Large: 2007 Managed IT and Communications Services Survey, up to 70% of large enterprises worldwide state that they will have outsourced server management and disaster recovery functions in the next 24 months. Although this fact could make managed service providers (MSPs) lick their lips in anticipation, growing environmental vigilance could make them lick their wounds if they fall foul of emerging power and cooling practices. There’s also the tricky matter of pricing the many managed services that are operated out of data centers. Rising power costs have caused for massive inflation in data center rack prices: In Western Europe alone, these have almost quadrupled in the past 3 years.

I. MSPs Struggle to Meet Data Storage Demands while Staying Eco-Friendly

II. Data Centers Are in Crisis

Power Density Needs Are Rising

Data Centers Are Running Out of Space

Electricity Prices Are Spiraling

Data Center Rack Prices Are Quadrupling

The Search for New Power Sources Accelerates

III. Current Methods of Reducing Power and Cooling Costs

Virtualization: Reducing the Size of the Server Estate

The Profit Driver

IV. The Way Forward

The First Steps Forward

V. Conclusions and Recommendations

Recommendations

VI. Further Reading