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April 17, 2008

You may very well prefer to postpone the task of refreshing your fleet of desktop systems and monitors, an exercise that can be both expensive and time-consuming. But inevitably, machines break down or your needs change, so you have to bite the bullet.

The silver lining, though, is that refreshing your systems gives you an op-portunity to invest in greener machines -- those that not only cost less to power but also yield other benefits that can help the planet as well as your company's bottom line.

Following are some points to consider the next time a system refresh looms at your organization. Notably, many of these tips apply not only to desktops, laptops, and monitors -- but any piece of IT gear.

1. Know your needs. Hopefully, you wouldn't buy a high horse-power pickup truck or SUV if you didn't need its extra fuel-guzzling power when a gas-efficient sedan would suffice. You should most cer-tainly apply that mindset to your PC purchase: Higher-end systems with more powerful components tend to draw more energy. Before you shop, consider what your computing needs are for the present, as well as the near future.

For example, you might be a Windows XP shop today but envision mov-ing to Vista in a year. If so, remember that Vista's bare minimum system requirements are an 800MHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a 20GB hard drive with at least 15GB of available space, and support for Super VGA graphics. Then again, you might be contemplating a move to an alternative OS such as Ubuntu, which has minimum requirements of a 300MHz proc-essor, 64MB of RAM, 4GB of disk space (for full installation and swap space), and a VGA graphics card capable of 640x480 resolution.

In a similar vein, be honest with yourself as to what size monitors your users need. Larger screens with higher resolution have higher energy re-quirements -- but some tasks, like video-editing and spreadsheet work, really do scream for a large viewing space.

Finally, give thought to replacing desktop systems and monitors with laptops -- again, if laptops can really suit you and your users needs. From a green perspective, a laptop requires fewer parts to build; it's small and lighter and thus requires fewer resources to package and ship it. In terms of your annual electric bills, a laptop costs less to power than a similarly equipped PC plus a monitor.

2. Embrace energy efficiency. Once you know your needs, try to find a PC or laptop that meets those requirements as well as Energy Star 4.0. That way, you'll know it's got an 80-percent efficient power supply and knows how to make the most of low-power modes. (There's also an Energy Star specification for monitors, which is more dated but still useful.)

Energy efficiency can shave a chunk of money from your annual utility bills, plus reduce your carbon footprint. Energy Star-compliant systems are easy to find, be it through the Energy Star Web site or your preferred computer vendor.

3. Don't disregard other "green" criteria. Green criteria covers a lot of territory beyond energy efficiency, from the materials used to the ease with which it can be disassembled. These criteria not only have environmental implications but also cost-cutting potential.

There are several such factors to consider here and ask vendors about as you shop. The EPEAT (Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool) registry breaks the criteria down into several convenient over-arching categories. (You can search the EPEAT registry for products that meet these type of criteria, by the way, down to a granular level.)

a. Reduction/elimination of environmentally sensitive materials. Is it important to you that a machine meets the criteria set out in the EU's RoHS directive, which limits the usage of certain hazardous substances in electronics? Or perhaps you want a machine that exceeds those requirements, using even less lead, mercury, chromium -- as well as little to no PVC and hazardous flame retardants. The benefit here is to reduce the adverse effects e-waste has on the planet and people when it ends up in landfills.

b. Material selection. If you're an advocate of recycling and reuse, it might matter to you if the machine's plastic parts are made from recycled plastic, as well as renewable and bio-based plastic materials. These are certainly an Earth-friendly consideration.

c. Design for end of life. Beyond just the amount of recycled ma-terials that go into building the system, you might be concerned with how well the machine was designed for treatment once it's retired. The easier it is to open the enclosures and remove parts -- and the more reusable parts it contains -- the better for the environment. But it's also good for your company if you see the wisdom in purchasing refurbished machines. (See tip No. 5)

d. Product longevity/life cycle extension. Piece of mind comes with a multi-year warranty: It means the machine was built to last a while. Beyond that, consider asking how well the product was designed for upgrading. For example, was it built in a way that it's easy to swap in parts such as new memory or drives with common tools -- or even major com-ponents such as the processor? (See tip No. 4.) On top of the environmental benefits, those kinds of traits often result in cost savings, making it easier for you to invest in parts instead of entire systems when a machine becomes too dated for your needs.

e. Energy conservation. Beyond Energy Star compliance, you might find out whether there are chargers available for the system that draw on clean energy.

f. End of life management. When it comes time to retire your equipment, it's ideal if the vendor offers convenient -- and preferably free -- recycling services, be it directly or through a third party. Some vendors will even offer incentives on new equipment if you return their older gear to them for recycling.

g. Corporate performance. If you've made a commitment to protecting the environment, you may want to hold those you do business with to a similar standard. Some companies demonstrate this with a corporate environmental policy that meets certain international standards, as well as by producing annual reports on their environmental efforts.

h. Packaging. When you purchase a machine, you also have to deal with all the packaging. You might want to know whether that packaging is easy to recycle, or if the company will take back the packaging for reuse (or at least recycling).

4. Consider doing it yourself. After you've made a list of your needs, take a second look at what you've got. Do your systems really need to be replaced -- or would adding additional memory or a new graphics card do the trick? Depending on how many machines you have at your company (or home office), how well the machines are built for upgrades, and your comfort with do-it-yourself electronics projects, that approach might be not practical. But if you can pull it off, you'll save yourself some money and extend the life of your investment.

5. Go the refurbished route. Major hardware vendors as well as third parties sell pre-owned machines at the fraction of the cost of a new machine; thus you can save a tidy sum while doing the Earth-friendly thing. As with buying a new machine, you'll want to determine your computing needs and green criteria in advance so you make smarter choices.

What advice would you offer to someone looking for a green desktop machine?

Posted by Ted Samson on April 17, 2008 03:00 AM

March 24, 2008

Xerox develops Sustainability Calculator for doc tech

Add Xerox to the list of vendors adding green-o-meter functionality to their wares. The company Tuesday will unveil what it dubs a Sustainability Calculator, designed to help customers evaluate the environmental impact of their document-technology systems, such as printers, faxes, and copiers.

Part of the company's Xerox Office Services, the Sustainability Calculator measures the waste and greenhouse gas emissions associated with powering printers, copiers, fax machines, and multifunction devices. It also measures the differences, in environmental terms, resulting from practices such as printing single-sided documents instead of double-sided, or using different types of ink.

In addition to the aforementioned version, which Xerox reps would use during an assessment for a customer, the company also has developed a slimmed-down Web-based version.

Both calculators require a user to input information about the various machines in his or her organization. They then employ "proprietary algorithms and document assessment research to deliver data about a company's entire fleet of office products, from printers to multifunction devices and copiers, regardless of the equipment supplier," according to Xerox.

Once a customer has a glimpse of the inefficiency of its document-tech systems, the next step (Xerox hopes) is to show customers how to gain efficiency by, say, in retiring various older copiers, fax machines, and printers for fewer, newer MFDs.

It might be tempting for to dismiss this type of tool as simply a marketing scheme to exploit CXOs who've caught a case of the green fever that's swept the U.S. and beyond. But the reality is, there are cost savings to be had from certain sustainable practices, and making adjustments to your company's network of printers and other document-technology products is one of them. That includes moving to fewer multi-purpose machines as your older ones are ready for retirement.

First, a new model MFD should be Energy Star compliant, which means it has a significantly lower power draw -- as much as 70 percent, according to Xerox -- than that of its one-function predecessors combined. Also, from a green perspective, manufacturing and shipping four machines -- a copier, a scanner, a fax machines, and a printer -- requires more resources than does building and shipping a single MFD that can do the work of four.

According to Patricia Calkins, vice president of environment, health, and safety at Xerox, many customers have been asking for more information about the green benefits of consolidating doc-tech systems and improv-ing their printing practices. "I was very surprised as I've been doing customer roundtables," says Calkins. "We talk about optimizing the office, and people have said, 'We understand the financial benefits. We want to talk about the environmental benefits."

