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32
Data Centres
former includes energy saving features,
such as Wake-on-LAN, where transceivers
and servers go into sleep state when not in
use and are then awoken and made ready
for communication on receipt of a ‘magic
packet’. Since servers can use up to 70% of
full power even when idle, this technology
can lead to savings of hundreds of watts of
electricity per server.
Data Centre Ethernet delivers savings
by enabling a single unified networking
fabric through Fibre Channel over
Ethernet (FCoE) so cabling platforms can
be up to 100 metres long. This makes
patching possible between any two
points in the network enabling more even
distribution of power load and cooling.
Conclusion
Sustainability is being driven from
the very top of large enterprises and
legislation is contributing to this. It
is hugely important that IT Directors
seriously consider the steps they
Data Centre Update
can take to reduce consumption
and improve network efficiency.
Responsible businesses are not only
saving themselves time and money
and bolstering their reputation in this
field; they are playing a part in reducing
the world’s energy consumption and
contributing to a greener working world.
Harry Forbes is Chief Technology Officer
at cables and cabling specialist Nexans.
www.nexans.co.uk
South-east power
cut blackspot for
third year in a row
The South East of England suffered more
power blackouts in 2012 than any other
region in the UK for the third year in a row,
according to Eaton’s latest
Blackout Tracker
report.
Last year, the South East region (excluding
Greater London) experienced nearly 30% of all
UK power outages, up from 20% in 2011 and
16% in 2010.
In contrast, Greater London saw a decrease in
the number of power blackouts for the first time
in three years and now accounts for less than
8% of all outages in the UK.
The average duration of an outage in the
South East of England in 2012 was over four
hours. However, the real impact of a blackout
frequently lasts significantly longer.
Pricewaterhouse estimates that when power
outages affect IT systems, it can take 48 hours
to reconfigure a network and days, or even
weeks, to re-enter lost data.
According to its research, 90% of companies
that experience a computer disaster and don’t
have a survival plan go out of business within
18 months; 33% suffer financial losses of up to
£316,900.
Businesses are powerless to prevent many
power outages, for example the one that
occurred when a swan collided with overhead
power lines causing 3,000 customers to lose
power. However, Eaton says that they can still
protect themselves from the impact of blackouts
by putting in place a secure power protection
plan and installing power quality solutions, such
as uninterruptible power supplies.
www.eaton.com/blackoutUK
Higher energy costs a major concern for IT professionals
Rising power costs are viewed as a ‘major concern’ by 85% of 2,000 IT and data centre
professionals surveyed by Uninterruptible Power Supplies Limited (UPSL); two thirds (65%) also
cited greater environmental legislation as a ‘significant risk’ to their long-term prosperity.
Green regulations and vulnerability to rising power costs are forcing those working in IT and
data centre-related industries to seek out better performing and more efficient IT products. Three
quarters of respondents said they were investigating product efficiency as a way to manage rising
costs; 62% said that ‘curtailing overheads’ was their primary driver for change.
Just 30% cited ‘reducing their carbon footprint’ as their biggest motivating factor; less than 8%
were driven by ‘a desire to be more socially responsible’.
Ofgem’s recent energy capacity assessment predicted that the amount of spare capacity
within the UK could fall from 14% to just 4% in three years. It said the combination of EU
environmental legislation and the accelerated decommissioning of ageing power stations would
leave Britain dependent on imported gas and exposed to higher prices.
www.upspower.co.uk
Independent data centre
accreditation scheme launched
The world’s first independent multi-
disciplinary data centre ‘roadworthiness
test’ has been launched by the Data
Centre Alliance (DCA), an international
collaboration between data centre operators,
customers, suppliers, academics and
professionals.
Designed to help businesses select a data
centre services provider, the DCA Data Centre
Certification programme attests to
the quality, operational integrity,
energy efficiency and resilience of
a data centre’s offering.
It covers every aspect of the
data centre including power
resilience; connectivity &
cabling resilience; environmental
control resilience; operations
& maintenance processes and
professionalism; physical site
access; and energy efficiency.
DCA executive director Simon
Campbell-Whyte said: “Until
now, people buying data centre
services had no sure-fire or simple
way to judge the true quality
and resilience of a data centre – unless they
themselves were highly technical and could
perform detailed and often expensive audits.
“Equally, although data centres may, or may
not, be built and operated to existing voluntary
standards, there was no readily affordable
and truly independently-audited over-arching
certification which they could undertake to
gain independent third party attestation of the
quality, operational integrity, energy efficiency
and resilience of their offering.”
He added: “Our members haven’t reinvented
the wheel: what they have done is
to harmonise the many available
guidelines and standards and
devise an independently auditable
certification platform that any
data centre, anywhere in the world,
can be equally tested and certified
against.”
The standard is open to all
datacentres whether or not they
are members of the DCA. Auditing
(and mandatory re-auditing every
two years) will be available from
a range of DCA-approved auditing
companies.
www.datacentrealliance.org
www.data-central.org
Simon Campbell-Whyte:
“Our members haven’t
reinvented the wheel.”
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