Power and data centres: two issues forever locked in an embrace.
As our need for data increases, so too does our need for storage. Data centres have been the solution to our cloud based world for many years. But the way we power those centres, arguably, hasn't kept pace.
So how data rich are we today?
Well, Google's Eric Schmidt said recently that every two days we now create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003 .
That’s something like five exabytes of data, he said.
Five exabytes? That equates to 250,000 years of DVD-quality video every 48 hours.
With companies like Google providing the tools for this content explosion and Intel creating the hardware that powers those tools we need solutions to our power needs.
And it will only get more pressing. The amount of data we are creating is growing exponentially. Intel is forging ahead into the world of embeddable microprocessors. Soon we will be harvesting, creating and consuming data at an almost inconceivable rate.
It's all got to be stored somewhere. The cloud sounds so nebulous and so intangible but everywhere data is stored 'out there' you can bet there is a very real data centre storing and serving that data with lots of storage and lots of computing power.
And they need power. Intel has aided the battle to create ever more efficient data centres thanks to Moore's Law. Each generation of its microprocessors are more efficient than the previous. In short, you can do more with less.
But what about a firm like Google for whom information management is the key to their success. How are they dealing with the power conundrum?
Interestingly, they are pledging to use ever greater amounts of wind power.
The basic points of their plan in their own words:
- We will purchasing 114MW of wind power for twenty years; other than that we cannot disclose specific terms of the deal.
- We think this is a structure that makes long term financial sense for Google. Through the long term purchase of renewable energy at a predetermined price, we’re partially protecting ourselves against future increases in power prices. This is a case where buying green is simply the right business decision.
- We’re buying 114MW of wind power over 20 years. NextEra will be able to debt finance the project based upon our commitment to take on power for such a long term, presumably at much more favorable terms than otherwise given that they have a credit-worthy offtaker committed for 20 years.
So what does this mean? Well, 114MW is enough to power 'several' data centres according to Google. In context, 114MW is about a third of the power generated by the 33 onshore wind farms in Wales. It's a small start but an important one, I would argue.
In statistical terms all data centres are aiming for a low PUE rating.
PUE puts a focus on maximizing the power devoted to the equipment running applications and minimizing the power consumed by support functions like cooling and power distribution
For example, a PUE of 2.0 indicates that for every watt of IT power, an additional watt is consumed to cool and distribute power to the IT equipment.
So in those terms this is the kinds of rating data centres are aiming for:
Scenario PUE
Current Trends 1.9
Improved Operations 1.7
Best Practices 1.3
State-of-the-Art 1.2
To get to below 1.2 PUE firms are having to rethink their energy needs and how they build and operate data centres. HP has announced a new modular data centre construction system (pictured above) which reduces the PUE to 1.12. Google says its data centres are hitting 1.12 also
Leading IT firms have come together to form The Green Grid. With the aim of improving data centre efficiency and understanding the power needs and issues.
There's a long way to go but with our appetite for data not about to diminish, it's essential work.