Global defense and technology company Northrop Grumman worked with Xerox at one of its sectors to reduce a fleet of 2,000 printers, hundreds of MFDs, and stand-alone copiers to fewer than 1,100 devices. According to the Sustainability Calculator numbers, the change resulted in a savings of 27 percent in energy usage while reducing GHG emissions by 26 percent and solid waste creation by 33 percent.

Posted by Ted Samson on March 24, 2008 09:55 PM

March 19, 2008

Greenpeace adding energy-consumption criteria to green rankings

Toshiba and Samsung now top the list of Greenpeace's quarterly greener electronics ranking, with scores of 7.7 out of ten, as reported by the IDG News Service. Meanwhile, Nintendo scrapes the bottom of the barrel with a score of 0.3. But what's even more interesting to me is what next June's report will look like.

Seems the non-profit environmental organization is tweaking the criteria by which is assesses companies's greeness: They'll be graded not only based on their recycling policies and the toxic content of their products, but also on energy consumption -- both of their wares and their production -- and their GHG emissions.

Explaining the change, the company writes on its Web site:

"The global Information and Communication Technology industry is estimated to be responsible for approximately 2 percent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a figure equivalent to aviation."

"The rapid proliferation of energy hungry gadgets is part of this emissions rise so it's vital that all companies play a leading role in producing more energy efficient products."

"We will be scoring the companies on 5 energy criteria, including the efficiency of their products, how much renewable energy they use and if they are committed to significantly reduce emissions."

While I've dinged Greenpeace in the past for what I considered unfair criticism of Apple's environmental practices, I do see value in the group's efforts to encourage more sustainable practices from electronics vendors. Adding criteria around energy consumption certainly makes sense; it's a factor on the mind of many IT customers out there looking to reduce the power bills (and associated carbon emissions).

If you're in the market for new machine that fits certain green criteria, you might be better served using the EPEAT site, where products, rather than companies, are ranked by their level of eco-friendliness. All products listed there comply with Energy Star 4.0 and the ROHS. It's not a perfect system, but a good one nonetheless.

However, if you're looking to develop a deeper relationship with a vendor, be it as an investor or a partner, and your company has made being green a high priority, the Greenpeace rankings could serve as a useful resource. After all, even if your company has clean, green operations, associating with companies that don't can potentially hurt your reputation.

Those are my two cents, anyway. I'm curious what you think about Greenpeace's green rankings. Is there any value to them?

Posted by Ted Samson on March 19, 2008 04:05 PM

February 14, 2008

Nanowires could transform clothing into device chargers

Infoworld: Nanowires could transform clothing into device chargers Wouldn't it be nice if your on-the-go workforce could charge their BlackBerries and iPhones without having to pause and plug in to a spare socket? Nanotechnology researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) are developing a shirt that transforms the wearer's physical motion into electricity that could power small electronic devices.

Featured in today's issue of Nature, the research details how pairs of textile fibers covered with zinc oxide nanowires generate electricity in response to applied mechanical stress. "Known as 'the piezoelectric effect,' the resulting current flow from many fiber pairs woven into a shirt or jacket could allow the wearer's body movement to power a range of portable electronic devices," according to the National Science Foundation, which is helping fund the research.

The fibers could also be woven into curtains, tents or other structures to capture energy from wind motion, sound vibration, or other mechanical energy, the NSF notes, which has interesting implications in, say, a noisy datacenter.

"The two fibers scrub together just like two bottle brushes with their bristles touching, and the piezoelectric-semiconductor process converts the mechanical motion into electrical energy," said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the GIT. "Many of these devices could be put together to produce higher power output."

According to the Nature article, Wang "expects a material to be produced within three years that is fully functional, flexible and wearable."

Posted by Ted Samson on February 14, 2008 11:14 AM

January 24, 2008

Dell's shiny green blade server

The PowerEdge M-series from Dell has it all, from a hyper-efficient power supply to superior cooling and power management
From a green-tech perspective, the most intriguing server I've ever known (from a distance) was the Gemini Green Series from Open Source Solutions (OSS). Highly efficient power supplies? Check. Efficient internal cooling? Check. Easily swappable components -- from motherboards to memory to power supplies -- to eliminate the need for ripping and replacing upgrades? Check.

Alas, OSS is no more, but its legacy won't be forgotten -- not by me, anyway. The fact that it's gone the way of rainbow suspenders is no reason to dismiss the beauty of its product design either. In fact, I see glimmers of the Gemini in Dell's newly announced PowerEdge M-Series chassis and blades. Dell designed the M-Series "from the ground up using Dell Energy Smart technologies, resulting in 30 industry patents," clearly with sustainability in mind.

Playing it cool
Like the OSS Gemini (which was a 2U server, by the way), Dell's new PowerEdge blades employs 90-plus percent efficient power supplies, developed in-house. (For reasons I still can't fathom, the standard among server vendors still appears to be in the realm of 80 percent.)

Not only is Dell's power supply capable of hitting a higher energy-efficiency level; it does so more quickly than rival power supplies, according to Mike Roberts, senior product planning manager for the M-Series line. He says that most power supplies achieve their maximum level of energy efficiency only when the supply is running at 90 to 100 percent utilization -- which certainly isn't the norm. "We get to a really good efficiency level at relatively low threshold, 88 percent at only 20 percent utilization," he says.

Those seemingly small differences among power supplies can actually make a dramatic difference in terms of reducing a server's power and heat waste -- and the associated costs scale impressively the larger your datacenter.

Dell also claims to have developed an innovative internal cooling system, designed to adapt to the needs of both high-end and low-end configurations. In addition to its optimized fans (as well as their underlying algorithms), the system boasts a superior airflow design, according to Roberts; Dell has taken great pains to remove impedance throughout the chassis. "The easier the air flows, the less hard the fans have to work," says Roberts.

The chassis also has three distinct cooling zones, each cooled by its own fan bank. In lower-end configurations where the chassis isn't fully loaded with blades, "the fans on the side can run really slowly because they don't have to work hard to cool their zone," says Roberts.

There's also the swappability factor (a word you will not find in Webster's, by the way). In an ideal green-tech world (mine anyway), an IT admin would be able to swap in and out all major components in his or her servers, while they're on the rack, such that machines wouldn't need to head to the shop or, more likely, to the recycling bin if a substantial upgrade is needed. It doesn't look like the major hardware vendors of the world are ready to offer that level of hardware interoperability, but here, Dell has taken a step in that direction.

Specifically, the company has developed what it dubs FlexIO switch technology for easily upgrading the machine's network connectivity up to 10Gig without replacing the base switch. For the enclosure, customers can opt for an upgradeable Dell PowerConnect M6220 Layer 2/3 Ethernet blade switch, with 1Gb ports and optional bays that can support either 10GbE or stacking ports.

Further, customers have three Cisco Ethernet switch choices, including a switch with a variety of 1Gbps, 10 Gbps, and stackable ports. Also available: a Cisco Infiniband switch. Add to that the options for two Brocade 4Gbps Fibre Channels, as well as Fibre Channel and Ethernet Pass Through options.

Additionally, with an eye on the future, Dell has designed the M1000e enclosure not to be dependent on specific server processor/chip set architecture. Further, it will be able to accommodate double-wide blades down the road.

Secret software sauce
Dell's hardware choices alone don't result in a more energy-efficient machine. Like an increasing number of vendors, Dell is turning to server management software to rein in energy waste -- a promising development that stands to lower those power bills and extend the life of hardware.

In Dell's case, that software takes the form of its Version 5.3 of its OpenManage systems management suite, released last November. Dell touts the package -- which comes at no cost with the blade package -- as "easy-to-use yet powerful management tools that help reduce the cost and complexity of managing computing resources."

