Sustainable IT | Ted Samson » Enlist MAID, get paid

April 13, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Enlist MAID, get paid

TAGS: MAID, Sustainable IT

Just as companies are turning to virtualization to wring more energy efficiency out of their servers, so too might they start employing MAID (massive array of idle disk) storage devices to control the power expenditures stemming from their ever-swelling data troves.

Recognizing the potential energy savings of MAID, PG&E has announced an incentive program for organizations to adopt the storage platform. "Data storage growth rates for many businesses exceed 100% per annum, so a technology that supports that rate in a more energy efficient manner will help our customers manage their costs," said Brad Whitcomb, vice president of customer products and services at PG&E. "By providing financial support, we hope to ramp up industry adoption of this technology."

MAID storage devices contain multiple (or, a "massive array of") drives, but unlike with traditional storage systems, those drives aren't all spinning continuously. Rather, a drive spins when you need to access the data on it. The end-result: lower energy bills, both saved on powering your storage devices as well as your cooling. (InfoWorld Test Center Senior Analyst and Storage Guru Mario Apicella has written about MAID at greater length.)

Copan Systems, maker of Cool Bytes MAID storage solutions, is the first company to boast certification for its product under the PG&E program. "We're pleased to be the first storage company to qualify our products for the PG&E energy efficiency incentive," said Roger Archibald, senior vice president of marketing and business development at Copan in a written statement. "We look forward to helping customers get a handle on data center growth, especially in terms of energy use."

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) (a current COPAN customer) collaborated with PG&E on tests to assess the energy effiency of MAID as well as Fibe Channel disk products and standard SATA. According to the results, MAID delivers impressive 91TB of capacity per kilowatt consumed, where as Fibre Channel delivers 4TB per kilowatt, on average, and SATA does 17TB per kilowatt.

"The energy savings, both for powering disks and cooling the unit, are
certainly attractive, and from a utility standpoint, we are assured hat the unit delivers energy-demand reduction," according to Mark Bramfitt, principal program manager for PG&E. "In combination, this is an exceptional set of environmental, capacity, and cost saving benefits for our customers."

The social networking company FaceBook is the first customer to take advtange of the PG&E incentive program. The company installed 448TB of Cool Bytes Enhanced MAID, and will receive $15,000 from PG&E as a result.

Currently, PG&E's incentive program is open to its own customers, as well as San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison. It hopes to see the program expanded to other parts of the state and beyond.

For more information or an application, go to pge.com/hightech.

Posted by Ted Samson on April 13, 2007 04:04 PM

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