Among its features is dynamic power management, which enables admins to set high- and low-power thresholds to help ensure blades operate within their defined power envelope. The norm is for servers to consume the maximum recommended amount all the time, even if they're not usually being run at full bore. Moreover, the package offers real-time reporting for enclosure and blade power consumption, and the ability to prioritize blade slots for power to provide optimal control over power resources.

So, for example, if an admin were to allot 3,000 watts to a given chassis, the system would distribute power evenly among all the blades. However, if the chassis wasn't pulling enough power, for whatever reason, it could be set to prioritize which blades would be throttled down first.

Your benchmark or mine?
As Dell tells it, the various greenovations it's injected in these babies reap superior power efficiency (that is, performance per watt) over rival blade offerings from HP and IBM. According to a Dell-sponsored study by Principled Technologies, "the PowerEdge M-Series consumes up to 19 percent less power and achieves up to 25 percent better performance per watt than the HP BladeSystem c-Class. Compared to the IBM BladeCenter H, the M-Series consumes 12 percent less energy and achieves up to 28 percent better performance per watt."

Were you to apply a cost-per-kilowatt amount to those figures, as Dell has, you'd save $2,600 annually per year over HP's blade competitor and $1,500 per rack per year over IBM's.

I wouldn't discount Principled Technologies figures outright, just because the study was sponsored by Dell. It's entirely conceivable that, given the power-efficient measures Dell has taken, its blades consistently delivered better per-watt performance -- but only in that test, which used the SPECjbb2005 benchmark.

Problem is, that benchmark wasn't really developed to measure power efficiency. Organizations and analysts are still grappling as to what method is best for accomplishing that, as evidenced by a recent study comparing the power efficiency of AMD and Intel's respective quad-core chips.

The point is, benchmarks are slowly emerging, such as SPEC's recently announced SPECpower_ssj2008. However, that benchmark isn't suited for a blade environment. In short, work here remains to be done.

Hopefully the InfoWorld Test Center will have a chance to test Dell's claims against offerings from HP and IBM. Whatever the outcome of that test might be (again, if it happens), I still extend kudos to Dell for further raising the green bar more among hardware vendors.

One last thought: IBM and HP may claim that they're not worried about Dell's latest foray into the world of blades. In fact, a rep from one of those vendors sent me a rather dismissive note prior to the official Dell announcement: "We've been hearing rumors over here that Dell finally plans to announce their copycat blade on Monday. Odd that they'd choose a national holiday to announce, but that's another story ;-)."

Of course, when you go out of your way to eagerly point something out and declare you're not worried about it -- you're probably at least a leetle bit worried about it. Conceivably, Dell has surprised the competition with the level of innovation it's brought to the table here, enough to generate some concern.

Posted by Ted Samson on January 24, 2008 03:00 AM

January 10, 2008

CES: HP pledges to cut PC power usage by 25 percent

Using the greener-than-ever CES as a backdrop, HP this week announced plans to reduce the energy consumption of its volume desktop and notebook PC families by 25 percent by 2010 -- relative to its 2005 numbers.

HP's strategy for achieving this goal is pretty straightforward. In part, the company will continue to integrate more efficient power supplies and lower-energy chip sets into its systems. Here, HP is safely betting on the fact that these component vendors down the supply chain will continue to crank out increasingly efficient wares.

Power to the PC
HP's approach to power supplies is worth noting; I find it quite interesting, given the green agenda the company has embraced. In 2007, HP rolled out smaller form factors for its USDTs (ultra slim desktops). The HP dc7800 Ultra-slim Desktop PC, for example, is 46 percent smaller than previous models.

As part of the new design, the company incorporated a standard 85 percent efficient external power supply, according to Andrew Medlin, senior manager of business PC product marketing at HP. (External power supplies tend to be more efficient than internal, Medin points out.)

That's fine for small systems. Large-chassis systems, however, run on internal power supplies. HP customers seeking to purchase a larger system with a relatively more efficient 80-plus percent internal power supply will need to pay a $20 premium.

In other words, HP isn't making the more efficient supply the standard here. "There is significant cost associated with more efficient power supplies in general, and since not all customers value the more efficient power supplies, we chose to provide them a choice," says Medin.

Of course, I'd love to see HP and other PC vendors pushing green agendas to make efficient power supplies the standard on all of their machines. Yes, I can appreciate that the cold, hard reality of the bottom line can offset the greenest of intentions, a fact that many a vendor is dealing with. Even pushing the efficient power supply at a discount (say, $10 a piece) and highlighting the green and cost-saving benefits would be a good start.

Resting easy
In addition to using efficient components to achieve its goal, HP says it will employ more energy-saving technologies and processes into its volume PC portfolio. As an example, the company pointed out that Verdiem's Surveyor remote power management software agent comes preloaded on all its dc7800-series PCs. "When activated, Surveyor can help measure, manage, and reduce power consumption on PCs and monitors by up to 33 percent, or about 200 kilowatt-hours per PC annually," according to HP.

Indeed, there are cost savings and other green-related benefits to be enjoyed through PC power-management tools. But, as with an 80-plus percent efficient power supply that comes at a premium, the Surveyor tool isn't free; it's costs around $20 per licensee to activate.

Here, I'm less critical of HP's choice. Verdiem's offering is geared toward managing power consumption of PCs throughout a larger organization and is far more powerful than the run-of-the-mill tools that put the average home PC in sleep mode when it's not in use. Tools from Verdiem and its competitors are designed for remotely managing a fleet of PCs, ensuring they're powered down when not in use and turned on just before end-users come to their desks in the morning. Many of these power-management solutions are also designed to wake up systems from sleep mode after hours for patches and backups, then put them back to sleep. Given the power and complexity of these types of tools, it's only fair that HP pass the cost to large-size customers.

HP's Medin does add that HP is working on a power-management tool aimed at small businesses and SOHO customers that "will eventually be available at no added cost."

The bottom line here, as I see it, is that HP's on the right track in pursuing its green agenda. In fact, given all the increasingly efficient components and energy management software we're seeing, I don't expect it will be too difficult for the company to attain its goal of cutting energy usage of its volume desktop and notebook PC families by 25 percent by 2010.

I am, however, interested to see how HP and its competitors will continue to raise the green bar. Will we, in fact, see a company commit to making the most energy-efficient power supplies out there the standard in their systems? Will more PCs come preloaded with better power-management tools? I certainly expect so.

How do you envision PC vendors making their wares greener?

Ted Samson is a senior analyst at InfoWorld and author of the Sustainable IT blog. Subscribe to his free weekly Green Tech newsletter.

Posted by Ted Samson on January 10, 2008 12:58 PM

December 13, 2007

Climate Savers green catalog proves unripe

I've had green hardware and gadgetry on the brain these past couple of weeks, no doubt thanks to the holiday season. If you're looking to stock your home or your office with some energy-efficient computing wares -- not just PCs but also mobile devices, servers, and software -- you might consider perusing the Climate Saver's Smart Computing Product Catalog.

The catalog contains 317 product listings (at least as I write this), which you can sort by product category (Desktop, Mobile, Server, and the oh-so unhelpful Other), manufacturer, and/or region -- that is, where the product is available.

While somewhat useful, the catalog could certainly use some sprucing up. For example, it doesn't have a particularly elegant UI -- the word spartan would be far more apt. Further, when you perform a search, you're presented with a long list of product names, the product type, and the manufacturer name. You don't get any more details until you click the product name. It would make more sense to add at least one descriptive sentence below each product name in the search results page. Otherwise, a user has little incentive to randomly click uninformative product names such as "Surveyor" or "Z-One Digital IBA."

Clicking on a product name takes you to a page where you'll find a product description, a link to the vendor site, and sometimes and image. Said description might be a basic list of specs -- or a wordy description of the product, clearly written by the vendor's marketing team as opposed to a neutral third party. Pricing information is notably absent.

OK, so I'm clearly not enamored by the catalog as a whole. It's certainly a good idea to provide a single place for would-be buyers to browse for energy-efficient hardware and software from various vendors. However, the catalog's usefulness is stymied by its sparse UI, the fact that it's difficult for a user to drill down and find useful product information, and the absence of a tool to compare similar products by their specs and prices.

Ted Samson is a senior analyst at InfoWorld and writer of the Sustainable IT blog. Subscribe to his free weekly Green Tech newsletter.

Posted by Ted Samson on December 13, 2007 10:18 AM

December 07, 2007

Chinavision pen camera has green-spy appeal

If you have an aspiring spy with green leanings on your holiday-gift list, take note: A company called Chinavision is offering a solar-powered wireless spy camera pen.

As described by the company, the device is a fully functioning pen -- except it has an inconspicuous built-in wireless mini spy camera. "Just whip out the pen, twist the cap to start the wireless transmission, have the included MP4/wireless receiver within 20 meters, and you can view and record everything that your spy camera pen sees," the company says.

The camera is powered by a Li-ion battery, which in turn is charged by solar energy. Pricing starts at $328.76.

If this psuedo-green gadget doesn't appeal to you, consider some of these other eco-friendly gifts for geeks.

(Thanks, by the way, to Ubergizmo (and various other green blogs) for pointing out the Chinavision camera pen.)

Ted Samson is a senior analyst at InfoWorld and writer of the Sustainable IT blog. Subscribe to his free weekly Green Tech newsletter.

Posted by Ted Samson on December 7, 2007 12:45 PM

December 04, 2007

Survey: Apple users more likely to be green-minded

Apple users are proportionally more eco-friendly than users of other vendors' PCs. Moreover, they're more willing to plunk down extra cash for "green" products.

That nugget of information is one of many findings in a report just released by Forrester Research titled "In Search Of Green Technology Consumers: Why Tech Marketers Should Target This Emerging Segment." Forrester surveyed computer users to determine the extent of their green leanings and what drove their environmentally conscientious practices (or lack thereof).

The report finds that, all told, 12 percent of U.S. adults are "bright green," which Forrester defines as those who are "concerned about the environment and global warming, and strongly agree that they would pay extra for consumer electronics that used less energy or came from a company that was environmentally friendly."

Moreover, another 41 percent of U.S. adults are "green consumers": those who "share concerns about environmental issues and global warming, but do not strongly agree that they would pay more for environmentally-friendly electronics."

The remaining 47 percent of the population "do not (yet) share the greens' concerns about the environment or global warming."

Forrester found that 14 percent of Apple users are bright green. From there, the list breaks down like this: 13 percent of Compaq consumers are bright green; then 12 percent of Gateway users; 11 percent of eMachines buyers; 10 percent of Dell fans; 9 percent of Toshiba users; 9 percent of IBM/Lenovo consumers; and 9 percent of consumers who buy their PCs from "Other" vendors. Below the "Other" category are HP users, 7 percent of whom are bright green. (The report notes that these numbers don't reflect the green practices of the companies themselves.)

Forrester notes that PC vendors are already making efforts to embrace more environmentally friendly practices and deliver greener products for several reasons: to appeal to consumers' ever-evolving eco-leanings; to deflect criticism from watchdog groups such as Greenpeace; and to adhere to regulations such as Europe's ROHS directive.

Those greener practices are taking several forms: designing products in a more conscientious manner; boosting system energy efficiency; cleaning up their manufacturing processes; using less wasteful packaging and transport methods; and making it easier for users to recycle their PCs.

Looking forward, Forrester predicts "that green-targeted PCs and other electronics will evolve as part of the consumer electronics industry's move to go beyond "beige box" design and styling and instead incorporate consumer style into its products."

Indeed, we've already starting seeing some of this since Forrester conducted its survey in Q2 of this year. Dell, for example, recently released a greened-up version of its Inspiron desktop. Everex is also focusing on the greenness of its recently unveiled TC2502 Green gPC, which runs on Linux.

The Forrester report "In Search Of Green Technology Consumers: Why Tech Marketers Should Target This Emerging Segment" can be purchased here for $279.

Posted by Ted Samson on December 4, 2007 08:59 AM

November 29, 2007

Emerson delivers free Energy Logic blueprint for building a power-efficient datacenter

the path to green efficiency How-to guides are downright handy for tackling daunting projects, such as deploying a new BPM (business process management) solution or building a birdhouse (one of those really fancy ones with indoor plumbing).

One of the most daunting tasks that companies face today is figuring out how to wring greater energy efficiency out of their datacenters. Certainly, many vendors are ready to step up and demonstrate where their respective products fit into the power-saving puzzle. But there's something to be said for a vendor-neutral blueprint to plan the overall task.

That all is a wordy lead-in to pointing you to a new report -- available as a free download -- released today by Emerson Network Power. It's titled "Energy Logic: Reducing Data Center Energy Consumption by Creating Savings that Cascade Across Systems," and it's an impressive piece of work, outlining ten interrelated technology strategies that comprise a holistic approach to improving datacenter energy efficiency by as much as 50 percent, according to the company. And as I noted, it's free.

For a little background, Emerson has coined the term "Energy Logic" in this report, a strategy which, according to the company, "centers on 'the cascade effect' by which one watt saved at the processor level can save an average total of 2.84 watts in energy consumption."

The report starts at the server component level, outlining the benefits of low-power processors. "Independent research studies show these lower-power processors deliver the same performance as higher power models," the report says. "In the 5,000-square-foot datacenter modeled for this paper, low-power processors create a 10 percent reduction in overall datacenter power consumption."

Next up: power supplies. The report notes that most power supplies found in servers are working at around 72 percent effiency -- yet "best-in-class power supplies are available today that deliver efficiency of 90 percent. Use of these power supplies reduces power draw within the data center by 124 kW or 11 percent of the 1127 kW total," the report says.

From there, the report suggests that datacenter operators look at power-management software. Despite the fact that processors have built-in power-management features, they end up disabled for fear of crippling response time. Yet "in idle mode, most servers consume between 70 and 85 percent of full operational power."

The Emerson Energy Logic report suggests that admins reconsider how they use power-management features. In the 5,000 square foot datacenter model, the report says that using power-management features can reduce peak power draw from 80 percent to 45 percent, saving "an additional 86 kW or eight percent of the unoptimized datacenter load."

Blade servers have a role to play in the energy-efficient datacenter, according to the Emerson report. "Blade servers consume about 10 percent less power than equivalent rack-mount servers because multiple servers share common power supplies, cooling fans and other components. ... More importantly, blades facilitate the move to a high-density data center architecture, which can significantly reduce energy consumption."

Moving on, Emerson's Energy Logic strategy highlights server virtualization. In the 5,000 square foot model, "assuming 25 percent of servers are virtualized with eight non-virtualized physical servers being replaced by one virtualized physical server, ... virtualization provides an incremental eight percent reduction in total datacenter power," according to the report.

No. 6 on Emerson's energy-efficiency menu for datacenters: best cooling practices. That includes "sealing gaps in floors, using blanking panels in open spaces in racks, and avoiding mixing of hot and cold air." This is low-hanging fruit that requires no additional technology investment but can result in a five percent efficiency boost, based, again, on the 5,000 square foot datacenter model.

415V AC power distribution is the next strategy component in Emerson's Energy Logic scheme. The short of it is, most UPS systems are rather inefficient, as they convert incoming power to DC and then back to AC within the UPS. "In most datacenters, the UPS provides power at 480V, which is then stepped down via a transformer, with accompanying losses, to 208V in the power distribution system," according to the report. "These stepdown losses can be eliminated by converting UPS output power to 415V." The result: "an incremental two percent reduction in facility energy use" in the 5,000 square foot model.

Cooling reappears in the report next, specifically variable capacity cooling. "Typically, CRAC [computer room air conditioners] fans run at a constant speed and deliver a constant volume of air flow. Converting these fans to variable frequency drive fans allows fan speed and power draw to be reduced as load decreases," the report says. Emerson specifically cites digital scroll compressors here, which "allow the capacity of room air conditioners to be matched exactly to room conditions without turning compressors on and off."

The payoff: "A 20 percent reduction in fan speed provides almost 50 percent savings in fan-power consumption."

Ninth in the Emerson Energy Logic lineup is, lo, another cooling strategy: high-density supplemental cooling. Datacenter operators are cramming more machines into their facility, and CRAC systems alone can't handle the extra heat. "Supplemental cooling units are mounted above or alongside equipment racks, and pull hot air directly from the hot aisle and deliver cold air to the cold aisle," the report explains. These units can reduce cooling costs by 30 percent, Emerson reports.

Last but not least, there's monitoring and optimization. With varying types of hardware spread out around the datacenter, cooling can prove inefficient. "Cooling control systems can monitor conditions across the datacenter and coordinate the activities of multiple units to prevent conflicts and increase teamwork," the report says. "In the model, an incremental saving of one percent is achieved as a result of system-level monitoring and control."

There's plenty more information to be gleaned from Emerson's 21-page Energy Logic report, along with helpful charts and diagrams to help datacenter operators as they venture toward a greener, more sustainable facility.

Did I mention the report is available as a free download? Get it right here.

Ted Samson is a senior analyst at InfoWorld and author of the Sustainable IT blog, tracking trends toward greener, more energy-efficient IT. Subscribe to his free Green Tech newsletter here.

Posted by Ted Samson on November 29, 2007 10:02 AM

November 07, 2007

Govs pledge to buy greener hardware for state governments

If you're a hardware vendor and "energy efficiency" isn't high on your product-feature list, you're risking losing some valuable customers -- perhaps as many as 50, with names such as Kansas and Minnesota.

The National Governors Association (NGA) today announced a partnership between the NGA chair's Securing a Clean Energy Future (SCEF) initiative and the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) to spur deployment of more energy-efficient computers and servers in state offices and agencies.

Two governors, NGA Chair Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, have committed to the partnership thus far, and they will work to encourage their 48 peers to follow suit.

The move would certainly have eco-friendly benefits. Moreover, it would result fewer wasted tax dollars. Underutilized hardware can spell costly waste. For example, powering down PCs that aren't in use can result in as much as $45 in energy savings per system and $30 per monitor, per year, according to Energy Star.

"The average desktop PC currently wastes half of the power it receives," said Gov. Pawlenty in a written statement. "Having states increase the energy efficiency of their computing equipment will save consumers and taxpayers money, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change."

Under the terms of the agreement, these states have committed to reducing energy consumption from a majority of their computing equipment by:

- pledging to purchase high-efficiency computer equipment that meets or exceeds federal Energy Star ratings;

- optimizing existing computer systems by educating employees about more efficient and effective computer power-management strategies, such as better using hibernation and sleep modes;

- and ensuring in subsequent years states purchase computing equipment with increasing levels of efficiency.

Beyond preserving precious tax dollars, the initiative could spur citizens and merchants to embrace more sustainable practices themselves, observes Bill Weihl, co-chairman of the CSCI board of directors and Google's green energy czar. "[Their] actions will provide leadership for residents and local businesses looking to implement effective emission reduction policies," he said in a written statement.

CSCI, an initiative started by Google and Intel, brings together manufacturers, businesses, organizations and individuals to significantly increase the energy efficiency of computers and servers. The group is led by representatives from nine board of director companies, including Dell; Electronic Data Systems; HP; Intel; and Microsoft.

For more information about the SCEF Initiative, go to nga.org/ci. For more information about CSCI, visit climatesaverscomputing.org.

Posted by Ted Samson on November 7, 2007 10:24 AM

October 04, 2007

Storage grows greener

environmentally correct storage power Servers tend to take center stage in green datacenter discussions, and for good reason. Those data-crunchin', app-runnin' machines are currently the most notorious power hogs in the datacenter joint. But storage hardware is rapidly catching up in terms of power consumption, according to The Green Data Project. By 2008, power consumption by disk is expected to exceed that of all other equipment.

[InfoClipz: Green tech | Video: Hitachi CTO talks green storage ]

There are a couple of reasons for that. First, data simply continues to pile up. Second, as that data piles up, datacenter operators have an unfortunate habit of throwing more storage at the problem, rather than making better use of what they've got. That approach ends up costing you in several significant ways. You're laying down cash for new or leased storage arrays. You're paying monthly bills to power and cool those arrays. And you're sacrificing precious datacenter space for potentially superfluous hardware.

Surprise, surprise, storage vendors out there are keenly aware of the problem and are devising storage technology and products that could play a critical role in your green datacenter blueprints. Among those vendors is Hitachi Data Systems (HDS). The company's CTO, Hu Yoshida, recently sat down with me to talk about the subject. (You can watch the video here.)

Data diet
One resource-saving storage technology being pushed by HDS and other vendors, including HP, is thin provisioning. The premise behind the technology is pretty straightforward: It lets IT admins view all of their storage hardware as a great big pool and divvy up slices as needed, rather than allocating separate arrays for different business units that might not be taking full advantage of the pricey hardware you've set aside for them.

The result, if all goes well: You can purchase just enough storage machinery to meet your organization's collective needs, which means you're paying less money for arrays that are sitting there running at 20 percent utilization while you pay for 100 percent of their drives to spin. That doesn't make a lot of sense economically or environmentally. (There's also the benefit of easier management, but my sites are set on green.)

For thin provisioning to be effective, careful planning is, of course, critical, a point that's certainly not lost on InfoWorld storage guru Mario Apicella. If various departments estimate they'll need 8TB of storage but, lo, it turns out they collectively needed 10TB (oops!), you're left in an unenviable situation of playing storage catch-up.

But then, that's the challenge of running a green datacenter in general: You have to be sure you forecast and budget intelligently such that you always have just enough servers, storage arrays, and other hardware up and running at one time. That's fodder for another blog post, perhaps. On to additional green storage approaches.

Put the brakes on drives
In my interview with Yoshida, he talked about the new power-management capabilities, called Power Savings Storage Service (or secretively, PSSS), which the company recently introduced in its mid-range Adaptable Modular Storage (AMS) and Workgroup Modular Storage (WMS) systems. Once again, the premise is pretty straightforward: You have an array with various drives, but this feature gives you the ability to put drives to sleep when they're not being used. That means, of course, that you're not paying to power something pointlessly.

This technology might sound familiar to you if you've read about MAID (massive arrays of idle disk) technology. MAID storage systems also have drives which can be woken up individually and put to sleep. But there are key differences, which Yoshida has taken pains to clarify in his own blog. He goes so far as to say that PSSS is the opposite of MAID: PSSS works by putting active drives to sleep whereas MAID works by waking up sleeping drives.

The approach differs because the applications are different. The AMD and WMS arrays are RAID systems storing production data. "These HDS RAID arrays are production arrays that have no restrictions on writing or reading and can have high-performance [Fibre Channel] RAID groups and/or lower cost SATA RAID groups," Yoshida writes. "Instead of keeping all the disks idle until they are accessed, this feature enables a user or scripted application to power down a RAID group when it is not being accessed and power it back up when it needs to be accessed."

MAID, on the other hand, is geared for SATA drives storing write once, read occasionally data; that is, data stored on large-capacity drives that you access infrequently and can afford to wait for.

Yoshida concedes that MAID does technically consume less energy, which isn't surprising, considering that California utility PG&E has offered incentives for companies to enlist MAID. Byte and Switch reports that "users have already shaved around 75 percent off their energy bills through MAID, thanks to the fact that disks are typically idle. HDS, on the other hand, is touting potential savings of around 20 percent as a result of its reliance on active disks."

Of course, there's no reason you can't employ MAID and HDS's arrays at the same time. In our interview, Yoshida noted that they can certainly be complementary. Yes, MAID might use fewer kilowatts, but when you're building a green datacenter, you can't simply focus on the product that uses the least energy -- another point that Yoshida emphasized. Rather, the idea is to assemble the equipment that meets your present and future needs while wasting the fewest resources possible. Again, that takes plenty of planning, but the payoff can nonetheless be significant.

Posted by Ted Samson on October 4, 2007 03:00 AM

August 20, 2007

Green trickling down to local government

Every so often, I'll google the term "green technology," just to see what's going on in the green-tech-o-sphere. An interesting nugget popped up today: Erie County, New York (population of around 925,000) has passed a law requiring county officials to purchase Energy Star appliances when possible.

OK, so in and of itself, that's not Earth-shattering news. Perhaps Earth-hugging news, though. But more important, it's a good example of how green-tech awareness has infiltrated the consciousness of politicians at not only federal and state levels, but also local levels.

The move is good news for Erie County, because it means lower energy bills. It also good news for companies like Dell, Fujitsu, and HP, and others that have been working diligently to keep up with the latest Energy Star standards for PCs and laptops. (Of course, the law applies to all other types of appliances that earn Energy Star ratings, including air-conditioning units, lighting, and the refrigerators and televisions that might show up Erie County government building's break rooms.)

It's difficult to keep a tab on what individual cities and counties are doing, but if you happen to live in one that's passed similar laws, please drop me a line and let me know (or comment below).

Posted by Ted Samson on August 20, 2007 12:52 PM

July 17, 2007

HP: Over 1B pounds recycled

Vendor aims to recycle another billion pounds of electronics and printer cartridges by 2010

HP: Over 1B pounds recycled The expression "What goes around comes around" is proving increasingly apt in the world of enterprise hardware as more companies discover the benefits of recycling retired PCs, servers, handhelds, and the like.

Indicative of the rising interest in hardware recycling, also known as IT asset recovery, HP has announced that its achieved its goal of recycling one billion pounds of hardware six months before the deadline it had set back in 2004. The company now seeks to recycle two billion pounds of gear and printer cartridges -- that is, another billion pounds -- by 2010.

"Environmental responsibility is good business," said Mark Hurd, HP chairman and CEO, in a written statement. "We've reached the tipping point where the price and performance of IT are no longer compromised by being green, but are now enhanced by it."

Pat Tiernan, VP of corporate, social, and environmental responsibility at HP, called the two billion pound goal for 2010 "the most aggressive recycling goal in the industry. "We expect to achieve it in three and a half years by expanding our convenient re-use and recycling services worldwide."

HP currently operates its program in 40 countries around the globe.

"In 2006 alone, HP recycled 164 million pounds of products globally -- the equivalent weight of more than 600 jumbo airliners and a 16 percent increase over 2005," said Tiernan.

Vendors that engage in hardware recycling refurbish and resell systems when possible ha or else mine the products for materials that can be used elsewhere. According to HP, plastics and metals it has recovered have been used to make a range of new products, including auto body parts, clothes hangers, plastic toys, fence posts, serving trays, and roof tiles.

Posted by Ted Samson on July 17, 2007 09:23 AM

July 09, 2007

Sony hits bottom of Greenpeace eco rankings

Despite Sony's consistently poor showings, Greenpeace remains fixated on Apple

Given Greenpeace's seeming obsession with Apple, I'm having an even more difficult time taking the environmental group's ongoing eco-policing of electronic companies seriously.

Greenpeace last week released the latest edition of its "Guide to Greener Electronics," in which it ranks fourteen companies based on particular environmental practices, such as their toxic-chemical policies and recycling programs.

This time around, Sony tumbled to the bottom of the list, down from 11th place. The reason for the drop: Greenpeace says Sony was "penalized for double standards on their waste policies" in terms of individual producer responsibility (IPR), referring to vendors taking responsibility for the environmental impact of their wares instead of expecting customers to do so.

"Sony is a founding member of the European Recycling Platform which supports IPR; however, in the U.S., Sony is part of a coalition that has been opposing producer responsibility and lobbying for U.S. consumers to pay an advanced recycling fee (ARF)," Greenpeace states in the current guide.

Lenovo, which was at the top of the heap last April, is now in third place. "Closer examination of Lenovo's takeback and recycling services has revealed some weaknesses e.g. time-limited takeback in Thailand, therefore Lenovo loses points on that criteria. Lenovo also still fails to score any points for providing models on the market that are free of PVC and BFRs," says the report.

Meanwhile Nokia crept to the No. 1 slot. "Nokia gets top marks for its support for [IPR], (each company should take care of the electronic waste from its own-branded discarded products). But, it loses points for poor reporting on the amounts of discarded mobiles that it recycles as a percentage of past sales."

Yet despite Sony's free-fall to last place, as well as the other changes in the rankings since April, Greenpeace appears utterly fixated on the fact that Apple managed to increase its standing from last place to tenth.

"Clearly, companies are racing to produce greener products" says Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace's toxics campaigner on the Greenpeace Web site. "Steve Job's latest commitment to eliminate toxics materials moved Apple up the chart and they now face a challenge, with the iPhone, to meet customer expectations to be the environmental leader Apple-lovers want."

Notably, Greenpeace has been criticizing Apple for its allegedly poor green practices for quite some time, even going to far as to launch a "Green my Apple" campaign.

So Greenpeace: If you are going to police the environmental practices of companies, I suggest that you be consistent -- if you want your rankings to be taken seriously. Yes, it's good to see that Apple is doing more for Mother Nature, but meanwhile, Sony, by your standards, has continued to slip over the past several months. Should we expect a flashy, targeted marketing campaign drawing attention to Sony?

Or are you determined to continue getting as much mileage as you can breathing down Apple's neck, even though the company ships far fewer products -- and thus has a relatively smaller environmental impact -- than Sony?

Posted by Ted Samson on July 9, 2007 12:37 PM

June 25, 2007

HP injects power-capping tool in Systems Insight Manager

Feature limits energy-use on a per-machine basis, potentially reducing overall datacenter power consumption by 70%, HP says

With many companies struggle with soaring energy costs as well as limits on getting the power they need to expand, or even run, their datacenters, HP today a new power-capping component for HP Insight Power Manager, part of the HP Systems Insight Manager (SIM) hardware management platform.

Using Insight Power Manager, customers can measure the average and peak power usage of their HP ProLiant and BladeSystem servers and cap power at specific wattages, according to HP. That, in turn, can reduce power and cooling costs. Moreover, it helps companies ensure that they don't draw more energy from the grid than they're allotted. Trying to draw more energy than is available to you can reduce in unexpected downtime.

Currently, datacenter administrators plan their power budgets -- the total amount of energy they expect the hardware in the datacenter to consume -- based on collective power-consumption specs provided by the vendors. However, those numbers are based on high-usage scenarios, which some servers never actually reach, according to Jeff Carlat, director of industry standard servers software at HP. Thus, companies are pumping more electricity into certain machines than may be necessary.

"The energy usage grows significantly as you reach that faster speed on the server. The ability to capture the power and drive conservation of power can free up excess power in your power budget to deploy new servers," said Carlat.

Alternatively, depending on a companies needs, you can just put those savings back in your pocket.

According to Carlat, HP found in lab tests that it was able to reduce power consumption by 70% through power-capping, though the tests were limited to ten servers.

Admins can tweak the power-cap on a given server as needed, too. A database server, for example, might need more energy when churning at monthly reports. Thus, an admin could set it to receive 1,000W during report time and 700 the rest of the time.

The potential drawback to not setting the power cap high enough is degraded hardware response time, which admins can rectify by adjusted the cap -- or accept in exchange for the associated savings.

In addition to the new power-capping features, HP also introduced remote management features through Integrated Lights-Out 2, a plug-in application to HP SIM. Through a shared remote console, the tool allows for up to four users at one time to diagnose system issues and execute tasks, from anywhere in the world, according to HP.

Through the console replay capability, users can document procedures, train others or share with others to troubleshoot a problem.

The power measurement and power capping capabilities now ship standard with Insight Power Manager, which starts at $99. HP ProLiant Essentials Integrated Lights-Out 2 is also now available and starts at $349.

Posted by Ted Samson on June 25, 2007 03:00 AM

June 01, 2007

Dell responds on OptiPlex, Energy Star 4.0, and Vista

Yesterday, I wrote about Dell's new OptiPlex systems, which are designed to meet the Energy Star 4.0 standards [PDF].

The thrust of my post was to explore whether or not it was possible to buy a desktops -- from Dell or any other company -- that would both meet ES 4.0 and would run Windows Vista effectively for the average business user.

Specific to Dell, I also wanted to know how a buyer could tell whether he or she had selected a configuration on the Dell site that met the Energy Star 4.0 criteria.

Dell spokesperson Jeremy Bolen was kind enough to offer a response to my post, which follows:

I just wanted to clarify a few things. First, customers can find Energy Star 4.0 systems by going to www.dell.com/energy -- a site with
information about our energy initiatives -- and through the regular OptiPlex online sites by clicking on Energy Star logo when you select either the OptiPlex 740 or 745.

There you will find systems that are fairly robust in configurability for commercial users. And, you'll find that our systems are available with either Windows XP or Vista that are perfectly capable of running Ultimate with up to 4GB of RAM and optional 256MB video cards.

As you probably know, Energy Star 4.0 divides systems into three categories, basic, mainstream and power user scenarios that have different energy consumption requirements. Depending on how a customer configures their system, it will fall into one of those categories (more information on this can be found at www.energystar.gov).

We feel that our offerings are transparent and our teams worked countless hours to ensure that Dell OptiPlex systems meet Energy Star 4.0 guidelines.

First off, thank you, Jeremy, for the reply. I do have some points to make in response:

1. Going to the regular OptiPlex section of the Dell site, I see no mention of Energy Star 4.0 at all.

2. Going to the Dell Energy page you reference, and clicking around a bit, leads you to another place from which to customize and order one of these new OptiPlexes.

Just above the Customize It button, there is a caveat: "Select configurations meet Energy Star 4.0 requirements."

See, that is the stumbling point for me, and my questions remain:
1. What does "select configurations" mean? Is there someplace a user can find them?

2. Is it really possible to get one of these systems that is Energy Star 4.0-compliant yet still capable of running Vista -- with Aero activated -- while meeting the average business user's needs?

3. How does a user know, once he or she has configured a system, that it is still Energy Star 4.0 compliant (i.e. that he or she has chosen a "select configuration")?

I do want to stress that I applaud Dell for being among the PC vendors tackling energy efficiency. I like that the company is making 80-percent efficient power supplies standard in these systems.

But at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I still want to know if any company -- not just Dell -- is capable of doing what I'm talking about here: developing a desktop (not workstation, as defined by Energy Star) that can take adequate advantage of Vista? If so, I'll be impressed. Given the system requirements of Microsoft newest desktop OS, I think the company has made it challenging for hardware vendors.

I also would urge PC vendors to make it crystal clear to buyers which configurations of their systems do meet Energy Star 4.0. It also would be cool if you could see how adding, changing, or removing components to a configuration affects a system's energy consumption.

Posted by Ted Samson on June 1, 2007 01:41 PM

May 07, 2007

OSS injects greenery into highly modular Gemini servers

Wouldn't it be nice to live in a truly plug-and-play world, where, for example, you could quickly and easily pull out the old gas-guzzling engine in your otherwise-functional automobile and swap in a hybrid engine you bought off the shelf at the local auto-parts store -- and maybe a hydrogen engine (or whatever replaces hybrid) down the road? Think of the cost and time savings, as well as the environmental benefits, of that modular model.

The automotive industry isn't there, but there's a hardware company delivering that level of flexible modularity to the server market: Open Source Systems, which today is announcing the Green Series of its 2U Gemini Server line. And in a day and age where data-center managers are keen on finding ways to make the most out of their rack space as they grow, while reducing soaring energy and cooling bills, I think this line's design holds a lot of promise.

So what makes the Gemini Green Series green? For starters, the company has added a high-efficiency power supply that runs at 93 percent efficiency. As a result, the company says the machines use between 30 and 50 percent less power than typical servers and emit up to 50 percent less heat. Chew on that for a moment: It can represent a dramatic reduction in your energy and cooling bills --and it also means you can add more servers to your data center if your problem wasn't lack of space but rather insufficient cooling.

Speaking of cooling, OSS strives to make the most of the system's 2U form factor, which houses two motherboards. The company says it's able to cool the two boards with four large 80mm fluid-bearing fans, which consume far less power (and make less noise) than the smaller five-plus wind-tunnel fans used in 1Us.

Because the system has two discrete servers, it's possible to simultaneously use an Intel processor and an AMD processors from the same chassis. That means you can choose the hardware platform that's best suited to run your services.

For example, a small company could run its Web server on an Intel processor and its database server on AMD, from one machine, and divide the duties of the 12 drives as needed. (The company notes that other 2U servers have only eight drives.)

But the real beauty in the OSS system, again, lies in its approach to modularity. "Because of its unique modular design, users can swap out major components as needs change or as technology advances so it is a truly future-proof solution," said Eren Niazi, chief executive officer and founder of Open Source Systems.

Not only can the system's major components -- the motherboard, the disk drives, power supplies, and memory -- be swapped out; they can be swapped while the system is still on the rack. The system's twelve hot-swappable disk drives can support SATA, SCSI or SAS. Mix and match as needed.

And, in a couple of years when a new crop of faster motherboards emerge with superior features that are better suited for your needs, you can easily cold-swap your existing ATX or E-ATX board simply by ejecting it via a rear-loading tray and popping in a new one. (Loosening a screw is required in this process.)

That strikes me as such an elegantly simple, straightforward, and sensible approach. From a business perspective, you're saving time and money by not having to replace the entire machine, or investing the man-hours and dollars in doing it manually.

And from an environmental standpoint, you're prolonging the lifecycle of the other perfectly good parts that you might otherwise end up shipping back to your hardware vendor for recycling when you need a system upgrade. "It's great for the environment. You're able to reuse these metal chasses without buying new servers every five year," said Niazi.

Of course, seeing is believing, and I'm looking forward to having one of the Test Center analysts give one of these babies a spin to see if they're really as good as they appear on paper. Stay tuned.

The 2U Gemini Server Green Series systems start at $10,000, but can reach $105,000, according to Niazi, depending on the tailored configuration. For more information, check out the OSS Web site at www.opensourcesystems.com.

Posted by Ted Samson on May 7, 2007 03:00 AM

April 24, 2007

Apple faces unfair criticism for its green ways

Apple faces unfair criticism for its green ways Judging by the beating it's taken lately, both from Greenpeace and some of its investors, you'd think Apple was more toxic than the one that knocked out Snow White. Meanwhile, the company counters that its wares are quite Granny Smith green, thank you -- and from my perspective, the company does have a pretty green track record.

That's not to say that Apple -- or any other electronics company -- is doing all that it can to be fully eco-friendly. But Apple seems to be unfairly getting a worse rap than anyone else.

Some background first: Last year, Greenpeace ranked Apple as being the fourth least eco-friendly electronics company. It even went so far as to single out Apple, launching a marketing campaign called "Green My Apple", aimed at the company's alleged environmental shortcomings.

Apparently, the campaign didn't work to Greenpeace's expectations: Earlier this month, the nonprofit declared Apple to be at the very bottom of the barrel, dinging the company for failing to make any progress in greening up its act.

And now, Apple is feeling some heat from its investors to detoxify its goods. At its next annual meeting, slated for May 10, Apple's shareholders will vote on a proposal to eliminate certain hazardous chemicals from its products.

The resolution, submitted by investment firm Trillium Asset Management, would require Apple to explore removing "persistent and bioaccumulative toxic chemicals, and all types of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics" from its products.

Notably, those are precisely the types of substances that Greenpeace considers when assigning eco-rankings to electronics companies.

Apple, meanwhile, continues to defend its environmental record. "Apple has a strong environmental track record and has led the industry in restricting and banning toxic substances such as mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium, as well as many BFRs," the company said in an e-mailed statement.

The company also boasts in the environment section of its Web site that every one of it desktops and notebooks "score best in class in EPEAT, an environmental assessment tool launched under an initiative of the Environmental Protection Agency." EPEAT considers not environmentally sensitive materials found in electronic products; it looks at the larger green picture, including power consumption, company's take-back programs, product lifecycle, and product packaging.

Notably, the Greenpeace approach and the EPEAT approach are quite different, as outlined in this IT Week article.

"Scot Case, marketing director at EPEAT, insisted there was no contradiction between the two ranking systems' findings and that neither could be used to prove the inaccuracy of the other. 'My initial reaction was that comparing the two systems was like comparing apples and oranges, but on closer inspection it is more like comparing apples and cows,' he said. 'EPEAT focuses on ranking the products; Greenpeace is looking at the whole company.'"

Personally, I think the EPEAT standards are more meaningful than Greenpeace's. Moreover, I find it suspect that the organization launched a flashy (and Webby-winning) campaign against Apple last year, even though the company wasn't then the lowest-ranked organization on the Greenpeace survey. I'd wager that the decision to single out Apple was really just a publicity ploy to draw attention to its cause by riding the coattails of the arguably hippest electronics company out there. Though considering the resolution Apple has before it on May 10 to explore removal of various substances from its goods, perhaps Greenpeace's campaign was effective.

Of course, I fully support Apple -- or any other company -- researching the feasibility of making its products more environmentally friendly. It's good for the planet and for our health, and it's a smart business move as well as a proactive business move to stay ahead of the green curve, given the increasingly strict environmental directives and regulation we've seen and will undoubtedly continue to see.

Posted by Ted Samson on April 24, 2007 02:15 PM

April 03, 2007

PG&E dangles cash as virtualization incentive

PG&E dangles cash as virtualization incentive How would you like to have your monthly data-center energy bills dramatically slashed while freeing up precious rack space, without taking a performance hit? Not a sweet enough deal? What if up to $4 million in cash incentives was thrown into the pot?

I know: It sounds like one of those late-night pitches you see in between re-runs of "Mama's Family" at 2:00 in the morning ("It's a salad spinner! It's an appetite suppressant! It's a powerful adhesive, and a stool loosener -- plus it brings you inner-peace!"). But this the real deal: If you consolidate your datacenter server hardware through virtualization, PG&E will pay you cash for each server you end up removing. (You have to be a PG&E customer to participate, though other utilities are offering similar deals.)

InfoWorld has, of course, been beating the virtualization drum for a while now, but perhaps those compelling rhythms haven't reached your ears, despite the datacenter power crises organizations are facing. The idea behind virtualization is, you create virtual machines on a few servers so that they can do the work of multiple servers -- thus rendering the latter unnecessary. Pretty simple, in theory, though if you want to dig down into the all-important hows and how-tos, check out our previous coverage.

Management advantages and cool factor aside, the energy savings -- and resulting cash savings and environmental benefits -- of virtualization are quite alluring. In fact, I'd say that virtualization has to be one of the most important sustainable technologies of our time in that it simultaneously addresses critical and intertwined business and environmental needs.

Participation in PG&E's Virtualization/Server Consolidation Projects Incentive program is pretty straightforward:

Develop a virtualization plan. Whichever virtualization company you decide to go with (VMware, VirtualIron, etc.) should be able to assist you with that.
Download, fill out, and submit your application to PG&E, which should include an inventory of what servers currently have running and what will remain once you've virtualized. A member of PG&E's HTEE (High Tech Energy Efficiency) team can assist you in the process.
Let PG&E perform calculations and determine what kind of cash incentive it will offer. You can expect between $150 and $300 for each server you unplug, according to PG&E HTEE Program Manager Mark Bramfitt.
Implement the plan (and be sure to recycle your hardware. Plenty of companies, including IBM, Sun, and HP, have notable hardware recycling and reuse programs that could reap you cash or credit toward other purchases.)
Let PG&E come by to ensure you've done what you said you'd do.
Receive incentive check.
Enjoy significantly lower energy bills and increased rack space while taking satisfaction in knowing that your company is producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Frankly, the incentive is really just the tip of the savings iceberg, compared to the decrease you'll see in your energy bills. Each server you remove represents between $600 and $1,200 in energy saved on electricity and cooling, according to Bramfitt.

Bramfitt said that companies of all sizes have already participated. The United States Postal Service in the Bay Area is in the process of cutting away more than 5,000 of its 6,000 server through virtualization. Smaller companies, such as AutoDesk, went from 230 to 13. Even companies with as few as 30 servers have gotten on board, he said.

The incentive program launched late last year, a result of fruitful conversations with VMware. But it won't going to be around forever, Bramfitt noted. "Once we get to 50 or 60% adoption, will get out of this incentive program. It will become standard practice, and companies won't need an incentive to move forward."

For more information about PG&E's Virtualization/Server Consolidation Projects Incentive, as well as an application, go to www.pge.com/biz/rebates/hightech/htee_incentives.html. (While you're there, check out some of the other resources on the site. The utlity offers a host of best practices and incentive and rebate programs for saving electricity.)

If you're not in PG&E's jurisdiction, contact your local utility anyway and see if they have any similar programs. And if they don't, ask why the heck not?

Posted by Ted Samson on April 3, 2007 06:00 AM

March 19, 2007

Update: HP's new Energy Star PCs come with XP, not Vista

HP's new Energy Star PCs do XP, not Vista Updated March 19 to clarify some of the Energy Star info.

If you go to the business desktop PCs section of HP's Web site, you'll see this phrase prominently displayed at the top: "HP recommends Windows Vista Business."

The company might need to put a temporary parenthetical caveat beside the glowing recommendation: "unless you want a more energy-efficient system."

That's the conclusion I've reached, anyway, after reading about HP's new set of Energy Star 4.0-compliant business desktop computers. The systems -- the Compaq dc5700, dc5750 and dc7700 -- will come loaded with Windows XP Pro, not Vista.

Why not Vista? When I first spoke to a couple of HP reps yesterday, I didn't come away with a clear answer; just a feeling that I'd touched on a hot-button issue. Or perhaps a hot CPU issue?

But in a follow-up e-mail, Todd Kruse, the global desktop product manager at HP, said this:

"We will introduce Windows Vista configurations that are Energy Star 4.0-ready in the near future. Because we were able to begin testing all the components including the 80% efficient power supply with Windows XP earlier, we are much farther ahead in confirming compliance with XP combinations."

"Also, there will be demand for Energy Star on both operating systems as some customers may want to wait for the first Microsoft service pack before they deploy Vista."

When I did speak with Kruse on Thursday, he explained that there are plenty of hardware considerations when developing a PC that meets the more stringent Energy Star 4.0 guidelines, which take effect in July. These guidelines "apply mainly to a PC's efficiency in idle mode, not how well it runs under a maximum workload."

HP told me that the EPA doesn't expect more than 25 percent of PCs to meet that standard, whereas currently 98 percent of the systems on the market meet the current one. It's all about raising that energy-efficiency bar.

There are actually three categories of Energy Star 4.0 PCs. These HP systems are "category B" systems, meaning they "must have multi-core processor(s) or greater than one discrete processor; and a minimum of 1GB of system memory" to meet the new ES 4.0 requirements, plus they can't use m